the only items you deem worth posting here are those you have written yourself:
Posted on 07/08/2013 5:10:03 PM PDT by 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.
Interesting that with all the myriad and diverse information on the internet..
the only items you deem worth posting here are those you have written yourself:
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:iching/index?tab=articles
What might be your thoughts on that peculiar phenomena?
Tomorrow the jury will learn that Trayvon Martin had traces of marijuana in his system that night. And George Zimmerman originally said on the 911 call that he (Martin) looked like he was on drugs or somethin’. I don’t know what more the defense could do to clear Zimmerman. He should walk unless the jury is biased.
I’m not a fan of lawyers or law suits but I hope George can sue for lawyer fees and mental distress.
It went off the rails on the first witness the state called.
“Interesting that with all the myriad and diverse information on the internet..
the only items you deem worth posting here are those you have written yourself:”
Seems perfectly reasonable to me. These are the best articles I’ve seen on the topic, and I enjoy them. So make like a bee and buzz off. It’s not like he didn’t post the entire article, so you can’t accuse him of trying to pimp for clicks.
Another great report! Thanks, IChing. Your efforts are appreciated, and so are your writing skills. Many of us cannot watch the whole trial and testimonies, so we look forward to your daily blog.
Ditto!
Muchas gracias, GPH. SMH
I missed some big chunks today, and you filled in the gaps. Thanks.
I wish you had spent some time explaining the arguments about barring evidence. I understand the judge reversed an earlier decision, and will now allow testimony about the toxicology report (a big win for the defense).
My pleasure, Rushmore Rocks! Thanks for the encouragement.
Although ICHING is posting articles from his own blog, He has stated that he thought people here would be interested in his articles.
We are. He writes well. He even got jumped/thread removed/ etc. and had to work it all out with the MODS. So he’s been through the ringer already.
I don’t see any difference between his articles, and someone posting Tree House Conservative.
So we give him some ‘hits’. He deserves it , don’t ya think?
Plus , he participates in the threads. Blog pimps don’t.
It’s nice to know we have yet another Freeper who is also an ‘author’ . We are fortunate in that we have several.
Could you put me on the ping list for your updates? You do have a ping list, don’t you?
You were doing good until that statement.
No one needs to tell anyone to buzz off.
Give HG a second to absorb Freeper input and you'll see he's just 'checking', as is his habit.
I don't blame him, and his way of 'wording' his suspicion was admirable.
You’re welcome, BykrBayb. By the time it got to that point where they had finished with the witness testimonies and were hemming and hawing over all that stuff, I was already focused on getting down the meat of my write-up and I saw those details as more of a sideshow. If they do wind up striking Donnelly’s testimony, the jury already swallowed & digested it so it’s out of the barn, etc. As far as the toxicology/pot thing, I think I had already finished by the time that word came through, plus I just don’t see it as a big deal at all, not even relevant really except as pertaining to Zimmerman being accurate in his perception/report to police dispatch that Martin seemed to be on drugs.
Not good enough. I want George to be appointed to replace Angela Corey, and It should be done by the Governor, in public, with the Governor on his knees apologizing to George.
Thank you, UCANSEE2. That one thread never did get restored, and it was an example of me posting something I didn’t write myself.
I post so many great articles and pics and videos by other people on my Facebook timeline that if I went around everywhere and tried to post it all everywhere I’d never have time to work and spend time with my family, much less keep up with trial developments, etc., and write. SMH
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