A new picture has emerged of George Zimmerman following the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. The picture shows a bruised and bloody Zimmerman, though such pictures do not establish who started the fight.
The picture however will clearly add to the claim of the defense that Zimmerman was engaged in an intense fight when he said Martin tried to grab his gun. The standard remains guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and these photos will be used to create such doubt in the mind of the jury.
The picture was taken by a Sanford police officer on the night of February 26th after Zimmerman killed Martin.
Source: CBS
I don’t think any of you folks will be on the jury.
Oro Lee: “What did Zimmerman’s hands look like?”
If the state of hands is relevant, then a much better question would be ‘What did Martin’s hands look like?’
Martin had a scratch on one finger. End of. (Apart from the bullet)
According to Zimmerman, Martin punched him on the nose immediately at the start.
Martin runs up and asks: “You got a problem?”
Zimmerman: “No”
POW! Zimmerman gets decked.
He says that from then on, Martin straddled him and banged his head repeatedly on the concrete. He says that Martin repeatedly punched him.
Zimmerman does not appear to have attempted to defend himself from this assault. No defensive injuries are reported – to either of them.
His own doctor reports the following morning that Zimmerman simply has two lacerations at the back of his head – which need no treatment other than cleaning. He also *might* have had a closed fracture to the nose. Zimmerman refused to have this checked out by ENT.
The shot is heard about 40 seconds into the first 911 call. Allowing for the delay between the fight starting and the caller noticing the noise, deciding to call, dialling and the call connecting, the fight must have lasted almost a minute.
Martin has a scratch on one finger. Apart from the bullet wound, that is the extent of his injuries.
Zimmerman has two minor cuts and a suspected closed fracture of the nose.
All this from a life-threatening fight that lasted *at the very minimum* 45 seconds.
Such marks do not seem to me to be consistent with Zimmerman’s story.
“As Zimmerman began to relate his version(s) of events, his nose started to grow longer.” (SlingTrebuchet)
I like it.
I think I have worked out how the significant swelling in the ‘new’ photo seems to have disappeared in the police station photos taken shortly later.
http://shannoninmiami.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/gz-photoshop-side-by-side-jpg/
As Zimmerman began to relate his version(s) of events, his nose started to grow longer.
This pulled the skin of his face to stretch over the lengthening nose.
The swollen tissue got flattened by the pressure.
The cut at the top of his nose appeared to have moveed as the skin was being pulled.
We don’t notice the longer nose in the police station photo as he is looking straight into the camera.
It all makes perfect sense.
What did Zimmerman’s hands look like? If the new photo is legit, could Zimmerman have done this to himself after killing Trayvon?
To me the dead give away is that the wound on his nose moved – ITS A FESTIVUS MIRACLE!
I don’t care if Treyvon was kicking his ass, Georgie started a fight that was not necessary and totally avoidable. That he was then allowed to kill the kid is just permitting murder. It may not have been premeditated in that he did not set out with the plan to kid Martin but he went out looking for the opportunity to shoot someone.
A 17 year old has an advantage over an older guy. You slow down when you hit age 30. And get slower thereafter.
Go tell that to George Foreman! A 30 year old guy who is trained in fighting has ALL the advantages. Get REAL!
From all of the evidence I have seen and read, it appears that Zimmerman confronted Martin, and Martin knew he was being followed. It appears that Zimmerman demanded Martin tell him his business, and Martin told him to F#ck off. At which point Martin turns to leave. Zimmerman grabs Martin’s arm or body to stop him, Martin swings around and either hits of pushes Zimmerman down. Thus Martin winding up on top. The fight commences with Martin trying to hit Zimmerman, but it could not have been very effective since Zimmerman could shield his face and still go for his gun. I seriously doubt Martin attacked Zimmerman head on since Z would not have wound up on his back in that case. The only explanation I can see for Z going on his back is if he were surprised and was not expecting Martin to swing at him when he grabbed him. Martin is not bigger than Zimmerman nor did he outweigh him.
Then the question is at what point does one who is in an unarmed fist fight get to use deadly force? Since I have been in a number of such fights, I never once thought or desired to pull or use a gun or a knife. Nor did I need to and even in a two on one fight, I still do not think I would have been justified in using deadly force such as a knife or a gun. Accepting the photos as real, it sure does NOT look like Zimmerman was sustaining life threatening injuries, especially when it was just one kid as opposed to a guy who was trained in fighting.
Come on…
BarkingDog:
“I want someone watching out for my safety and property in my neighborhood and I dont want hoodies creeping around stealing and mugging.”
Right.
So you are staying in a family-member’s house.
You pop out to the 7-11 for some stuff and then head back.
You notice a guy in a truck tailing you down the street. You don’t want this guy following you all the way home. There’s just a kid there.
Your route home has the option of getting off the street and down a walkway. You take that.
The walkway is dark and you take cover – to wait a bit and check that the guy has stopped following you.
Then you see him again. He’s followed you into the walkway.
Then you lose sight of him.
You stay put. It’s safer to stay than to risk bumping into him. Over a minute passes. Maybe it’s safe, but you haven’t noticed him going back along that path where he first came into the walkway after you. He’s probably still searching for you.
Then he’s on you again. Maybe he’s heard the sound of your GF ringing you, or saw the phone glow in the dark.
The guy is clearly up to no good.
Who is the one under threat? You or the wierdo who has been hunting you?
————————–
Things go pear-shaped.
There’s a fight and the guy ends up shooting you.
It’s OK though, because the guy turned out to be a legitimate vigilante who was “watching out for my safety and property in my neighborhood”.
He just mistook you for a burglar is all. What’s the problem?
I’m not a medic, but to my eyes, the very significant reduction in nose-swelling by the time he got to the police station does not seem credible.
Bettkath offered http://shannoninmiami.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/gz-photoshop-side-by-side-jpg/
This is even more remarkable given that the aspect ratio in the two images is significantly different.
If you adjust the aspect ration of the new image to match the one taken in the station, that swelling becomes even more pronounced.
.
Whether or not the image is photo-shopped, it supports nothing other than that there was a fight. It says nothing about how that fight started. We only have Zimmerman’s word for that. Zimmerman is not a credible witness as
1) Well, he would say that wouldn’t he?
2) The only reliable witness to events is the recording of the NEN call.
What do we know from the NEN call?
Events and sounds are recorded in real time. Times are absolute.
Zimmerman’s accounts of events in walk-through and statements to not match the NEN call.
The fight did not break out until two minutes after the NEN call ended.
If Zimmerman is to be belived, and that he was returning to his truck, then he passed the point where he says that Martin attacked him ….. one and a half minutes before that attack happened.
.
In the last seconds of the NEN call, he suddenly changed the plan from a meet at the truck to one of the patrol ringing him to find out where he would be.
The only credible conclusion is that Zimmerman went in search of Martin after he ended the call. He was not returning to his truck.
Zimmerman ignored clear NW rules of whicj he was aware.
1) Never carry a weapon
2) Never approach. Observe from a safe distance
Zimmerman also ignored the advice of the dispatcher – which should have reminded him of the NW rules.
Martin was on his perfectly reasonable route from the 7-11 to where he was staying.Zimmerman formed an opinion that this was one of the neighbourhood punks who “always get away”.
It is clear from the timings in the NEN call that Zimmerman went hunting after the NEN call ended – and that he found his target two minutes later.
First, I don’t believe there was any photoshopping of the photo for this reason. It would constitute tampering with evidence which under Florida statutes 918.13 is a third degree felony. The officer who took the photo or anyone down the chain of evidence would be guilty if they photoshopped it. From a practical sense, I don’t see any reason for the officer to do this. At the time of the photo being taken by the officer, why would the officer want to do anything other than check the photo into the case report?
The article gives provenance to the photo in that it was provided by the defense team as obtained from the police department or prosecutor’s office. In this case I don’t have any reason to believe the defense atty would alter the photo and release it to the public because I would believe this could be considered misconduct on behalf of the lawyer.
@bettykath
I don’t know if this has been photo shopped or not and I think the photo raises more questions than it answers.
But in the larger photo that you linked there are two places that drew my attention.
The bulge on the side of the nose seems to have a loss of detail or blurring, different from the surrounding flesh tones, that might indicate the use of some sort of morphing tool to give the appearance of a bulge.
The injury at the tip of the nose looks like an irregular blotch of color placed to cover the tip of the nose and a part of the upper lip. I am not claiming that it is impossible to have an injury like that.
But the tip of the nose and the upper lip are separated by the better part of an inch. Yet the color blotch at the tip of the nose seems uniform in color and texture and flat looking. The color blotch at the tip of the nose has a very different appearance from similar injuries on either side above the lip in the mustache area, and other injuries on the lower lip.
These parts of the photo might be authentic, or they might just look funny on my monitor, or they might be manipulated. I think it would be useful to have an expert examine the digital file and the image to see if there are any artifacts that might show conclusively one way or the other if the image was manipulated.
Someone posed the question ‘why would the police manipulate the photo’. As a guess I would doubt that the photo was altered by anyone in the official chain of custody.
What exactly is the process by which evidence can be challenged and evaluated prior to being presented to the jury during the trial?
Zimmerman had a perfect right to follow this perp on a dark street and to carry a loaded weapon. The punk is dead because he attacked Zimmerman. I want someone watching out for my safety and property in my neighborhood and I dont want hoodies creeping around stealing and mugging. If you have ever lived in a neighborhood that “went South” then you might know where I am coming from and know where I am not going back to. Punks slingking around in the dark make life in America miserable. This dead guy has a family with a whining lawyer who is praying for a conviction so that they can sue the homeowners association and steal some more money.
Mr. Zimmerman was told not to follow Mr. Martin but he did. Mr. zimmerman was carrying a gun and following a man on a dark street. If any one had a right to defend himself it was Mr. Martin but Mr. Zimmerman had a gun. As a result Mr. Martin is dead. These photos don’t matter.
Think about the effect that delay plays here. The state law provides for a defendant to file a motion to dismiss the case if he can show to a judge that his conduct was within the parameter of “stand your ground”. So delay prevents him for filing this motion timely and arguing it. Delay means that the case goes forward with momentum toward trial. The defendant was entitled to this photo on the day his counsel entered his appearance and requested all documents and then specifically requested this. The delay is evil. The state is not just some party to a lawsuit. The state is unique. They have put this guy in jail and hold him on bond. There is only one remedy, only one outcome that meets the minimum threshold of Justice with a capital J. Defendant should file a motion to dismiss for abuse of process and abuse of discovery. The motion should be granted.
A 17 year old has an advantage over an older guy. You slow down when you hit age 30. And get slower thereafter. That is one reason for the stand your ground law. A 17 year old is not a kid. A lot of 17 year olds went to Nam and fought ferociously and without regard for self or others. Notice how the state was parading his baby picture around and hiding this photo of his victim. The state hid this photo and tried this guy in the media all these months with their selective evidence. Shame on this so called Special Prosecutor. This is beyond the Pale and calls for expulsion from the Bar.
I’ve got to agree with bettykath. The bloodied photo looks Photoshopped and not even particularly well. The skin tone is off. That it will be used to create reasonable doubt is without question though. The prosecution should have forensics going over this photo with a fine tooth comb.
Photoshopped! I am fairly savvy in photo editing and can spot the use of blending tools and clone tools, etc..seriously…and experts can prove it …the photos info that is imbedded in the image if it were a digital camera would have revealed the truth as well…but these photos would have come out long before now if they were real…something is rotten in denmark…as his cleaned up version if you compare the images show his nose has gone down tremedously in terms of swelling etc to the point of showing little to no injury at all…that would have taken a lot of ice and hours for that to have gone down, impossible in my opinion…he had photos entering the jail with no swelling to his nose…this is a total crock…and I hope they find the losers that did the photoshopping…trayvons knuckles and his fingers would have been bruised and bloody most likely…we saw what happened to Holly Berry’s fiance’s hand when he punched her ex…I hope there are photos of Trayvons hands as that would reveal the truth …furthermore, I think it is beyond shameless and heartless that this attorney chooses to release these photos right before Christmas.. I believe this move is to generate money for GZ legal fund, Team GZ went to the press begging for more money a couple of weeks ago.
Here’s a link to the two pictures side by side
http://shannoninmiami.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/gz-photoshop-side-by-side-jpg/
When compared to the picture taken of Zimmerman at the police station just a few hours later that same night, it becomes rather obvious that this one has been photoshopped.