According to the defense, the prosecution's request to prefer Muhammad's words to the informant should have been made only after the accuser showed that she had done everything in her power to get Muhammad to testify freely, voluntarily, and not in a situation where he was in fact standing against the wall.
It was noted that when Muhammad was summoned to testify for the second time, he did not want to cooperate, and said that he was told by the prosecution when he entered the hearing that he had been invited by the defense attorneys to testify, since they wanted to drop the entire case on him (P. of February 14, 2025, pp. 235, paras. 20-32), and under these circumstances Muhammad could not be expected to testify willingly in court.
According to counsel for defendant 1, in all the aforementioned circumstances, the court cannot determine beyond a reasonable doubt that Muhammad's words should be preferred to the informant, and to determine that Muhammad is the perpetrator of the murder. According to him, even if there was room to rely on the confession to the informant, it was not complete and lacking in details, and there was no basis for a conviction for murder on it.
In the arguments of counsel for defendants 2 and 3 in the matter, the defense attorneys generally reiterated the arguments of counsel for defendant 1 that were brought above.
In the summaries of defendants 2 and 3, Muhammad was quoted in his testimony regarding his claim regarding the statements made by the prosecution to him prior to his testimony that he had been brought to testify by the defense attorneys who want to "drop" the case on him:
"Adv. Neil Simon: I want to tell you that what they did to you today and in preparation is very unfair. If the prosecutor told you, as you told me, that he told you that he was here to drop the whole case on you, is that what he told you? ..........
Q: That's what he told you. So it's a plaintiff's lack of good faith, it's not true, and I want you to tell me what happened. When did the prosecutor tell you, I'm here to drop this whole case on you?