Salem, there are many exceptional things in this case, and I would have to say that the defendant is being afforded a great many accomodations, that he would otherwise not have, but, for the high profile nature of the case. The Judge is likely trying to avoid a circus next week.
I do expect, that not only will Derstine "call evidence", um, a witness, on Tuesday, but, that it will be Michael Rafferty himself.
I would expect that he would be getting primped and ready for this main event next week. He will want to make sure he looks very, very good (well, as good as he can now that he looks the way he does).
Derstine would not want to present Rafferty at the tail end of the week. Nor would he want his clients' testimony being broken up by a long weekend.
The very fact that they are even suggesting that Derstine might not present a case, seems preposterous to me.
Therefore I can only conclude, speculate and offer an opinion to the fact that the great suspense is that Rafferty will get up on the stand next week, and tell everyone just exactly what happened on April 8, 2009.
JMO MOOOOOOMOOOOOO