rmny,  Ajay was able to take the witness stand as it was his right as a defendant.  However, he opted to refuse that route.  Why?  I have no clue, but my intuition (and the police detective who helped the victim) tells me that Ajay didn't want to be subjected to a position where he would be forced to tell the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."  In other words, Ajay chose to keep silent for the duration of the trial, and have his lawyer speak on his behalf.  I feel that, if he felt that he were truly innocent, then he would have had nothing to hide by taking the witness stand.  I'm assuming that most people would feel this way.  However, the jurors were undoubtedly briefed on refraining from taking this frame of mind lest it create a bias.