Posted on 07/09/2013 7:33:16 PM PDT by IChing
Dr. Vincent Di Maio took the stand for most of today’s testimony, commanding the entire room with his august yet easy confidence and candor, and reducing the prosecution’s interference to only sparse, feebly-muttered objections for the entire lengthy phase of the defense attorney Don West’s initial question-and-answer.
In his thoughtful answers, Di Maio curtly supported George Zimmerman’s version of the incident in question–specifically, how Zimmerman received his injuries, and how Trayvon Martin died–by mere virtue of his unimpeachable assertions about everything in evidence being consistent with Zimmerman’s story of what happened.
Having graduated medical school in 1965, Di Maio has been practicing forensic pathology for 48 years. His testimony today seemed to go on for about the same length of time. But he certainly isn’t a boring guy to listen to; he’s been boning up on broken bones, broken skin, behavior of bullets when fired, and everything having to do with injuries to, and deaths of, human beings for so long that when he answered questions about it all, it was in such a knowledgeable, conversational tone (with just enough gallows-directness) that you couldn’t help but be somewhat amused at some of his revelations.
For example, when discussing different kinds and causes of head injuries, Di Maio would first spend some time precisely, clinically clarifying the exact nature of the event, then would bluntly blurt out the bottom line: ”We’ve seen people who have this particular type of brain trauma under the surface, which isn’t apparent at all from the exterior, and you’re walking around with no problem–but then a few days later you suddenly drop dead.”
Another highlight was when Di Maio explained about how a person suffering a gunshot wound straight into the heart can continue to live, talk, and move for at least 10-15 seconds afterward, and up to as much as 1-3 minutes, if enough oxygen is still available to the brain. He gave the case example of a man who had taken a point-blank shotgun blast which had completely shredded his heart; the man was still able to run 65 feet, rounding the corner of a building before dropping.
Most importantly, Di Maio debunked multiple previously existing prosecution myths, which had been enabled in part by incompetent testimony from his comparatively incompetent medical inferiors put on the stand by the state, regarding the circumstances and implications of both Zimmerman’s injuries and Martin’s expiration.
Instead of speaking in haltingly broken English, like so many other physicians we find on witness stands and in our society nowadays (this trial included), Di Maio’s words flowed comfortably, and without any confusion about pronunciation or meaning at all. And like detective Chris Serino of the Sanford police department, who projected the prototypical “NYPD Blue” flatfoot, Di Maio came across like a character right out of central casting–the classic worldly, case-cracking, old-school Sherlock in a lab coat who could just as easily have filled the lead in the TV show “Quincy, M.E.” as did actor Jack Klugman (speaking of Klugman, same also played the role of one of the jurors in the brilliant, original cinematic version of “12 Angry Men”–a fitting minor happenstance here, because of the parallel courthouse suspense and painstaking jury deliberation drama which exonerates an falsely-accused man in that classic film).
Enlightening also was the way Dr. Di Maio brought lessons for those who might have thought some of the other state witnesses even knew what they were talking about or doing in their jobs. For instance, when going into minute detail about Zimmerman’s injuries, Di Maio made it clear that emergency room doctors and nurses (as well as paramedics and EMTs in the field) often fail to adequately document a patient’s wounds accurately, to the point where he just doesn’t consider their work in general reliable in that respect–”They screw it up all the time.”
When mildly challenged on that by the prosecution, he frankly explained again and again how such medical professionals are really mainly oriented to treating patients, but not especially interested in or geared toward meticulously documenting, in fine detail, their patients’ injuries. Given that the exact location on the body, and the precise, miniscule aspects of injuries, are what wind up being vetted in an alleged murder case such as this, Di Maio not only made clear the supreme value to the court of his diligent expertise, he then proved his point on the spot: He turned to one of the images of George Zimmerman’s battered and lacerated head projected onto the courtroom wall screen, and convincingly pointed out how the physician assistant Lindzee Folgate (who saw and treated Zimmerman the day after the incident, and who had testified in court last week) had failed to actually document Zimmerman’s injuries exactly and completely.
In addition to casting his authoritative thumbs-down upon aspects of the prosecution’s theories as well as parts of testimony by the prosecution’s witnesses, Di Maio proceeded to staunchly declare that due to the nature of Zimmerman’s injuries, he should have been taken to the hospital immediately by the Sanford police. Di Maio explained how there exist numerous case histories of people who exhibited identical types of impact wounds and lacerations as Zimmerman did, who were not taken to hospitals by police and/or paramedics, and who died later on as a direct result. Di Maio not only pointed out the severe liability to police departments which fail to bring such patients to emergency rooms immediately, but again, implicitly, to the overall mishandling of the entire matter by authorities, in terms of how Zimmerman has been mistreated and railroaded.
In cross-examination, the prosecution vainly tried to shake Di Maio from his testimony by posing flimsy possible alternatives to the way the defense says that George Zimmerman’s and Trayvon Martin’s respective actions and positions throughout the shooting incident played out, but only managed to get him to skeptically acknowledge the highly unlikely, minimal chances of their theories. Dr. Di Maio stuck to his guns, and upon re-direct basically sealed the acquittal–that is, assuming the six jurors are alert, competent, and moral women.
If Dr. Di Maio’s turn at the witness stand closed the deal for the defense, the finishing touch was their final witness. Mark O’Mara briefly queried a former neighbor of Zimmerman’s at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, an apparently bedridden African-American woman by the name of Eloise Dilligard, who has moved from that neighborhood since the night of the incident. Giving her testimony via webcam and telephone, her face loomed large over the courtroom, as if offering the capstone confirmation of Zimmerman’s innocence–after some procedural answers as to her neighborly relationship with Zimmerman leading up to the incident, and the details of the whereabouts of various people and vehicles in the neighborhood that night, she replied (when asked) that she does believe the voice screaming for help on the Lauer tape is that of George Zimmerman.
As I write this, it is already getting to be late-ish evening, but court proceedings for the day are still going on. The jury was dismissed for the day around 5 hours ago, but attorneys from both sides have been arguing about the vetting of an animated recreation of the incident produced by the defense; whether it is to be shown to the jury. That hearing has been extremely tedious, and I confess that I still don’t know if it will be shown or not.
Right now, in the absence of the jury, there’s a guy by the name of Richard Connor on the stand, “proffering” his expert testimony. He is some kind of expert in digital media/data recovery, and Trayvon Martin’s cell phone text messages and social media posts about him “always fighting” are being discussed. Connor is reading aloud Martin’s ebonic texts about things such as making an opponent bleed more (more than “only his nose”) the next time he fought him.
Those of us who have studied this case closely for well over a year know that Martin’s social media trove is a gold mine for the defense, because it all paints a clear picture of a vandalizing, drug-dealing, violent thug whose rap-music hero was ”C-Murder,” and who took pictures of himself with wads of cash and with a gun, discussed buying a gun illegally, and so on.
I’m not counting on the defense’s animated recreation being shown to the jury, nor am I sure that Trayvon Martin’s gangsta-thug persona will be exposed to them in court. But I am confident that George Zimmerman will be acquitted. This complete sham of a case should have been over long, long before it ever even got started.
How refreshing to see such great straightforward reporting.
I think you may have—Z shoots a pistol right-handed but writes with his left (same as me, btw).
I think you may have—Z shoots a pistol right-handed but writes with his left (same as me, btw).
Thanks, EV.
I am exhausted by trying to follow the bench arguments that continued so far past the time the jury was sent out of the courtroom.
I am grateful that you have the stamina to sit through all of this, and bring us your take on it all.
Thanks, IChing, for your patience in searching for truth and justice in this freak show of a show trial - only designed to appease a minority, who seem not to have inherited a genetic trait for logic and reason.
I appreciate your ability to listen to all this, then summarize it for those of us who get tired, and decide we should do something more productive, even as we listen to endless foolishness from the prosecution.
An aside... memories from long ago days... something I remember I Ching once told me that one of his high school teachers said, after muttering something non-pc, but truthful. (Or maybe I just remember it that way?)
“You didn’t hear me say that, guys”
Actually, it sums up this entire prosecution defense today, for that little toad, as I think of him, seems to live in an alternate world of his own strange making,
Today, I decided, when the “little toad” was posturing, that it was time to try to make some gluten-free crackers. Crackers are the biggest “sad” when one goes on the Paleo diet.
(Anyone want an easy recipe? - freep mail me)
Have to do something to keep me grounded and healthy, right? This obscene travesty of justice is more than any of us should accept.
Lots of us lefties use one hand for some things, and the right for others.
We do some fine motor skills with our left hand, but we rely on our right hand for other skills.
We may write and eat with our left, but use the right for strength - so we throw balls, shoot guns, play tennis, kick stuff, open stubborn jars, modern packaging, etc. with our right.
Unfortunately, it takes us more time to figure out which side is best used for what task, but we eventually get it right, and we end up with stronger brains.
It isn’t always easy for us, so there must be a survival gene in there, or else all of us cross-dominants would have died off way back when.
Time for bed.... say a prayer for George, Mike O’Mara, Don West, and Judge Nelson. May she have a bit of honor, and a belief in truth & justice in her heart, no matter what political pressures be upon her.
Remember, some women are strong. She needs our prayers, so maybe she can stand against the mob.
This whole Zimmerman hoopla is a politically-inspired bad joke, and the defendant will be in hock to lawyers up to his eyeballs as a result of having to defend himself against a walking, talking pile of steaming horse sh*t.
Not to mention that he’ll have a target on his back for the rest of his life at which every Black weisenheimer in the U.S. is dying to take a potshot.
I finally fell asleep, don’t know what I might have missed.
I’m right handed but injured my right shoulder in childhood so I’ve done many things requiring strength with my left hand.
Bernie is down to the point of just throwing crap out and hoping it sticks. If he had any decency he would concede.
Corey has been sitting in the front row like a moldering goblin, I suspect she communicates with Nelson.
This is a tragic case of tyranny
It was very frustrating to watch Nelson get surly with West and O’Mara, as she has done all along, and shut them down as they begged and pleaded for her to be fair. West went off. O’Mara was restraining him but even he got flustered. Nelson acts as if she wants to indulge any challenge by the prosecution ad nauseum, but then expects the defense to have their next phase ready to roll even though she gives them no time to prepare. Nelson is uninterested in the fact that the prosecution has been lying and cheating, keeping exculpatory evidence from the defense since over a year ago...
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