Posted on 07/08/2013 5:19:56 PM PDT by RoosterRedux
Defense lawyers will be permitted to show that Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system when he and George Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in a gated community in Florida last year, the judge in Zimmerman's murder trial ruled Monday.
Judge Debra Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin's system from the jury, paving the way for Zimmerman's lawyers to argue the drug may have influenced the teen's behavior. Defense attorney Don West noted that in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the Sanford, Fla., community was “on drugs.”
Late Monday, Zimmerman defense spokesman Shawn Vincent said the defense could rest by the end of the day Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. The prosecution would then have rebuttal witnesses, with closing statements by Thursday or Friday. Vincent stressed this scenario depended on everything going as expected.
Nelson's ruling on the toxicology results came after the jury was dismissed following a day of conflicting testimony about whose voice could be heard screaming on a subsequent 911 tape. A parade of Zimmerman's friends said they recognized the neighborhood watch volunteer's voice, but Martin's father, who police said initially told them he did not recognize the voice, said he came to realize it was his son after hearing the tape some 20 times.
The testimony, in week three of Zimmerman's murder trial, came after the mothers of both Zimmerman and Martin testified Friday it was their son doing the screaming in the Feb. 26, 2012, 911 call made to Sanford, Fla., police. The issue is critical because Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, says he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense as he was being beaten.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Why in the world was there any question as to whether the marijuana evidence could be used?
Good.
Because it might give the jury the wrong idea about Saint Trayvon.
Well, like, you know, evidence could get in the way of justice being served.
The wife just told me that some guy was on TV saying that marijuana doesn’t make people violent. I told her that may be true but it does make them stupid.
Ask Mama and Daddy why they started suing everyone before this trial and why they rushed to trademark their son’s name?
Railroad Rules, unless superseded by Kangaroo Rules
/sarc
It doesn’t on its own, I would agree with that.
What substance abuse does do, in my experience, is amplify already existing negative personality characteristics.
For example, if one is an angry person, then one is likely to be an even angrier drunk.
If one is a stupid person, like myself, then one is likely to be an even stupider drunk.
If one has violent tendencies, then it is very likely that those violent tendencies will be amplified when one is under the influence of a substance. Any substance, including MJ.
But the important point evidence is the Skittles. Forget that he was high on drugs, broke Zimmerman’s nose and tried to smash his head into the pavement of his own neighboorhood, and that there were burglary tools found hidden nearby. You can’t shoot a “kid” with Skittles!
>> Why in the world was there any question as to whether the marijuana evidence could be used?
Because the judge is a real piece of work.
Totally in the tank for the prosecution.
She initially said “no” to admitting the toxicology report but she had to reverse herself when the medical examiner (himself a real piece of work) let slip that he had changed his mind as to whether or not the pot could have affected St. Trayvon.
“Why in the world was there any question as to whether the marijuana evidence could be used?”
I’m rather wondering if any others were present as well and NOT been allowed in.
What about his school records?
Well, when you have a sentence already planned for the defendant, it’s inconvenient that something might impede a conviction.
The main effect of drugs, from my experience, is to make a person’s mood unpredictable. They can be Dr. Jekyll at one moment and Mr. Hyde the next. Shouldn’t that make this an important consideration in the case?
It does however make you paranoid.
And paranoid!!!
Them darn DEMONS again
The guy, last year in Florida, who ate the face off a homeless guy, was high on marijuana.
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