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
oh, and a tall, 23 oz. can of tea would have made a great weapon if you wanted to attack someone in the dark. Anyone clobbered with that in your hand might get decked.
You wouldn’t leave it in your hoodie pocket.
leander, well, marijuana use among the young has gone down, but I have a nephew who lost a college scholarship for personal possession 10 years ago.
Another reason, too, why ‘stop and frisk’ laws are unfair. Once a kid gets a pot charge on his record in the US, no more government grants or private scholarships for higher level schooling.
If this was happening to white kids, suburban parents would be marching in the streets.
Sling, dat is ‘zactly wha’ happen, sho’ nuff. No disputin’.
Shano, but you know as well as me, once marijuana enters the scene people get irrational, they obviously can easily use it to their own advantage. The sad story is they have power power on their side. Even the sick power to tarnish and criminalize a teenager post mortem. All they need to do is to thoughtlessly repeat what they are spoon fed, while firmly believing they know it all.
I miss Undercover Black Man, he surely would write about this now. Next to his job as screenwriter his main interest was music, but a close second was racism. That’s why I am sure he would be all over this topic now. He was very fierce on the issue.
He has done the best research on Frontpage.Mag David Horowitz I know of on the web. Horowitz the culture warrior and spider or pope of the study and use of popular culture seems to be one of the most important ideologues in helping to the turn the issue on its head it feels. I was watching Horowitz and others closely at the time, that’s how I stumbled across David on the net. He has a whole Horowitz series not just this article. So said he is dead. Requiescat in pace
The use of the drug issue brings racism back with a vengeance for me.
leander, Arizona Iced Tea started as a NY corporation, but they had a recognizable 23 fl. oz. can with arty design that is instantly recognizable. The size & graphic art on the can makes this drink recognizable to most Americans.
Oh the white guys in America try to think that they are completely divorced from black culture, but they are confused. The majority of white kids are interested in black music, media, videos, they have friends of all races and colors. It is quite a shock for them to find out they are now the minority. They cannot stand it.
Even their kids are listening to Kayne & Rhianna, using ‘ghetto’ language, wearing the clothes, using the gestures..
The watermelon & skittles may fit in with this as an ‘urban legend’ in this youth culture. Of course, HFCS and flavoring chemicals, artificial coloring, corn starch, no matter how bad for you, will probably NOT get you ‘high’.
Thanks, Tony. So it’s not the big media conspiracy as they suggest elsewhere, but simply something one would assume if one sees a can of the brand. Sounds logical. Why would it be important to note the special flavor, and I assume that is what the watermelon signaled to them.
But yes, it is not really important. Although I have the suspicion too that Watermelon juice and Skittles are converted into the typical ingredients of “Lean” they do not seem to be, to start with.
Watermelon Sizzurp
Any drug related references that escape me? Someone posted that for me. I like the rhythm, but I won’t pretend I get the story.
Of COURSE there’s a layer of racism. It’s practically the WHOLE CLOTH, but the prosecutor chose not to use it because SHE wanted the victim to be a “punk” rather than a “coon.” She’s the only game in town; we’ll play.
O’Mara is top-smart sleezy; his two predecessors were clumsy-ass sleezy and they probably didn’t get any of the paypal money.
can lead them to exonerating (and then deifying, of course) their boy.
I had the vision of George Zimmerman for President over at the Stately McDaniel manor, reading commentaries. For all I can tell they would be quite willing to make him a millionaire for having done the right thing for them, their “our boy”.
Our boy! How did Mike put it: a “young man who was very much together for a 28 year-old” since Martin is dead anyway, not necessary to give him the chance to maybe be even more together than Zimmerman at 28, quite the opposite. He can’t be as any youth his age naturally experimenting with identities, no, he must have been on a deep downward spiral. After all that would justify his dead in hindsight.
I can’t help Sling, there is a layer of racism beneath the façades.
@leander: can anyone explain me, why none of the officers recorded Arizona watermelon juice instead of iced tea.
“Arizona” is most widely recognized in the USA as a brand of iced tea, even though they sell other beverages under that brand. If I saw a bottle with the “Arizona” logo on it, I would automatically presume it was some flavor of iced tea.
Since the actual specific brand or flavor of a commercial beverage is irrelevant to the case, I presume the cops made the same assumption, and it is a harmless mistake.
sorry, after the “revocation of the bond” hearing.
<The drug thing is ridiculous.
It makes me very angry too. But as a tool to manipulate public perception it is nearly perfect, especially for a US public of “righteous citizen” whose perception is shaped by centuries of the war on drugs. In specific variants it would work over here too, but it could only target the usual suspects the left (your liberals?), the “non righteous citizen” over here.
watch this, perfect use of coded language – the contributions will flow lavishly again, I am sure.
O’Mara’s Watermelon comment on 6/1/2012 after bond hearing:
I have to admit, if my nose hadn’t been pushed onto the issue, I hardly would have understood the layers of coded language in play.
But can anyone explain me, why none of the officers recorded Arizona watermelon juice instead of iced tea. Is this a regular code word and thus was censored. I somehow don’t understand.
Sling, Sling, Sling!
What brought me to the Trayvon Martin thing, I don’t know.
What kept me there, I know it, and I must study it forever, forEVER.
Whom I have met, I am in awe,
I am rich,
I am RICH!
Thank you. It is percolating through my mind, what a powerful brew!
Thank you, Sling Trebuchet. Where you put your eye, you put your onager.
The drug thing is ridiculous indeed.
It seems to be two-headed
1) Martin was a no-good, so LEAVE GEORGE ALOOOOOONe!
2) Martin was a thug who intended to kill Zimmerman in a drug-fuelled rage. Zimmerman was just out walking.
If use and effects of drugs is up on the stage, then Zimmerman’s medication, their side effects and the reason that he was on them in the first place are equally deserving of an outing.
I posted the following over in the Stately Manor
===========================================================
Since this incident would appear to be describable as two druggies in a fight, it might be useful to describe it in a form of street talk.
(I dun take lessons frum de interview I heerd)
———————————————————————————————–
Oooooh! Dat Trayvon. He wuz one bad ass. He da Watermelon Man.
But he done met up wid a badder ass.
Georgie Zimmerman he wuz sick in de hed. He go to de doc and de doc done gib him de chemiculs to mak dat bad sick stuff go way frum hiz hed.
But de chemiculs done made him crazy in udder wayz
Ooooooh! He had de rage a hiden inside back of de eyes. Don’ go mezzin wid Georgie. He liabul to shoot yo n yo dog
So Trayvon done walk up ta Georgie and gib hem de ebil eye. An Georgie he get real mad. He say he gonna git dat Trayvon. Travon not gonna git aways dis time. An Georgie falls to cussin his ass.
So he follows him n he lost him n he run frum de back but den he gits to him.
An Trayvon say WTF an Georgie say you know right WTF an he shoots his ass.
The drug thing is ridiculous. The use of the whole distraction in this case is very similar, in fact, to the sociological use of “the drug war” to distract attention from the American people in general from WHAT WE ARE DOING, INTERNATIONALLY AND NATIONALLY, TO EXPLOIT AN EXPLOITABLE UNDERCLASS. In this respect, the way Florida has handled the killing of Trayvon Martin, and even the “trained dog response” of the virtual reality world to it, has started to glimmer to me with the shape of the monster.
You feel an anxiety coming on.
You target someone — make them into a target.
You identify them as “suspicious” and etcetera.
You follow them.
You “charge them” [“What are you doing around here?”]
At this point you can either use them to decrease your anxiety (if they cave in and hand you control over the situation) or you kill them.
If you kill them, simply start to talk about drugs, because all of this regrettable but socially required action was part of the drug war (or the war on terror, etc.) and thus it was a “necessary kill.”
By being killed they have become identifiable as the enemy.
You then symbolically make them into a target.
Q.E.D.
You have — the perfect abuser system. Complete with the “Trayvon Martin Hoodie Targets” sold in Virginia.
Over in the Stately Manor, there is a sub-thread on Martin the violent druggie.
So I added a comment:
=================================================
The levels of Adderall and Temazepam in Zimmerman’s system on the night are unknown.
For some reason, he was not tested for alcohol and drugs.
I don’t know if he was tested for these after he had assaulted ATF officers a few years previously.
Whatever about the Adderall and Temazepa levels and their side effects, it is clear from his voice and words that he was highly dosed on natural Adrenaline at the time.
This would be from the after effects of his ‘Fight or Flight’ moment that we can so clearly hear in the call recording.
His voice goes suddenly from near panic to a relatively aggressive “These ***. They always get away.” and then to “F***ing ****s”.
He’s pumped up.
So this was a fight between two druggies – one of whom had previously been arrested for assaulting ATF officers. Right?
Zimmerman supporters are on every track they think can lead them to exonerating (and then deifying, of course) their boy. “Trayvon Martin is a thug” was one of their early attempts.
It appears that perhaps Corey has to be extraordinarily tough right now because she’s being shown to be out of her f***ing mind with respect to cases against African Americans who really ARE defending themselves when she prosecutes them for murder. But after all, the SPD had a reputation for racism before the Trayvon Martin killing occurred — the whole stage was set with unusual scenery by the time Zimmerman put on his Walter Mitty hat and stalked out into the cruel world to “bring in his prey.”
My eagerness to see the statements and the videotaped reenactment is getting the best of me. I will bet that the statements George made to the cops AFTER shooting Martin will be even more revealing than those he made before.
About that voice stress test — it’s NOTHING. It’s not even a polygraph. Any garden variety sociopath passes it easily, especially one like George who’s really not that stressed by shooting a “real suspicious” guy among friendly cops who understand why he had to do it.
This cop is on trial for shooting and killing a ‘suspect’ who actually had some pot.
“The New York Times reported that a grand jury has indicted Officer Haste, 30, on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter. More charges could be pending.
Graham was shot and killed after he and a pair of friends caught the attention of narcotics officers who had staked out a bodega on White Plains Road. They radioed their colleagues and said they believed he had a gun in his waistband as he walked toward his home. Officer Haste dashed to the scene, broke into Graham’s apartment, and shot and killed him in his bathroom.
No weapon was found, but police did say they found marijuana in a plastic baggie in the toilet bowl, suggesting Graham may have been trying to get rid of the evidence to avoid becoming another New York City pot bust statistic.
The shooting has provoked anger in the community and led to numerous calls for justice for Graham and other victims of overzealous policing in the city. It has also focused attention on the aggressive tactics of the NYPD’s Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit”….
Zimmerman supporters are on the wrong track obviously.
If this were a civil case, Zimmerman v. Martin or Martin v. Zimmerman, I can see that perhaps there would be some sense to measuring the “relative criminality” or “past conduct record” of the two litigants. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that we have two living persons, and they have fought, and one of them has beaten the other and the other has shot the one. Z and M, for the sake of convenience.
Z’s relative criminality and past conduct record:
1. Past arrest, prosecution and diversion for assault on an officer
2. Past restraining order (and responding restraining order) for domestic violence
3. High school. records and work records — not yet in
4. Record of drinking
M’s relative criminality and past conduct record:
1. Past record of marijuana use
2. High school suspension (no violence)
3. No arrests or juvenile justice detentions
And the fight itself:
Z’s known participation
1. Started confrontation with profiling and following
2. Got out of vehicle to follow M while armed and dangerous
3. Ultimately shot M
M’s known participation
1. Probably caused bloody nose and scrapes to back of head of Z
2. Probably either knocked down Z and/or sat on him
Damage Done:
Z – shot M with a bullet, causing permanent damage
M – no permanent damage
Now, as a civil trial, it looks very much to me like Z is the heavy and has to pay the judgment.
But if they are two criminal trials?
You would have, at the most, on M’s part: simple assault
You would have, at the least, on Z’s part: assault with a deadly weapon
As to those people who want Zimmerman to get off because they think they have proven that Martin was a criminal thug, I have this to say: Yeah, too bad Zimmerman didn’t let him live so he could be charged with a crime and proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Huh?
That stuff is not at all impressive to me because Zimmerman did not claim to have followed or shot Trayvon Martin because he was authorized by the police or by law to kill people who might have purchased drugs. It’s ridiculous. No matter what Martin might have done before 7:00 p.m. on 2/26/2012, he was walking along talking on a cell phone when Zimmerman profiled him and followed him. The only way purchase of, use of or possession of drugs (and remember, the only thing even speculated about at this point is tobacco) could be relevant would be if Trayvon Martin had killed George Zimmerman or had been allowed to survive and then had been apprehended by the real police and charged with a crime. Speculation that Trayvon Martin might have done something illegal (that he was not arrested for) before being killed has no bearing on whether or not it was a crime to kill him. Even had real police killed him while trying to apprehend him for suspected drug use, they would have to answer for it and show that it was absolutely unavoidable.
Sorry, I just think this stuff is more of the kind of victim-blaming that makes it possible for criminals to escape responsibility for their violence.
“would one found”, sorry, I seem to be tired or I change something, “find” of course, Good Night!