ABC News has been given a photograph that might make the difference between life in prison and a walk. For weeks, we have been discussing the case and the application of the Stand Your Ground law. As discussed earlier, I think the case was over-charged and I remain doubtful of a conviction. This picture will likely be the single most important piece of evidence in the case. It shows Zimmerman with significant blood on the back of his head — an image that supports accounts from the scene and will be used to corroborate Zimmerman’s account of a struggle with Trayvon Martin where he feared serious bodily injury. [UPDATE: Zimmerman granted bond].
Unlike the photos of Zimmerman at the police station, this photo was taken a few minutes after the fight. Zimmerman’s shaved head could prove Godsend for Zimmerman. Had he had longer hair, the injury would have not appeared so stark.
The photo shows both cuts and a contusion — injuries that would normally be defined as serious bodily injury by many courts in torts cases where head injuries are treated as inherently potentially serious. The original police report said that he was bleeding from the nose and head and that his clothes looked like he had been in a fight. Zimmerman claims that it was Martin who jumped him, punched him, and pounded his head on to the concrete sidewalk.
The prosecutors can still argue that they do not contest the fight but that Zimmerman started it. However, with this photo, the charge of second-degree murder appears even more excessive and undermines Special Prosecutor Angela Corey’s claim that she was not affected by the political pressure to charge Zimmerman. I can understand a manslaughter charge, even with the photo, but no reasonable prosecutor would consider the second-degree murder charge as based on this evidence. Corey clearly must have seen this photo and the reports before her charging of Zimmerman.
The photo should also assist Zimmerman in his efforts to get bail.
Zimmerman, 28, is still being held on charges of second-degree murder of Martin, 17. In my view, a denial of bail would be an abuse and unwarranted given the fact that Zimmerman cooperated at the scene and voluntarily turned himself in.
Source: ABC
Head injury symptoms
Minor head injuries may cause headache, bruising, swelling and cuts, which may bleed profusely even if small.
What’s usually more worrying than any obvious trauma to the outside of the head (although this can in some instances cause very serious problems) is the possibility of damage to the delicate structures inside the head – to the brain and related tissues. This is referred to as traumatic brain injury or TBI. With any head injury, there’s a risk of permanent damage to the brain, especially if the injury is not treated quickly.
The following symptoms may occur soon after the head injury or appear more slowly hours or days later. They are a sign there may be an injury to the brain that needs urgent investigation:
•Headache with nausea and vomiting.
•Blurred or double vision.
•Slurred speech.
•Confusion or drowsiness.
•Loss of consciousness – this is usually a sign that more serious damage to the brain may have occurred.
•Blood or clear fluid (cerebrospinal fluid which normally bathes the brain) from the ears or nose.
•Excessive thirst – this may be an early warning sign that the pituitary gland has been damaged during the injury.
•Loss of sense of smell – this is common in more severe injury and may be prolonged.
These symptoms must always be taken seriously and given proper medical attention.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/headinjury1.shtml
Bosco says ” In ALL communities our police departments have always declared the NEED for the community INVOLVEMENT in keeping our neighborhoods safe and free of crime.”
I can make an equally unsubstantiated generality, to wit: Professional law enforcement want citizen vigilantes to stay out of the law enforcement business. Actually, I think my statement is less tendentious .
Head wounds often bleed profusely–even if the wounds aren’t serious. I wouldn’t say that the picture proves anything about the seriousness of Zimmerman’s head injuries.
If that had been a serious injury he would not have been walking around telling his lies the next day. Hell I just noticed the direction of those “serious wounds”. Does that look a whole lot like something that could have been self inflicted (a few blows to the head), with his head leaned over to be sure he scored a hit that would produce the needed blood evidence?
Explain the direction of the blood flow Mr. Turley.
That is a very strange looking photograph. As was noted above, the white is washed out and the blood looks too red. Has that been enhanced or photoshopped in some way? Of course, we know that both law enforcement in Florida nor the MSM would never do such a thing—ever. Heads tend to bleed when the skin is broken. Not just bleed, but bleed a lot. You can get more blood than that from a tiny cut to the head from running into a tree limb or falling down in the dark. Also, the person who starts an altercation is not the one who should be complaining about getting hurt. This photo is not a game changer, IMHO. Like most of the people here with legal or forensic science backgrounds, the photo is conclusive of only the fact a photo exists. We need to know more before concluding anything.
Its ‘interesting’ but not a big surprise to see comments here dismissing/denying the latest photo of Zimmerman’s injured head.
As we have KNOWN, it was reported that Zimmerman was treated soon after the tragedy and PRIOR to the grainy LOW RESOLUTION surveillance camera video showing Zimmerman being led into the station (handcuffed).
As we have KNOWN ,not all the FACTS have yet to be displayed and presented to us >the public. Hypothetically, if ‘you’ were in a similar circumstance (regardless of how you were put into it) and someone was on top of you punching and slamming your head into the pavement ,fearing for your consciousness and survival, if ‘you’ had a gun on your person ,what would you do????
Someone earlier stated this “I don’t care what kind of injuries he got, because he brought that on himself. He’s still breathing, Mr Martin is not.”
In ALL communities our police departments have always declared the NEED for the community INVOLVEMENT in keeping our neighborhoods safe and free of crime. They cant do it alone. So if Zimmerman’s account of what happened is correct ,keeping in mind that we now are being shown more photographic proof of Zimmerman’s injuries, people here will still disregard anything less than that of showing that (the child) Martin was 100% innocent and Zimmerman is 100% guilty.
Do not rush to judgement-WAIT for more information and FACTS to this case.
You’re assuming that Martin wasn’t the one standing his ground. On what basis?
It is clear (to me at least) from the ear-witness testimony of the girlfriend, and the 911 tape, that Zimmerman was pursuing Trayvon, and confronted Trayvon, and instigated the struggle.
According to the girlfriend, she heard Trayvon say, “Why are you following me?” and heard Zimmerman reply, “What are you doing here?” Followed by what she thought were sounds of a struggle.
That is inconsistent with Trayvon sneaking up on Zimmerman and jumping him, I believe that is a fabrication. It is consistent with Zimmerman confronting Trayvon and frightening him into an act of self defense.
Which means any injuries Zimmerman received are the direct result of his choice to instigate a fight with an unarmed kid, and should not change the charge in the least. It was, as I think the 911 tape shows, a pre-meditated stalking and confrontation. That is not pre-meditated murder, but in my mind it certainly warrants 2nd degree murder. I’ve been a juror, and jury foreman, and I have no doubt several more days of evidence will be presented, but based on the data I have now I would vote to put Zimmerman in prison. In my opinion he has proven a mental attitude and lack of intelligence that makes him an imminent and demonstrable danger to society, and quarantine is justified.
I’m sure that Mr. Turley, being an attorney, could come up with a number of ways to turn this murderer loose. That does not make it right. Likewise with Zimmerman doing everything he can to testify but not in court. His crap from yesterday was an attempt to get Trayvon’s parents to meet with him in private….just the three of them! He should be charged with harassing them for that stupid maneuver.
I read an article yesterday that said more witnesses had come forward. What a crock! Those witnesses were neighbors who were subjected to a visit from him to show them huge butterfly bandages on the back of his head and on his nose. Of course they claim that this proved he was telling the truth. Some Witness!
The only thing those damn bandages prove is that Zimmerman started looking for ways to back up his lying story by putting bandages on his own head or having them put on. The picture above looks less damaging than something my 5 yr old granddaughter did to her knees when she fell on a concrete walk. She also broke a tooth and busted a lip. She had lots more blood than what is shown on this murdering thug.
Somewhere along the line the murderer said that he jumped on Trayvon’s back after shooting him & that’s the reason a couple witnesses saw him getting up off the kid. He’s obviously reading all the comments he can get his hands on and working on his own lying BS to tell why each thing happened. Seems to me that if he keeps his big mouth running he will eventually prove that he planned to shoot someone all along.
“Z wasTOLD not to follow M.” No, he wasn’t. Saying it as many times as you want does not make it what the dispatcher actually said, which was, “We don’t NEED for you to do that.” Even courses in “how to get cooperation” using phrases having “physiological pull” will not replace the actual words as evidence. Now once the actual evidence is presented it will be up to the judge or jury to evaluate it and they could very well (or maybe even not) agree with you on how Zimmerman should have understood the words. My objection is that it is repeatedly being stated as fact that the dispatcher said words he did not say.
If Zimmerman was following Trayvon, wasn’t Trayvon also then standing his ground?
What ever the value of this photo as evidence, I don’t think it is going to reduce the controversy.
This photo may be plain and unaltered. But someone needs to explain exactly how it was taken and handled afterward.
Note the ear to the left in the photo with its reasonable approximation of flesh tone. Note the washed out tones of the scalp, perhaps due to over exposure caused too much flash. Note the bright red which is presumably blood.
I don’t think anyone can be confident of what we are seeing in this photo. We need an explanation of how the photo was taken and how it was handled afterward.
And yes, I do have a view regarding this incident. There is no doubt in my mind that this tragedy could have, and should have been avoided. Whether a crime was committed under Florida law is a different and perhaps far more difficult question.
That kind of bleeding could come from two small cuts; it doesn’t say who attacked who or why, or how he got the cuts. Forensics will help determine the relative position of the two people, and if Trayvon was killed (as some have said) on his knees, then no amount of head lacerations will explain a downward trajectory for a bullet into the chest of a man 6 inches taller than the gunman.
So the moral of this story may end being if you outright kill someone, just bash some cuts on yourself then claim self defense.
If the guy you are provoking, or attacking happens to start getting the better of you, use stand your ground as a defense.
I fail to see how because he has cuts on him it somehow mitigates the facts that he was the aggressor or provacator, meaning Trayvon was the one actually using a defense of stand your ground.
So J, you’ve never had a course in how to get cooperation have you? Teachers & cops do it all the time. They never say “Do this” or Don’t do that” they say “I NEED you to do this” “We don’t need you to do that”. Those phrases are taught as they have a physiological pull to them. Z was told not to follow M. He initiated the confrontation but under SYG thats OK you get a free murder once you start losing the fight you started.
BTW – there is no way this law is changed even though this, and the insane case at the root of the OK killings make its failings painfully obvious. The powers that wanted it have not moved an inch and a few hundred extra gun deaths a year are not going to bother them in the least.
I’m not so sure about “serious” injury. A bald guy, like the top of my pate, can easily scrape his head on concrete to produce bleeding without serious trauma. Might be some bruising as well. Just sayin. Let’s wait for forensics.
He was not “told not to follow.” Read the transcript; list to the tape. “We don’t need you to do that.” is what the dispatcher said. Remember the case is going to go with the actual evidence, not what we might wish it to be.
Agree with you, who am I to disagree, have to believe the Corey either has something; was attempting to drive a plea deal, or, was setting up the case to be thrown out.
Hopefully the case will force changes to the law, if not repeal. Ludicrous that someone can initiate, whether the actual scuffle or not, a confrontation, especially with and unarmed person, and then failing to man-up pulls a gun and kills. Long been an adage; you get what you ask for.
Yet, Zimmerman was told NOT to follow the person he reported. I don’t care what kind of injuries he got, because he brought that on himself. He’s still breathing, Mr Martin is not.
I think a plea deal is in the making…… Zimmerman is requesting bond today…… I think the best case is simple manslaughter…… This is agree is an over charge…..