The facts behind the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida continue to slowly emerge. I have previously stated that I view critical facts as murky for a prosecution — even though I believe that there was sufficient evidence to arrest George Zimmerman at the scene. While we have still not seen some of the forensic evidence, a new report indicates that police may have based their initial decisions in part on the statement of a witness. We have been discussing the maddening gap in witness testimony at the critical moment of the confrontation. Now a new report suggests that there may have been a witness to the struggle and that witness reportedly told police that it was Martin who was on top of Zimmerman before the fatal shot was fired.
FOX 35 in Orlando says that it has spoken to the witness. The witness reportedly said that
“The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: ‘help, help…and I told him to stop and I was calling 911.” Martin was wearing a hoodie that night and Zimmerman was wearing a red shirt or sweater. A friend of Zimmerman has also come forward to say that Zimmerman looked like a mess after the fight and that he recognized Zimmerman as the voice on the 911 call asking people to help him.
An obvious defense case is emerging for a classic self-defense claim. Zimmerman on the 911 tape admits to have shadowed Martin but says it was Martin who was checking him out and moving toward him a threatening fashion. Zimmerman claims that he was attacked when he was returning to his SUV. Police and counsel reported that Zimmerman had cuts on his face and head and appeared to have been in a struggle. Zimmerman was lawfully carrying a handgun was allowed to use the weapon if he was in reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death. This includes the possible use of the gun in a struggle of control of the weapon.
While the case has been treated as racially motivated, the Zimmerman family has strongly denied such a motivation — noting that he is a hispanic with many African-American friends. Frankly, Zimmerman does closely resemble an alternative profile — that of a defendant in “Castle Doctrine” or “Stand Your Ground” cases. In these controversies, we often see people who are obsessed with crime and in some cases inclined to use lethal force. That does not mean that race did not play a role here. However, it is possible that Zimmerman was motivated by his well-documented obsession with crime as opposed to race. While I understand the sensitivity to the race issue and have my own suspicions concerning the role of race, I believe it is premature to label this a racially motivated crime without more evidence of such a motive. None of this means that Zimmerman should not be charged, but rather than there remain murky elements to the case. We simply need to know more about such motivations. In terms of the state law, we also need more information (particularly forensic evidence) to better gauge the chances of a conviction in the case. I still find the fact that Zimmerman was armed and outweighed Martin to be the most significant. However, this case is still in its earliest stage in terms of development of the evidence and witnesses. Among other things, if a charge is brought, such evidence could push prosecutors toward a manslaughter claim with a lower likely sentence than second or first degree murder. Even with manslaughter, the prosecutors would have to establish the element beyond a reasonable doubt, including the claim of self-defense. Of course, the mere fact that Martin may have gotten the better of Zimmerman in dominating fight at one point does not mean that Zimmerman was not the original aggressor. It will depend on the full range of witness testimony and, again, the missing forensic evidence.
I was asked last week to sign an online petition demanding the prosecution of Zimmerman. As I have noted, I believe that there is sufficient evidence for an indictment. However, I have never support such public campaigns for indictments. I do not believe in prosecution by plebiscite. Whether there are 100 or 100,000 people demanding an indictment, a prosecutor should not be influenced by such popular outcries. We saw how distortive and corrupting such campaigns can be on prosecutors like Michael Nifong. Prosecutors must based their decisions on the weight of the evidence not the weight of public opinion. Regardless of my views about a possible indictment, I would not want a prosecutor influenced by any petition supporting those views. There is a line between the visceral and the legal and such petitions fall on the wrong side of that line.
Source: Daily Mail
Dishonoring Trayvon Martin
New details in the case don’t undermine the charge that Sanford cops acted irresponsibly — they underscore it
By Joan Walsh
3/26/12
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/26/dishonoring_trayvon_martin/singleton/
Excerpt:
It was all too good to be true.
Last week even conservatives expressed concern about the way Sanford, Fla., police handled the death of unarmed, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, one month ago today. Florida’s Tea Party Gov. Rick Scott asked for an outside investigation, and another Tea Party favorite, Rep. Allen West, fumed, “This is an outrage.” Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it “an incredible tragedy” and said, “I’m glad it’s being investigated and we’ll take a look at it as the investigation moves along.” Then President Obama made a cautious comment of sympathy with Martin’s parents, noting, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” and our Kumbaya moment predictably ended.
What wasn’t quite as predictable was the last few days of push-back on behalf of accused shooter George Zimmerman – helped along by Sanford Police. Of course Zimmerman is innocent until proven guilty. New details indicating there was a struggle between Martin and Zimmerman might turn out to be true. But nothing in those details undermines the argument that the cops botched the handling of Martin’s death – in fact, they underscore that case.
If Zimmerman was indeed hurt in a scuffle with Martin – and news reports suggest he was bloody and bruised, with head lacerations that came from Martin pounding his skull into the sidewalk – why are there no photos? Why wasn’t Zimmerman taken to a hospital? The fact remains: An unarmed teenager was shot dead, and the man who shot him faced no rigorous interrogation. Can anyone believe that if the circumstances were reversed, and the young black man was the shooter, he’d have walked away without at minimum a meticulous collection of evidence? It’s hard to imagine he’d have walked away at all. The police were entirely too quick to believe Zimmerman had to shoot the boy in self-defense.
Also Monday we learned that Martin had been suspended from school because officials found an empty baggie that once held marijuana (that’s after Geraldo Rivera told us he brought on his own death by wearing a hoodie). Wow. A teenager might have smoked weed. Stop the presses. There is indeed something outrageous about that story – and it’s the fact that Martin was suspended for having merely an empty bag that once held weed under Miami’s “zero-tolerance” drug policy. I happen to think marijuana should be decriminalized, and I also believe schools have gone too far with their “zero tolerance” rules. This was a young man described as an A and B student who “majored in cheerfulness.” He had no known arrest record. It’s not too much to say that Trayvon Martin would still be alive if he hadn’t been suspended; he only visited Sanford in the first place because he was out of school.
And what does Martin’s suspension have to do with this case, anyway? That and other details are now being selectively released by Sanford Police, whose early reports about what happened were noteworthy for their factlessness. Why are police helping impeach the character of Trayvon Martin, while selectively confirming details that suggest he was the aggressor? (That wasn’t the worst attempt to smear Martin, by the way. Michelle Malkin’s website Twitchy posted a photo it claimed was Martin in saggy pants, giving the finger — and later was forced to admit it wasn’t Martin. It’s still making the rounds on conservative and white supremacist sites, anyway.)
We still don’t know what happened on the night of Feb. 26. Zimmerman’s friend, Joe Oliver, has been making the rounds of television news shows saying Martin was the aggressor, and his friend was scared for his life. Oliver, who happens to be black, minimizes reports that Zimmerman was a regular 911 caller, who’d called 911 at least 46 times in the last seven years, often about suspicious-looking young black males, one of whom was 9. Oliver also suggested that Zimmerman said “fucking goon,” not “fucking coon” on the 911 tape the night Martin died, and added the befuddling notion that “goon” may have been a term of endearment. (Update: According to Reuters, Oliver did not hear the story from Zimmerman but was “relating stories told to him by Zimmerman’s mother-in-law, a close friend of Oliver’s wife.” Oliver turns out to have worked as a news anchor here in San Francisco, at KPIX and KRON.)
For what it’s worth, teachers and others who knew Martin say they don’t believe Zimmerman’s version of events (as told through Oliver). “There’s no way I can believe that, because he’s just not a confrontational kid,” his football coach, Jerome Horton, told the media. “It just wouldn’t happen. That’s just not that kid.”
Off Topic:
Koch Brothers Exposed Film Trailer
Let’s say Mr. Martin did get suspended, he did write graffiti, smoked weed, and heck, stole jewelry. Was he doing it that day? How would Zimmerman know of this ‘alleged history”? No excuse for Zimmerman not charged. Murder is murder whether the victim is a good white kid with no issues whatsoever in his background, a white punk who smokes, etc or an african american, asian, (pick your ethnicity).
“I still find the fact that Zimmerman was armed and outweighed Martin to be the most significant.”
I don’t see why this is significant at all. Zimmerman was an overweight, out of shape guy: 5’9 and over 200 lbs. Probably not much muscle. Martin was a 6’3 150lb football player.
If Martin punched Zimmerman in the nose, knocking him on his back as the witness stated, the weight difference would be meaningless.
And the fact that Zimmerman had a gun would also be meaningless if he didn’t pull it out until after Martin was on top of him slamming his head on the ground.
Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described the screwdriver as a burglary tool.
And why did Zimmerman get involved with the neighborhood watch program. Oh that’s right, because of a recent rash of burglaries.
Trayvon recently moved to Sanford from Miami and was serving out his suspension from the Dade County school system in Sanford.
The new eyewitness “John” has stated to the Police that Zimmerman was being beaten up by Martin and that Zimmerman was the one crying for help. As John went to call the police he heard a gunshot. This new evidence guarantees no trial for no grand jury will let this move forward.
What Everyone Needs To Know About The Smear Campaign Against Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)
By Judd Legum on Mar 26, 2012
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/26/452310/what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-the-smear-campaign-against-trayvon-martin-1995-2012/
Excerpt:
Over the last 48 hours, there has been a sustained effort to smear Trayvon Martin, the 17-year old African-American who was shot dead by George Zimmerman a month ago. Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, said, “They killed my son, now they’re trying to kill his reputation.”
Thus far these attacks have fallen into two categories: false and irrelevant. Much of this leaked information seems intended to play into stereotypes about young African-American males. Here’s what everyone should know:
1. Prominent conservative websites published fake photos of Martin. Twitchy, a new website run by prominent conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, promoted a photo — purportedly from Martin’s Facebook page — that shows Martin in saggy pants and flipping the bird. The photo, which spread quickly on conservative websites and Twitter, is intended to paint Martin as a thug. As Twitchy later acknowledged, it is not a photo of Trayvon Martin. [Examiner]
2. The Sanford Police selectively leaked irrelevant, negative information about Martin. The authorities told the Orlando Sentinel this morning that Trayvon was suspended from school for ten days “after being found with an empty marijuana baggie.” There is no evidence that Martin was under the influence of drugs at the time of his death, nor would prior possession of marijuana be a reason for killing him. It’s unclear what the relevance of the leak was, other than to smear Martin. [Orlando Sentinel]
3. On Fox News, Geraldo said that Martin was dressed “like a wannabe gangster.” Bill O’Reilly agreed with him. The sole evidence is that Martin was wearing a hoodie. Geraldo added that “everyone that ever stuck up a convenience store” was wearing a hoodie. [ThinkProgress; The Blaze]
4. Without any evidence, prominent right-wing bloggers suggested that Martin was a drug dealer. Right-wing blogger Dan Riehl advances the theory, also advanced in a widely linked peice on a site called Wagist. There does not appear to be any evidence to support this claim whatsoever. [Riehl World View]
5. Without any evidence, a right-wing columnist alleged that Martin assaulted a bus driver. Unlike Zimmerman, Trayvon has no documented history of violence. This allegation continues to be advanced by a blogger on the Examiner even after the real reason was leaked to the police and confirmed by the family. [Miami Herald; Examiner]
6. Zimmerman’s friend says Martin was to blame because he was disrespectful to Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s friend Joe Oliver said that Martin would not have been shot to death if Trayvon had just said “I’m staying with my parents.” Of course, Zimmerman was not a police officer, and Trayvon had no duty to tell him who he was or where he was going. [NBC News]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/26/paul-butler-on-trayvon-martin-and-racial-profiling.html
Paul Butler on Trayvon Martin and Racial Profiling
by Paul Butler
Mar 26, 2012
Excerpts:
Law professor Paul Butler on surviving as a baby-faced young black man, becoming a prosecutor to change the system from the inside—and why racial profiling is counterproductive to keeping communities safe and free.
…..
I became a prosecutor because I wanted to help victims, and not be one—of the police, or of another black man. The fact that Trayvon Martin was killed by a non-black man is one of the reasons that this case is so high profile. The police have a name for the more typical black-on-black crime: routine homicide. The closure rate on those cases is often less than 50 percent. And nobody marches or signs petitions or puts those victims’ photos on their Facebook wall.
So there is still a crying need for law-enforcement interventions that work to keep communities of color both safe and free. And for law enforcement to understand that racial profiling is counterproductive to this effort. Too often police and prosecutors just don’t get it.
For example, officers of the New York Police Department, in certain black and Latino neighborhoods, act like slightly less trigger-happy George Zimmermans. They stop black and Hispanic men for virtually any reason, and they rarely find anything incriminating. In one neighborhood, the cops made more than 40,000 stops, and found just 25 guns—a hit rate of less than 1 percent.
Meanwhile, violent crime in that community is going up. The tragedy of racial profiling is not only that it’s ineffective; it makes many of its victims hate the profilers—whether they are police, security guards, or neighborhood-watch people. And that causes a breakdown in trust that makes public safety even more problematic. (end of excerpts)
By all means this thuggish behavior had to end. I’m with bdaman on this one, why else would he need a weapon? You know only people that smoke weed would ever post graffiti, his conduct is exemplar in all aspects.
The never let a crisis go to waste team is now selling hoodies. What a joke.
http://store.barackobama.com/collegiate-hooded-sweatshirt.html?source=socnet_20120326_O2_TW_COLLEGE_SWEATSHIRT_MERCH&utm_medium=tw&utm_source=o2_tw&utm_campaign=socnet_20120326_O2_TW_COLLEGE_SWEATSHIRT_MERCH
SANFORD — Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school in October in an incident in which he was found in possession of women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that a schools security staffer described as a “burglary tool,” The Miami Herald has learned.
Trayvon, who claimed that an unnamed friend had given him the jewelry, was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald.
A lawyer for the dead teen’s family acknowledged Trayvon had been suspended for graffiti, but said the family knew nothing about the jewelry and the screwdriver, calling the information in the report an attempt to “demonize” the youth.
According to the report, on Oct. 21 staffers monitoring a security camera at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School spotted Trayvon and two other students writing “W.T.F.,” an acronym for “What the f—,” on a hallway locker, according to schools police. The security employee, who knew Trayvon, confronted the teen and looked through his bag for the graffiti marker.
Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described the screwdriver as a burglary tool.
Trayvon was asked if the jewelry, which was mostly women’s rings and earrings, belonged to his family or a girlfriend.
“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.
School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade police for further investigation.
“Martin was suspended, warned and dismissed for the graffiti,” according to the report prepared by Miami-Dade Schools Police.
That suspension was followed four months later by another one, in February, in which Trayvon was caught with an empty plastic bag with traces of marijuana in it, the boy’s family’s attorney has confirmed. A schools police report obtained by The Miami Herald specifies two items: a bag with marijuana residue and a “marijuana pipe.”
more here
Multiple suspensions paint complicated portrait of Trayvon Martin
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/26/2714778/thousands-expected-at-trayvon.html
Dredd,
I had never heard of ALEC until early last year. I found out about the organization when I was doing research for some of my Turley Blawg posts.
Elaine M. 1, March 26, 2012 at 9:57 am
Dredd,
I know what ALEC is. That was not my question. I posted an excerpt from Paul Krugman’s op-ed.
BTW, I wrote a post about ALEC last summer:
Smart ALEC: The Organization That May Be Helping Corporations Write Legislation for Your State
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/08/05/smart-alec-the-organization-that-may-be-helping-corporations-write-legislation-for-your-state/
==============================================
Way cool.
Mike,
As I’m sure you know, the US has more people in prison than China, a police state and dictatorship. And the Private Prison industry is a sure fire ROI in this economy.
Hey Idealist, please think again before sharing with us your jerk-off fantasies, gun porn squicks me out most of the time, your particular flavor of it, superimposed with your favored stereotypes and bigotries is just that much dumber.
Anon,
I did know that about US incarceration, we are number one in the world, with Russia a distant second. I even did a post about it awhile back dealing with the fact that Black Americans are the largest group of those incarcerated.
Scuban 1, March 26, 2012 at 6:18 pm
I don’t believe neighborhood watch volunteers should be armed. The Guardian Angels aren’t probably to avoid this kind of violence.
=================================================
My understanding is that the manual says carry no heat.
The key is to have more eyes and ears in the neighborhood, not more killings.
I don’t believe neighborhood watch volunteers should be armed. The Guardian Angels aren’t probably to avoid this kind of violence.
That Zimmerman should have to stand trial, even if this new evidence is credible, is obvious. He pursued and intervened where and when he shouldn’t have and his criminal culpability must be adjudicated, even based on a reading of the evidence that is most favorable to him.
However, given Elaine’s exhaustive exposure of the role that ALEC plays in all this I’d like to briefly ruminate on ALEC’s possible motivation for pushing “stand your ground” laws. Sure there are the gun sales and NRA motivations, but I think it is something even more sinister. Large corporations now employ armed security officers, or have their own internal security/intelligence divisions. These laws give license for this hired “army” to aggressively protect corporate interests, without liability. Imagine the possibilities? Looks more and more like feudalism every day.
If I were Zimmerman, I would have shot Martin too!
Except I would have shot him earlier and from inside my SUV!
My guess is that his SUV has power windows… Anyone got one without power windows?
Yes, I would have shot a picture or video of Martin. You know showing all the vicious skittles and ice tea….
The power windows? So he could open the window (and close it from drivers side) so the flash didn’t obliterate the pic.
Now, I just wonder if Zimmerman told a photo of his prize after he was shot, or does he have some prior to shooting him… Internet, home computer, phone?
Did Sherriff “Do-Screw-All” confiscate phone, CD’s, or computer…
Anyone on Facebook check out Zimmerman’s profile?
A few words from RFK:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’m only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some – some very sad news for all of you – Could you lower those signs, please? – I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it’s perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black – considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible – you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.
We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization – black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.
For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.
But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love – a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past, but we – and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it’s not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.
And let’s dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.”
Courtesy Alan Grayson
Bedtime. BFN
Thank you very much.