You mean when Rachel told the jury how Martin racially and otherwise profiled Zimmerman?
So far none of the neighbor witnesses have added much to the case that we didn’t already know from the 911 tape. The screams on that tape were certainly loud enough for all the neighbors to hear. But, it was so dark that none of them saw much of anything until it was over. I’m glad that we’re finally getting the witnesses that went outside after the shooting. At least they can testify about his state of mind.
We just don’t know who escalated the situation. We know that Trayvon saw George watching him. George’s call mentions that and Trayon’s phone friend confirms that he saw George watching him. George claims Trayvon sucker punched him. Without any witnesses there’s no way of knowing if that’s true or not.
I’m still waiting to hear more about George’s wet jacket and grass stains. That’s more proof that he was on the bottom. I guess the defense will raise that issue later. The defense’s case should be really interesting.
Yes, I know what you mean, and I agree. When I was teaching in Harlem, I had some students who would refuse to participate in class if there were “too many white people” in the room. They could code switch, but they didn’t like to do it, and they only felt comfortable speaking around other black people. I was commuting from Brooklyn at the time, and they couldn’t understand why I would travel that far. A lot of them had never been south of 42nd Street. I was surprised that anyone living in NYC could remain that insular for that long, but there it was. Rachel is probably still that insular; she hasn’t left home or even held a job yet.
I was watching the cable news shows after her testimony, and while everyone mentioned her having difficulty communicating for one reason or another, no one brought this up as a possibility, not even the many black commentators, who you know would know about this. Is it supposed to be a secret?
That’s my favorite. I want them to play the screams so everyone can hear Zimmerman being “smothered”. :rolleyes: He said in his statement he couldn’t breath, but yet he could scream… he’s quite a remarkable fella, that Zim. Considering his astonishing ability to be losing consciousness, unable to breath, yet control Martin’s arms while he reached around to get his gun out…I mean, this guy is a candidate for some kind of comic book superhero with abilities like his.
Was he racially profiling Zimmerman when he called him a “nigga”? Did that cancel out also calling him a “cracker”? Do you consider it profiling to refer to someone who is actively stalking you as “creepy”?
Anyway, aren’t you one of the people who thinks this witness had no credibility? Why are you putting so much emphasis on this part of her testimony, but discounting the rest? Do you know what confirmation bias is?
I believe Ma and Pa Zimmerman are listed as prosecution witnesses. I have no idea what evidence they would provide the prosecution’s case. Maybe it was just a way for the prosecution to keep the Zimmerman’s out of court and out of sight of the jury?
What the hell are you smoking? The deliberate lie is clear on the video-taped statement at the station, and in the the video walkthrough the next day, when he clearly and repeatedly says a) dispatch asked him for an address while he was in his truck, and b) he decided to get out of the truck and look for a street sign by c) walking through the cut-through.
But this exchange happens looooong after he’s out of the truck.
It’s completely irrelevant, because the idea that he got out of the truck to ‘find a street sign’ is a complete and utter lie, but you do know that NEN does have, like, google maps or stuff?
:rolleyes:
Actually, he agreed to meet at -the mailboxes-, not his truck. Even more evidence that a street sign or address on the other side of the cut through was meaningless for directing cops to the mailboxes. Completely different area, and they’d already established the address. Secondly, how the hell is there going to be a street sign on the other side of the cut-through? Did he think the cut-through magically turned into an intersection on the other side? Secondly, how the hell is a street sign or address on the other side of the cut through useful for directing the cops to his truck, which is parked somewhere completely different? After giving the cops directions to his truck from the main entrance, do you think he expected the cops to drive to the other side of the cut-through, get out, then walk back through the cut-through to Zimmerman’s truck? On foot?
Finally - in the NEN call, after first agreeing to meet at the mailboxes, he clearly and obviously changes his mind: "Actually, could you have them call me and I’ll tell them where I’m at?
I wish they could be made to reenact that; have the defense demonstrate how it’s possible to be smothered, and have your head being slammed against concrete, and still be able to scream like we hear on that tape.
And then explain why you stopped screaming, suddenly and completely, precisely when the bullet hit someone else’s heart - a hit you claimed to not know about at the time. Why did you stop screaming right then, when - as you claimed - you weren’t sure if you were still in danger or not?
Nooo. You are missing my point. I don’t doubt she can ‘code switch’. I can’t understand why your kids in the class wouldn’t just speak their normal black dialect with white kids in the class. I can’t relate to that.
My point was that simple code switching wasn’t enough in this case. She needed to say, VERBATIM exactly what her and Trayvon spoke about. That is hard to do. If I were to tell you how I speak with my girls sometimes, when we get drunk and silly…if I had to relay that to you in a solemn and formal setting, that would be hard for even me, let alone a scared, hurt, overwhelmed and maybe lying or fudging things too, teenager.
The slang can get downright IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO KNOW WHAT WE ARE SAYING. Try listening to some Ghostface Killa hip hop. It is in another language. Dee Dee understood that the court wanted her to tell them exactly what Trayvon and her was saying, but she understood it would be Greek to them. She was trying to insta-translate, and she just didn’t have the ability to do that. That’s my humble theory. If it were me, I could have made it work, but I am nearly 40 and have decades experience in code-switching, as well as tons of confidence that comes from age and experience. She didn’t have the same advantages.
I actually did get what you were saying; maybe my example was a little off point (my kids had a lot of issues, it was a transfer school), apart from Rachel being as young and inexperienced as my students.
I understand that it would be difficult for Rachel to relate or translate a verbatim slang conversation; what I don’t understand is why the prosecution, or the media commentators, didn’t touch on it as a legitimate reason for her difficulty. The prosecutor brought up that she spoke three languages, which to me just confused the issue, and Rachel herself told West that she spoke and understood English very well. Nothing was said about using slang or vernacular in her conversations with Trayvon, which I thought would have been a helpful adjunct to her testimony.
I disagree. Even though we’ve had their statements for a while, their live testimony is bringing out points that clearly contradict the line of bull Zimmerman has tried to feed the masses. The teacher has been the strongest eye witness so far, IMO. In the early days, people discounted what she said because of Serino’s underhandedness and her emotional state on the 911 call. But she turned in a devastating performance. The jury may discount Rachel and some of the other browner witnesses, but they’ll have a hard time ignoring her.
Rachel clearly understood English well enough - the whole point - and something I thought the State really failed to get across - was that other people not familiar with how she spoke had a hard time understanding her. That was - very clear - both from the recording of her original interview, and (repeatedly) in the court room the last two days.
There’s really nothing to argue about anymore. Yesterday DD admitted that Trayvon was LITERALLY at his father’s house minutes before the confrontation. Thus Trayvon had to have retturned to the T to confront Zimmerman. Case closed.
Unless she was totally uncooperative before the trial the prosecutor should have worked extensively on her testimony. “Tell me exactly what was said on the phone.” “Ok for old people like me can you explain that to me?” There was no need for her to translate herself and if she was having difficulty with expressing herself it should have been dealt with ahead of time. Or maybe it was and this was the best they could get after a lot of work.
John Goode just testified that the darker skinned guy was straddling and raining down blows on the lighter skinned guy. No case.
And we shouldn’t assume that this isn’t lost on the jury either.
The “gotcha ya” game that West played with her yesterday might have been compelling if he was dueling against a Rhodes scholar with perfect diction and adult maturity. But his opponent was a 19 year-old girl who very well might have a learning disability (she can’t read cursive and is old for being a HS senior) who also has a funny way of speaking. He tripped her up on a few things, but to do so, he had to take comments of hers completely out of context and blow them out of proportion. And he did this over the course of five hours. If Rachel was a house of cards credibility-wise, it should have taken them less than 30 minutes for them to have toppled her.
I know I’m biased towards the prosecution, but for real, to think the defense accomplished anything with Rachel except convince the jury that West is an obnoxious bore strikes me as wishful thinking.
Good is a solid witness. He doesn’t let the lawyers trip up his testimony. He even provides details like the fight started on the grass and moved to the sidewalk. The screams were coming from the guy on the bottom.
That was an old school ass whooping. There was no reason for the guy swinging his fists to scream help. The guy getting beat up is obviously the one screaming.
Actually, he didn’t, but txs for playing.
You going to come up with a cite for George pushing the buttons on his phone at the start to the altercation, or would you like to retract your statement?
Lots of reasonable doubt here. State has yet to put on a witness that dispells any reasonable doubt.
Yes he did.
From here.
Why do you disbelieve him? Or, if you believe him, why do you think he’s mistaken, when his testimony matches the physical evidence?