Day 23 (Week #5) Zimmerman Trial – Closing Statements

The Conservative Treehouse ^ | July 11, 2013 | Sundance

[Uncle Chip]

Today, July 11th, is DAY #23 (of 5th week) State of Florida V. George Zimmerman case.

Yesterday the defense rested its case. A legal analysis via Professor Jacobson HERE.

From my perspective the entire case ended, as expected, early in the day yesterday when Judge Nelson gave George Zimmerman his personal Platinum Express DCA Acquittal Card. The ruling, and more importantly the legal determination she used on the ruling, regarding the Trayvon Martin phone evidence was an immediate Nuclear DCA option. Nelson essentially ruled against admissibility based on ”authentication”. She could have kept it out under other legal reasoning, but no, she chose the one without the slightest chance of being upheld by a District Court of Appeals. IMHO this was intentional and aligns itself with the way she has ruled during the pre-trial discovery phase, and during the case itself. She’s a rigid ideologue, but she’s not stupid – this was intentional.

By ruling the phone records (texts and pics from Trayvon) cannot be “authenticated” to have originated by the specific personage of Trayvon Martin just gave the dismissal of the case to George Zimmerman with a bow on it.

As it was carefully explained to me, the phone is like a bucket. The data inside the phone is like marbles in a bucket. Some marbles from calls, others from pictures, others from texts, etc. The State brought the bucket into court – and validated the bucket contents with their own witness from the phone company – Both the State and the defense then began arguing their case around the phone call marbles in the bucket – Primarily with Rachel Jeantel. But no-one challenged the bucket itself. The State authenticated the bucket and the content of the bucket during the introduction.

The defense picks up the same bucket the state hands them, and now begins to use the contents – texts and pictures – and then Nelson rules the bucket itself cannot be authenticated. It doesn’t work that way.

If the state authenticates evidence, it cannot be divided and only authentic when the state holds it, but not the defense. Flawed logic – ABSOLUTELY positioned to give such a prejudicial outcome, the appeal would result in dismissal, not retrial. Nelson gave the case away to George Zimmerman.

She could have ruled on relevance, admissibility, or other factors – but she chose the one destined to fail, “authentication”. She gave it away.

In other news, people are catching on to the Eric Holder, Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Community Relations Service – being the actual puppeteers behind the entire construct of the false case. To them we say “welcome to the party pal“.

[hoosiermama]

She moved her family out of Chicago to a peaceful little interracial community in Florida. Says a lot!

[pollywog]

amen.....

[UCANSEE2]

How come I haven’t heard you’re gonna die tonight mother f-——r over and over , what Trayvon said to Z before the gun was pulled? I saw several good spots during the trial where it could have been inserted.

I believe that was 'heard' by the jury when the Prosecution played the tapes of ZIMMERMAN's interviews with police.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I missed that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation when those characters were on.

[cuban leaf]

Defense will parade photos.....like you cheesy freak parading vulgarity to make your points.

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When I was on jury duty, I treated those photos as “ok, this is how bad the crime was. Now I need to determine if the defendent is guilty of the crime.”

The severity of the crime is completely irrelevant if the defendent didn’t do it, or had to do it to save his own skin from the person he did it to.

But then, I can compartmentalize better than most people and MUCH better than women.

[over3Owithabrain]

Juror info:

B29, described in open court by the prosecution as "black or Hispanic," is a married mother of eight children. Likely in her 30s, she is a recent transplant to central Florida from Chicago and works the overnight shift as a nurse in a facility for patients of dementia & Alzheimer's disease. A churchgoer, she said she first saw T-shirts of Trayvon Martin in Chicago but has not followed the case. She said that there are many murders and shootings in Chicago and the Martin shootings did not initially stand out. She also revealed that she doesn't watch or read news but likes Bravo reality TV shows and "drama" movies. She raised her hand when the large jury pool was asked if anyone had ever been arrested. She implied that it had been years ago in Chicago.

As for the other jurors, B76 is a white female in her late 50s or 60s. A resident of Seminole county since the 1990s, she has two adult children, including one who is a lawyer. She said that once, while discussing the case, her daughter questioned why Martin was out so late before his encounter with Zimmerman. Yet she said she has "open mind" about Zimmerman case. She said she only watches local TV news because she does not have cable. During her initial questioning by lawyers, she pointed to the Martin family section in the gallery and asked out loud, "Is that his mom?"

B37 is an animated White middle-aged woman, likely in her 50s. Married with daughters, she follows NBC local news and is a regular “Today Show” watcher. She volunteers for animal rescue groups and keeps "lots of cats," dogs, birds and lizards at her house. Notably, B37 said she once had a concealed weapons permit but let it expire. Her husband does have such a permit and owns firearms. She also said that the state should provide more instructions and guidance to people who get this permit.

E6 is a white blonde female, likely in her 30s, who often wears business suits to court. Unemployed, she worked previously in financial services. She is a mother of an 11- and 13-year-old. An avid news watcher, she asked a lot of questions during the voire dire process. She also said that she is a victim of domestic violence and that was arrested once in the 1990s.

Both E6 and B76 were initially striked by the prosecution, each side had as many as 10 peremptory challenges, but the judge rescinded the strikes after Zimmerman lead defense attorney challenged their validity on a "gender neutral" basis.

B51 is an elderly white female in her late 60s or early 70s. Retired from multiple careers, she once ran a call center. She said she did not follow the Zimmerman/Martin case because she was dealing with the estate of her uncle who passed away recently. She called the Martin shooting "very sad."

E40 is a white female in her 60s, who just moved to Seminole County, Fla., from Iowa. She learned about the case from national NBC. She has the newspaper delivered on Sundays but she said "didn't have time" to follow Zimmerman case because she was "too busy" at work.

The jury has had their identity protected by Judge Debra Nelson due to the intense national media attention that the case has garnered. Nelson granted a defense motion, which was agreed to by the state, that asked to hold the jurors' names anonymous until a period of time after the trial was concluded. The defense had initially argued for six months but Nelson said she would define the exact duration at a later time. Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/06/21/who-are-women-on-george-zimmerman-jury/#ixzz2YlPDI3Kd

[RummyChick]

Maybe this is one of the reasons MOM wanted to go after Bernie.

Big difference between the two

[BuckeyeTexan]

Did anyone catch the fact that Angela Corey had one of the prosecutors rearrange the evidence leaning against the railing in front of her so the jury could see Trayvon’s sweatshirt with the bullet hole clearly? It had been turned around facing away from the jury.

[don-o]

Andrew Branca, LOSD @LawSelfDefense

#zimmermantrial BDLR now using the “we just don’t really know, may never know” technique of demolishing any reasonable doubt.
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[Anti-Hillary]

I have wondered that too. If George was going to shoot Trayvon, under the rules of self-defense, he could have done so while TM was beating on him, but RATHER he did NOT. It was ONLY until TM saw his gun and said “you’re gonna die tonight M f’er”. It was only then that George knew it was him or TM.

[cyn]

//Rush Limbaugh is talking about Bernie right now. “This guy’s filled with rage! What is it we are told people don’t like? They don’t like yelling. This guy is acting like he is LIVID about everything over this. They are not showing the jurors but I can tell you that the gallery there..there are some who are not even looking at him anymore. Some are yawning. Some looking down. The younger women may be scared to death listening to what he is saying.”//

lol, I heard that; good (and quick!) transcript you did. Rush trumps Bernie in who I’m wanting to listen to right now.

[EnquiringMind]

One juror “smirked” at a pros. line and that’s “bad for the defense”?? Define “smirked”. Do you read minds also? Just wondering... And I’m thinking, there SHOULD be an aquittal but if the jury is hung, instead of convicting, that’s better than nothing. Therefore a single juror smirk - and even “mind reading” them as possibly for conviction - does not a conviction make. Sorry, I’m just not getting your thought processess...

Perhaps I am taking your "do you read minds?" reply the wrong way (doubt it, though), so I'll simply say "fine".

Next time I will simply ignore.

[RummyChick]

I mean RIGHT after Bernie..not a day later

[UCANSEE2]

How can this be true

Well.... it's not true for common people.

But when it come to politics and law and courtrooms, apparently it is arguable.

[RummyChick]

Kathi Belich, WFTV@KBelichWFTV
The state keeps saying #Zimmermanon9 told his neighbor to tell his wife he killed someone. That is not the testimony. The defense let it go.

[Racehorse]

But . . . there was no violence until Zimmerman pursued and killed the kid . . . self defence or not.

Have nothing to object to anything you wrote . . . except the kid . . . however you want to show him . . . was walking alone.

Zimmerman ignored warnings to stay away till police arrived. True?

At minimum, IMHO, Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter. He, IMHO, murdered the kid. All Zimmerman had to do was wait for the cops.

Not taking the stand in his own defense, Zimmerman avoided answering insightful questions.

As much as I see, Zimmerman killed someone roaming a neighborhood wearing a hoodie, eating candy, wandering about, and when confronted, did what i would do.

Tell the prick to f&vk off.

Decades ago, while visiting relatives in Baltimore County, I entered this row house, wrong house, people looked at me, stepped back and looked at the street signs. Got house wrong. Those people would have been well within their rights to shoot me for invading their home.

Except I got the street and house wrong.

Thankfully, the family I surprised didn’t want to kill me.

[Gator113]

Let us know if you can hear the wet grass. LOL

[21twelve]

If Zimmerman’s comments are hearsay, then why is Rachael’s testimony on what Martin said admissable?

Do you know if all of the Serino interviews are in the evidence? Or was it just Serino’s statements on the stand that are in the record? I’m guessing the latter, as I’m pretty sure the “you’re going to die tonight” would be in those interview transcripts.

[cuban leaf]

Juror 5 smirked a bit at BDLR saying #TrayvonMartin was unarmed, unless you consider Skittles and drink ...

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I would have smirked, but because of the lunacy I saw in the statement.

[BykrBayb]

I’m looking for video, audio, or transcript of Judge Cow’s statement to the jury just prior to the persecution’s closing. I half heard it at the time, but I’d like to review it. I think she instructed them that what the lawyers say is not to be construed as the law.

She told the defense they can tell the jury it’s not illegal to follow someone, but if I heard her correctly, she told the jury not to believe them.