Zimmerman Trial Update: State's Attempted Railroading Goes Off the Rails

ClashDaily.com ^ | 7/8/13 | Donald Joy

[IChing]

It’s George Zimmerman’s defense team’s turn to put forth their case, and quite frankly, they have a fairly easy path ahead. The wind is at their backs because no real, compelling evidence was brought before the jury by the prosecution in their initiative phase of this kangaroo charade (because none actually exists).

Nonetheless, despite the lack of evidence against the accused, rather than issue a judgment of acquittal last Friday, the judge punted the whole matter onward, and eventually toward the jury phase. So now we watch attorneys Mark O’Mara and Don West solidify the fortress of exculpatory factors for their client. Meanwhile, prosecutors can only make rather vain displays of flailing stabs at discrediting defense witness’ statements, while trying to throw out evidence & throw up procedural blocks to the defense.

This having been the first full day of defense testimony in this unsavory spectacle of prosecutorial misconduct, it started off featuring witness after witness taking the stand to swear that the voice of someone yelling desperately for help on the 911 call recording which has come to be known as the “Lauer tape” (after the last name of the witness who made the phone call) is that belonging to George Zimmerman.

The parade of highly competent defense witnesses making that same testimony actually began late last Friday, after the prosecution rested its case and the judge denied a defense motion for a Judgement of Acquittal based on lack of evidence against their client (earlier that day, Trayvon Martin’s mother and older brother had claimed it is Trayvon’s voice).

At the end of Friday’s drama, Zimmerman’s mother and uncle briefly took the stand in the first volley of the defense phase, and both stated very firmly and with steadily-controlled passion that it is George’s voice screaming on the tape. Their statements, delivered in thick “Spanglish” accents, seemed to come from a visceral level, and evoked visible reaction from Zimmerman himself, to the point where his eyes appeared to be tearing up while locked onto his uncle–a former U.S. Army command sergeant major and current sheriff’s deputy–speaking forcefully of his role in George’s early life, and of his adamant conviction about the subject of his testimony; that his nephew is the one yelling over and over for help on the tape.

This morning’s developments saw and heard no less than five close friends of Zimmerman, at least two of whom have direct past experience hearing Zimmerman’s voice yelling loudly at multiple political rallies, support his story. Furthermore, at least two also testified that the kinds of profanity used by Zimmerman on his calls to police non-emergency dispatch did not, in their view, indicate ill will, hatred, nor the depraved state of mind required for a charge of second-degree murder.

Remember, the police dispatcher himself said the same thing on the witness stand last week–that Zimmerman’s comments about “these a**holes always get away” and “f***ing punks” were, in his six years’ experience as a 911 dispatcher, fairly normal remarks, of the type which often come from ordinary citizens calling police to report suspicious activity.

Zimmerman’s friend from last week, federal air marshal Mark Osterman, was again on the stand, describing how no law enforcement agency (that he knows of) has a policy which allows any officer to carry out duties without having a live round in the chamber of their weapon, and that the lack of an external safety on a semi-automatic pistol is not necessarily a safety feature in all circumstances. (for what it’s worth, I can corroborate what Osterman says, from a professional standpoint.)

Adding fuel to the fire in the belly of the defense juggernaut, encore performances were given by both of the Sanford police detectives who’d already been called to testify for the state last week, Doris Singleton and Chris Serino.

Singleton and Serino both testified that upon playing the Lauer tape for Trayvon Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, he had said in their presence that it is not his son’s voice screaming.

Later, when Tracy Martin himself was called to the witness stand by Mark O’Mara, he told a different story than Singleton and Serino did: Martin swore that he had at that time said instead that he couldn’t tell whether it was Trayvon’s voice or not. He also acknowledged that he changed his position later on, claiming that the voice is Trayvon’s.

Between the testimony of the two detectives and Martin came that of a rather interesting and compelling witness, the owner/operator of the gym of which Zimmerman was a member in the year leading up to the incident in question.

Adam Pollock presented a somewhat charismatic, energetic, and forceful personality, describing his involvement in bodybuilding, martial arts, and all kinds of fitness-related competition, training, and instruction from his early childhood to his current professional standing as a consultant and entrepreneur.

O’Mara put Pollock through the paces for awhile, picking his brain as to the different kinds of fighting skills and mixed-martial arts techniques which exist, and which are taught in classes at his gym.

O’Mara then had Pollock physically, positionally mock-demonstrate on him, on the courtroom floor in front of the jury, the same “ground-n-pound” technique that primary eyewitness John Good described last week, when he testified as to what he saw Trayvon Martin doing to Zimmerman while mounted on him “MMA style.”

Pollock described Zimmerman having come to him and to his gym as a flabby, soft, heavy, and utterly non-athletic specimen with the goal of “losing weight and getting in shape.”

Although Zimmerman did succeed in losing quite a lot of weight through his exercise and dieting efforts–Pollock said 70-80 lbs.–he simply did not have the adequate athletic background from childhood sports activities, nor the overall inclination/scheduling flexibility, to really develop any fighting skills at all. Pollock described at length and in detail the heavy commitment required for someone of Zimmerman’s profile to attain accomplishments of proficiency in the realm of even basic boxing, and that Zimmerman’s non-athletic softness and lack of total dedication/sparse class participation just couldn’t cut it in the least. When asked over and over again by both the defense and prosecuting attorneys, Pollock was steadfast and rock-solid in insisting, rather forcefully, that someone like Zimmerman was only a “0.5″ on a scale from 1-10 in terms of being able to even throw a punch effectively. He refused to let Zimmerman ever get in the ring, not rating him beyond mere shadow-boxing out of safety & liability concerns.

Pollock greatly helped the defense by firmly putting into the jury’s minds that Zimmerman was not in any way in a capacity to counter nor withstand the physically overwhelming, blitzkrieg onslaught of flying fists from Trayvon Martin, especially once Martin had him pinned underneath him flat on his back, even attempting to smother him.

What the jury may or may not know is that Martin was a strapping, athletically-conditioned high school football player who had an ardent lust for fighting, even texting to a friend that he wanted a rematch with one opponent he’d already beaten because the guy “didn’t bleed enough for me, only his nose.”

Otserman’s additional testimony helps show the jury that Zimmerman carried his concealed firearm in a conventional, responsible, and safe way, and that Zimmerman deployed it only as a last resort to save his own life.

As for the rest of the day’s courtroom action, once the day’s witnesses had been heard, things pretty much bogged down in involved arguments over prosecutors trying to get judge Nelson to throw out testimony and evidence unfavorable to their side.

Nelson has been helping the prosecution all along, as everyone has been able to see for themselves. I can understand why De la Rionda and his cohorts are grasping for all the help they can get, because they are pushing a train that has no tracks underneath it.

We can only pray that the jury can also recognize this for what it is.

[IChing]

I don’t have a ping list, never did learn to program a VCR either.

[UCANSEE2]

Little thug also had THC in his system.

And if that's all he had in his system, I'd say that was proof he didn't attack Zimmerman. I've never seen anyone high on pot attack anyone else.

NOW.... in black culture, they smoke what is called 'wet'.

It's a marijuana joint soaked with PCP.

IF that is what he had smoked, his violent attack makes complete sense.

Just google DRUG WET and that's the first thing you see. Violent attacks by those on 'wet'.

[IChing]

My pleasure, Cajun.

[Sasparilla]

Florida Judges are elected officials. Denial of a directed acquittal was a CYA moment from the bench.

[IrishPennant]

Since first hearing the name George Zimmerman, and all throughout the pre-trial hype and now through my daily fixation with the day to day trial I have not found one reason I would not let George babysit my kids.

[spacejunkie2001]

thanks so much for drafting and posting. ignore the riff raff that have to attack people for posting things instead of making themselves the least bit valuable at this site themselves.

[IChing]

You got that right. Nelson won re-election unopposed last time around, as did state’s attorney Angela Corey 5 days after filing the malicious and false charging affidavit.

[Mr. K]

I can’t believe even the prosecution in this case is not saying “We would like to drop the charges” at this point

[UCANSEE2]

"I say, I gotta teach the boy everything. "

: )

Ping lists are easy.

Just create a text file, in some word processing program or simple text editor.

When a poster wants to be on the PING LIST, just cut and paste their SCREENNAME into whatever text file you started.

Put a semicolon between each username. You can use commas instead, but then you can't leave any 'blanks' in their name. So stick to semicolons.

When you create a new thread, after you post it, click on any of the posts (yours will be number 1, that's easiest to use), and for the TO: field, simply go back to the text file you made and saved, and CUT the string of SCREENNAMES and then PASTE them into the TO: FIELD. That's all there is to it.

[soozla]

Trayvon’s trip to the store to get “candy” and iced tea are being portrayed as an innocent outing, befitting the innocent little kid he’s been made out to be....when in reality, it is more likely the Skittles and fruity iced tea were ingredients to mix up some “drank” as it is called......here’s a recipe and there is more to be found if you Google “purple drank”.....

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sizzurp

[BykrBayb]

Do you know if the toxicology report includes info about other substances, like PCP, hydrocodone, Robotussin, etc.? If they failed to test him for something like maybe the ingredients in purple drank, can the defense bring that up?

[Pontiac]

What the jury may or may not know is that Martin was a strapping, athletically-conditioned high school football player who had an ardent lust for fighting, even texting to a friend that he wanted a rematch with one opponent he’d already beaten because the guy “didn’t bleed enough for me, only his nose.”

I hadn’t seen this before. This should be before the jury in the interest of justice.

Martin had a history of violence, to the best of my knowledge Zimmerman does not.

[Inwoodian]

Who would he sue? Martin’s family? The State DA? No way.

[UCANSEE2]

I have not found one reason I would not let George babysit my kids.

I think he's been punished enough already, don't you ?

[: )

[jurroppi1]

” and his way of ‘wording’ his suspicion was admirable”

it was passive aggressive at best.

[BykrBayb]

WAIT! Don’t cut and paste. Copy and paste. If you cut, your original list is deleted.

You can save your list pretty much anywhere. Freepmail it to yourself. Email it to yourself. Save it to a file on your hard drive.

[humblegunner]

So make like a bee and buzz off.

No thanks.

Self promotion and blogpimping are two sides of the same coin.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

You’re just jealous because Doug Giles was noted as a “hot conservative new media superman” by Politichicks and you weren’t:

http://clashdaily.com/2013/07/clashdaily-coms-ceo-doug-giles-noted-as-hot-conservative-new-media-superman-by-politichicks/

[KalaSamy]

If you want in-depth coverage go to Legal Insurrection ... the author of a book on the law of self defense, Andrew Branca, is covering the trial live via twitter and two summaries (mid- and end-of-day) daily. That is the best coverage I’ve seen on the web!

[UCANSEE2]

I think I know exactly what you know about the TOX report.

Positive for pot, but other substances either weren't tested for, or the results have not been made public.

The report is probably available somewhere on the internet, but I haven't seen it yet.

As for your last question, It would be my opinion that they can't bring up something that wasn't tested for. To ask 'why' it wasn't tested for, the defense would likely get shut down by the judge. Legally and reasonably.

Look at it this way. We can't go back in time and do something we now think should have been done. Ergo, the opportunity was lost, and there is no solution to arguing about why.

Again, it's all dependent on what is actually in the TOX report anyway. Maybe it shows more than we think, or know about.