The evidence continues to roll in on the Zimmerman case. While the new evidence is not entirely bad for the prosecution, it does contain some evidence that will likely bolster the defense of George Zimmerman in the second degree murder trial over the killing of Trayvon Martin. Regardless of the ultimate impact, the evidence again shows (in my opinion) that prosecutor Angela Corey over-charged the case in Florida.
Some of the new evidence shows that Martin had traces of THC (the active ingredient of marijuana) in his blood stream and urine. Martin was suspended from school due to a marijuana offense (though it involved an empty marijuana baggie). Another benefit to the defense is that Martin father is shown denying that the voice calling out for help was his son — though he later changed that view when he says he was given a better recording. Other witnesses have indicated that it Zimmerman who was calling for help.
Generally, the existence of drugs in the system of a victim or defendant is admissible. The suspension would appear inadmissible under standard evidentiary rules.
There is also evidence that some neighbors described Zimmerman as a bully and a racist. That would help bolster the reported hate crimes prosecution being considered by the Obama Administration, though I still have reservations based on the evidence as it currently stands. Also the police viewed the shooting as “avoidable” — if Zimmerman had left the matter to the police.
I am not sure how much of the neighbor’s view of Zimmerman as a bully or racist could come into evidence. Such accounts, however, can have the benefit of further discouraging Zimmerman from taking the stand as a witness — always a benefit to the prosecution because (while they are told that a defendant has a right not to testify (jurors expect to hear from defendants).
On the whole, however, I would view the evidence as more positive to the defense. First, I have previously said that I was most interested in the distance of the shot and forensics. It now appears that Martin was shot from an intermediate range (no more than 18 inches and as little as an inch away). That would support the claim of Zimmerman that they were in a wrestling fight when the gun was fired. The greater the distance the stronger the case for the prosecution. The defense will likely present expert testimony to try to reduce the range further on the stand. Also, the report does have people at the scene saying that Zimmerman’s nose appeared broken — supporting the later medical report of the family doctor (though such injuries could occur from Martin defending himself).
Moreover, at least two witnesses appear to support Zimmerman in describing the man in the hoodie at straddling the other man and throwing punches. The report state that the man in the “‘hoodie’ [was] on top of a white or Hispanic male and throwing punches ‘MMA (mixed martial arts) style.’ He then heard a pop. He stated that after hearing the pop, he observed the person he had previously observed on top of the other person (the male wearing the hoodie) laid out on the grass.” One report also says that Zimmerman can be heard yelling for help 14 times on a 911 call recorded during the fight.
While the reports blame Zimmerman for getting out of his vehicle (he says that he was trying to get a house number for the police), that is not itself a crime. Of course, none of this means that Zimmerman was not the aggressor. Given the presumption of innocence and the need to prove the elements beyond a reasonable doubt, this evidence presents an added problem for the prosecution in my view. I have expressed skepticism over the way the case has developed and how it has been charged from the outset. As a criminal defense attorney, I would view this as a strong defense case even on the manslaughter charge, particularly given the poor police work at the scene.
What do you think?
Here is the police report.
Source: ABC and NY Daily News
I looked at this closer, the video looks convincing, ditto the analysis. One has to watch all three videos, I initially missed one. But what happened to the blunt, if Trayvon indeed asked this guys to get him one. Trayvon clearly seems to walk away only after the guy with the blunts is out again and he indeed seems to keep money in his hand. At first I didn’t understand what the bills in the hand of one of these guys were supposed to mean.
“Treeper Diwataman, has done an amazing job deconstructing the video evidence and now uncovered a considerably interesting aspect of Trayvon Martin’s visit to the 7-11 by using the raw feed video from the evidence release, not the media edited versions.”
What I am wondering a bit about is where does this longer video come from? And why did they release all of it. Maybe the police, prosecution and judge play a little double game. Like having George and Shelly arrested for a little public entertainment?
Not that I ever doubted that George will go free. Hmmm?
I have to watch that more carefully and were exactly would one found the complete released video.
Woot!
Zimmerman judge: Prosecutor must release Zimmerman’s statements to cops
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-06-13/news/os-george-zimmerman-records-20120613_1_law-enforcement-high-profile-cases-second-degree-murder
After reviewing Zimmerman’s statements, Lester concluded that they are not confessions.
Zimmerman “does not acknowledge guilt of the essential elements of the crime. The only element conceded by the defendant is that he shot and killed the victim, but he does not concede any other elements of second-degree murder.”
Lester ordered the statements released within 15 days.
Take the #Zimmerman #TrayvonMartin Quiz – http://zimmermanscall.blogspot.com/p/quiz.html
Even if Trayvon Martin had been a drug lord, a burglar AND a stranger to the gated community (none of which he was), Zimmerman had no right to tail him and shoot him. If you can just shoot people for being suspected of bad behavior and being in the wrong place at the wrong time, then Zimmerman needs to stay in jail for self-protection.
The stuff about Martin being on drugs [sic] somehow proving Zimmerman’s version of the events of that night are true is the most inane bullshit.
Malisha, it’s somehow twisted to fit into preconceptions, but I haven’t completely figured what makes the blog owner pant for that stuff so much. Today he managed to link to a web source I am highly allergic to. I can give you a non-political example discovered by my late friend David Mills. The Conservative Tree House’s agenda is pretty obvious, I have already bookmarked them under fervent George Zimmerman supporters. They almost despaired over there when they learned that George’s fund-raising site was closed down, reviving only when they realized they would be able to donate somewhere else. I do have the impression there is quite a bit of perception management going on. But it would take much time to take a closer look. I only remember the Times blog that took a closer look at these matters.looking into these matters.
I’ll try that one more time
The line drops and Dee Dee calls him back
The T-Mobile stamp has the call connecting at 7:12 (and T-mobile stamps are +/- up to 59 seconds)
She describes him as running straight after he answers.
7:11:41 (2:07 in recording) Zimmerman: “Shit! He’s running”
7:11:43 Martin enters pathway area (in my analysis)
Out of all the confusion in that interview, we have the point at which Martin has entered the central pathway area. Then
7:12:14 Zimmerman enters the area 31 seconds later.
The girls describes Martin as seeming scared. Which he might be when he realises that Zimmerman has left the truck and has followed him here.
And then…… the interview goes to hell in a basket.
The call stays connected right up to the start of the struggle at 17:16:00
That last call is the entirety of both of them in the pathway area, and the interview is jumping all over the timeline.
Copy/paste mess..
Above should read:
7:11:41 (2:07 in recording) Zimmerman: “Shit! He’s running”
7:11:43 Zimmerman enters pathway area (in my analysis)
So having had a coffee and a think about the T-mobile times.
I see where they synchronise.
So I added
====================================================
Strike that last bit.
Now that you have me started thinking about connecting timelines, I see it now.
The T-Mobile 5:54 call drops aftwer 18 minutes
It reconnects at 7:12
Dee Dee: And then…the phone hung up. And I call him back again. And then, I say ‘What you doin’?’ and he say he walkin’ and he said this man still following him, behind the car. And I’m like…or like, he told me…he tell me..he put his hoodie on, so I like…
Dee Dee: So he put his hoodie on. So I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He said this man is still watching him. Like in a car…so he about to run from the back. So then I told him, go to his dad house. Run to his Dad house.
Dee Dee: So he say he about to run for the back cause its mo’ easier, he said. So, next thing I hear, he gettin’ run. And I can hear that the wind blowin’…
7:11:41 (2:07 in recording) Zimmerman: “Shit! He’s running”
7:12:14 Zimmerman enters pathway area (in my analysis)
BDLR: So you could tell he was running at that time…
BDLR: OK, and then what happened?
Dee Dee: And then…he say he lost him.
BDLR: He lost..like…the man?
Dee Dee: Yeah.
Dee Dee: He lost him; he was breathin’ hard. An…by the sound his voice…voice kinda change…
BDLR: Who? Trayvon?
Dee Dee: Yeah.
BDLR: OK, what do you mean by that, his voice changed?
Dee Dee: [unintelligible] I know he was scare.
7:12:14 Zimmerman enters pathway area ( in my analysis)
BDLR: How..how…could …tell…and I know what you’re trying to tell me, but if you could, describe to me how you could tell he was scared.
Dee Dee: Voice was getting kind of low…[unintelligible]…breathin’ har’…
BDLR: So, you could tell he was emotional like somebody who was like in fear?
Dee Dee: Yeah…he say he lost him…
BDLR: OK…he was breathing hard?
Dee Dee: He say he lost him…breathin’ har’, you know. And I like, he goin’…so he say he lost him. And then a couple…and then he say he right by his ass…he ru’, he go’ keep ru’ ’til hi’ dad house.
BDLR: OK, let me make sure I understand that he’s saying that he’s “right by his ass”…meaning the guy is right by Trayvon?
Dee Dee: No, he say he lost the guy…
BDLR: OK.
Dee Dee: And then he ran from the back…
BDLR: Right.
Dee Dee: He say he lost him.
……………………………………… and on …………..
OH SWEET SUFFERING J******** !!
He lost him when he ran from the back, and then he’s near again.
And then he lost him.
And it goes round and round.
I’m sure she is repeating things over and over here, and BDLR has totally lost the plot.
I’ll have go back and listen to that interview recording again….. more mental scars.
Over on the Stately Manor bloggie, someone pushed me about the girlfriend calls.
I hadn’t bothered much with those calls because of the T-Mobile time issues and the fuzziness of the content.
When I was kinda-sorta forced to evaluate them, I came up with:
====================================================
The full list is:
6:30 – 6:43 Outgoing 13 minutes
6:41 – 6:45 Incoming 4 minutes
6:45 – 6:50 Outgoing 5 minutes
6:46 – 6:48 Outgoing 2 minutes
6:49 – 6:53 Incoming 4 minutes
6:54 – 7:12 Incoming 18 minutes
7:04 – 7:05 Incoming 1 minute (Other caller interrupt?)
7:12 – 7:16 Incoming 4 minutes
Those times above T-Mobile times are said to be imprecise. There is a margin of error of up to a minute
They seem continuous. Apparently some other person called and Martin had the girl on hold. I suppose that investigators have traced all numbers involved.
The time line per my analysis for Zimmerman’s call and up to the shot is:
7:09:34 Zimmerman connects
7:11:43 Martin enters pathway area
7:12:14 Zimmerman enters pathway area
7:13:21 Zimmerman suddenly changes his mind about where to be
7:13:41 Zimmerman ends call
7:16:00 Guess at time of disturbance being noticed by 1st 911 caller
7:16:11 1st 911 connects
Again, the T-Mobile times are imprecise.
They do indicate a continuous connection through the events.
The 6:54 (18 minute call) drops at about the time that Martin disappeared down the central path.
She rings him again. That call stays connected up to the time of the fight.
T-Mobile has that reconnection at 7:12 – but that could be between 7:11 and 7:13
I have Zimmerman rounding the corner into the area at 7:12:14
At 7:13:21 (3:47 in the call) he suddenly changes his mind, breaking in over the Dispatcher. He won’t meet the patrol back at the mailboxes. He asks that they call him.
That might imply that he has noticed something just then.
From the T-Mobile timestamps, that instant is on the outer margins to coincide with the girl ringing Martin. It depends on any gap between the call being logged and the ringing process happening on the phone – and Martin answering.
Maybe Martin looks at the phone to check who is calling and the display is lit up?
That’s the problem with inexact timestamps.
If things were down to the second – and the T-Mobile system clocks and the Sanford PD system clocks had a zero or fixed synchronisation different, there would be less scope for guesswork.
===========================================
I had wondered if something happened to get Zimmerman closing in on Martin.
I had considered things like the dog-walking boy turning on the porch light, or maybe overhearing Martin talking.
The possible coincidence between the last call coming in and Zimmerman suddenly changing his mind is a bit iffy.
I think I’ll add this to my own blog – but just as a speculative thing.
———–
The more I think of it, the more I know that I’ll have to add that bit about
“Why are you following me?”
“Neighb……. WHAT ARE YOU DOING AROUND HERE?”
The stuff about Martin being on drugs [sic] somehow proving Zimmerman’s version of the events of that night are true is the most inane bullshit. Let’s say a guy walks along and I have no right to stop him. Let’s say I opine, “He’s probably failed to report some income in the last ten years,” and then I follow him and shoot him. Let’s say part of my “self-defense” argument is that since he was a fraud and a tax cheat, he probably was also a rapist and a violent criminal assailant. Let’s say that I claim that before I shot him, he threatened and beat me, so I had to shoot him.
Doesn’t his failure to report the money he made off selling that used Toyota in 2006 make my story true?
I’m going hunting!
@shano: I saw that too, she was arrested on perjury charges, for lying about finances.
Their lawyer sucks, even if the Zimmermans are stupid, the lawyer should realize that once a court case goes viral, the court, the police, the politicians, everybody is going to scrupulously follow the letter of the law from that point forward. Careers and reputations are on the chopping block. It was absolutely incompetent of their lawyer to let them withhold anything.
Even with the money, they should have told the judge, “We have these donations coming in, we do not know what is legal to do with them or how to do accounting if we use them or if they count as income, if we need to pay taxes on them, and until we have professional advice on that we do not think we should touch them.”
Not that I want to help the Zimmermans, I just think their lawyer must be a real bonehead.
thanks, Malisha, thanks Shano,
by now I have discovered a nexus between the Conservative Tree House and Mike McDaniels relying on them mainly he gleefully constructs the image of Trayvon Martin the thug and potent drug dealer and drug mixer, if nothing is at hand.
Be sure you follow the links to CTH he provides here, below his summary. The hypothesis hangs in the air that Trayvon asks the guys that enter 711 after him to buy a blunt for him. Curiously enough these are three guys and they buy three blunts. I haven’t checked how and where exactly McDaniel’s and the Reaganites at CTH or Mike McDaniels found indications that Trayvon tried to buy exactly this before in the shop but was denied it.
Oh, before I forget, the Arizona Ice Tea isn’t Ice Tea but Watermelon juice and together with the Skittles and a some cough medicine you can mix the most potent drug.
So sick. I guess this is what Jeralyn Merritt warns of. Attempts to connect him with other “dubious” characters in Sanford does not surprise me at all. Somehow that was to be expected.
Mrs. George Zimmerman out on bail:
http://wonkette.com/475118/poor-george-zimmermans-wife-just-cannot-catch-a-break
Birds of a feather…..
leander, well, I have some experience with two modern day teens who have done exactly the same things Trayvon does on this night. Walking about outside to have private conversations with friends, wandering around aimlessly talking on the cell phone. Oblivious to surroundings.
That Trayvon was actually frightened by Zimmerman means to me that Georges actions were unusual or suspicious enough to wake a teen out of their usual diffidence or self absorbtion.
Remember being 16? The hormones alone make them a bit spacey and unreliable- they live in a dream world at this age. Very hard to get them to take out the trash or think about their surroundings much.
DeeDee should not be faulted for inaction to the call being dropped because there are so many reasons this could happen. Maybe she thought the signal was lost, maybe she tried and tried to call him before going to bed, maybe she was confused and thought she would talk to him tomorrow.
I would not expect her to jump to the conclusion her friend had been murdered.
thanks Tony, somehow that crossed my mind a second before I reached that phrase. Since it wasn’t news till much later, how could she have realized he was dead. Obviously she couldn’t.
I got into the trap set up by the opposite camp it feels. 😉
Thanks, again, obvious really, but somehow buried by what felt a convincing argument in the opposite camp. Seems I got into a trap.
Besides, it should be obvious by now I do not have much experience with kids or teens, besides my own memories.
Leander, I want to deal with this one question here:
“Why do you think Dee Dee didn’t raise hell when she couldn’t reach Trayvon. She surely had his home number too. There were really old friends I understand. Admittedly this makes me slightly hesitant about her tale.”
First of all, the fact that she didn’t call anyone after hearing, “What are you doing here?” doesn’t surprise me at all. Here are a few possibilities: [THESE ARE GUESSES but after all, we don’t know EITHER Trayvon OR Dee Dee nor should we HAVE to]
1. Dee Dee was speaking w/Trayvon about how unreasonable his parents were being, to overreact to some minor troubles he had at school, to send him up to Sanford from Miami, etc. blah blah blah. She’s 15 or 16. She naturally feels like the authorities are “against” these two youngsters who are being regarded as “not OK” because they’ve been separated, Trayvon’s in trouble, and his parents are down on him at the moment. SHE’s not imagining there’s a stalker/killer about to shoot her boyfriend; SHE’s thinking, “uh oh, what now?” and hoping she didn’t get in trouble herself or cause Trayvon to get in trouble, so she sits quiet once the phone call is interrupted.
2. Dee Dee doesn’t automatically think of calling cops. It’s (a) not the way of African American youngsters in general; and it’s (b) not really a reliable way of dealing with a problem; and it’s (c) kind of alarmist. George Z does it because of his own mental problems, but Dee Dee would not do it.
3. No Dee Dee doesn’t necessarily have home numbers for Trayvon. She might have his land line in Miami, but that’s his mom’s house. Maybe Dee Dee is persona non grata at the moment w/Mom. Who knows? ANyway, why call and alarm mom when Trayvon’s with Dad? Doesn’t compute.
4. Dee Dee wouldn’t have the land line number of dad’s girlfriend.
5. Dad might not even have a land-line and Dee Dee would be VERY unlikely to have dad’s cell phone number.
6. Whom would Dee Dee call? The Ombudsman for young Black kids who are worried about something? Unfortunately, our society provides no such resource.
7. In my opinion, Dee Dee’s story has more credibility specifically BECAUSE she didn’t start calling around that night making a fuss. It shows me, (a) She was surprised at what was going on and couldn’t make sense of it; and (b) Trayvon probably had the very same reaction and that contributed toward the chaos and confusion. The only one who knew what George Zimmerman was up to that night was George Zimmerman. And he was up to something that had more to do with his own mental life than Dee Dee, Trayvon, the witnesses, the cops, or anyone else. He was on a private self-motivated mission.
Dee Dee’s story rings true to me for the very reason Zimmerman’s does not: His has the characteristics of a story made up to fit neatly into the resulting scene, to explain it away. Dee Dee’s sounds confused, confusing and disjointed. Had she made it up, it would have been easy to make up something that fit into the facts better, after the facts were known.
Shano,
“LOL Sling.”
Speaking of LOL, and one of the pro-zimmerman mantras – that Martin should have explained himself to Zimmerman when challenged ……
During the first bond hearing, Zimmerman’s mother was asked about her boy assaulting officers.
And then, Zimmerman – who was searching for him would not have found him.
So therefore it’s entirely Martin’s fault. Isn’t it?
It’s none of Zimmerman’s fault.
Please don’t misunderstand, Sling. I have a clear position since I started to look closer into this story and that is that Zimmerman was at a strategic advantage, he knew why he called 911 and he assumed he knew what Trayvon was about, I would even say, had he only slightly questioned his own wisdom and not simply assumed he knew it all before even asking, it is very, very unlikely that what happened, could have happened.
Trayvon clearly had only little to no chance to understand what this weirdo was about. … He may not have even have felt any urgency or that he should walk fast once he lost sight. …
Mike obviously brushes the story with a stroke reminiscent of an omnipresent narrator seeing the world through Zimmerman’s eyes, if I may use mixed metaphors. As if that was the only possible version of world on that evening; or even beyond? I am waiting for news that a bag of marijuana was discovered behind a house only now, and surprise, surprise since it was buried slightly close to the wall of one of the houses, it may well explain the delay. I am kidding of course.
In the end I painted a rather cynical scenario over at Mike’s hut, and admittedly that fully expresses what I feel about the story. I also occasionally prefer the part of Nemesis to the part of acolyte. That’s were Mike McDaniel’s comes in handy.
Leander,
The pre-call routes are a thing of nothing. They are simply all sorts of ways that Martin might have arrived at the Clubhouse. We don’t have any times or reference locations for that part of the night. They don’t really affect the end result.
There are indications from Zimmerman’s parents that Martin was first spotted up near the NW corner and had maybe gone South towards the central area.
It is clear that the truck was somewhere in the East-West run of Twin Trees, but where exactly was not clear.
Different people had different ideas. I had initially supposed that it ended up on the Southern side of the road near the bend. I theorised that it might have started closer to the Clubhouse and then curb-crawled after Martin, thus spooking him and triggering him to run up the pathway.
The position pointed out by Taaffe seemed crazy until I noticed the particular sight lines it afforded to SW and S. It was the ideal position to observe from if Zimmerman had expected Martin to be heading SE behind the houses towards the back gate.
I very consciously calculated distances without any prejudice as to the location of the truck.
When I ran those distances just to try them against Taaffe’s position, they fell into place so easily that I suspected myself.
That and the sight lines did it for me.
In the end even if the truck was right up in the bend and parked blocking the footpath, it would not make any real difference.
If you remember back to when I first started doing time and distance for Manny’s sake, even that position still had Zimmerman saying “OK” well before he got to the central pathway area.
It’s not really important.
The key things are
1) Zimmerman going in there even thought he had no sight of Martin.
2) The unexplained time gap, even after taking time out to cover the crazy story about going to find a house number.
3) The 50 feet Southward move by someone who was decked and pinned from the outset.
—————
Martin not going straight back to the Green condo is not “a valid argument” for bad intention on his part towards Zimmerman.
Maybe he had thought that the guy in the truck had stayed in the truck. He was in conversation with the girl. Maybe he wanted to do that without Chuck listening in.
There are all sorts of ‘if’s.
If he had bad intentions from the outset, he would have ambushed Zimmerman as he came up the path from Twin Trees. It was the ideal time and place, as Zimmerman was paying attention to his phone and less able to keep watch for his own safety.
Then there are al the “If Zimmerman had or had not done whatever”s.
—————-
Rain:
Weather forecasts can never give fine-grained minute-by-minute or even hour-by-hour for a small area.
The indicators are:
– Heavy rain during the time from the 7-11 to the Clubhouse.
The conversation with the girl indicates that Martin ran there and was sheltering under the canopy at the mailboxes.
– He begins to walk from there and along Twin Trees (and the truck) as the rain eases.
– In the recording, we can hear what seems to be the truck windscreen wipers on slow intermittent. Given that Zimmerman was trying to observe Martin, he would have the wipers on a faster intermittent or continuous if it was raining significant
– The rain stopped around then. The boy who was taking his dog out for a walk at the time that the fight broke out said that the rain stopping was his trigger for the walk.
—————-
We have no information that can really help us to say what either of them were doing where during the gap.
All we have is Zimmerman apparently claiming to be on his very strange quest for a house number – and even that leaves over a minute unexplained.
@leander: I do not think her failure to get back in touch with Trayvon is indicative of anything at all, it certainly does not undermine her story.
I would not expect DeeDee, since Trayvon was traveling, to have any number for Trayvon other than his cell phone. If he didn’t answer when she tried to call back, she could have attributed that to just running out of battery or something else, I would not expect her to jump to the conclusion her friend had been murdered.
She probably tried a few times to call back, gave up, went to bed, and didn’t think about it at all the next day; thinking she could count on Trayvon calling her when his phone was working again.
She’s a teenage girl, she isn’t going to do anything based on what she heard: An argument, maybe a scuffle, and a disconnect. She did not hear a murder, would not expect a murder, and probably thought she would hear all about it later from Trayvon.