It bugs me that there wasn’t an Obstruction of Justice charge against whoever deleted stuff off Trayvon’s cell phone, deleted his twitter account, no_limit_nigga, and I think his facebook account was scrubbed too?
A man is facing 30 years to life in prison and there’s people out there manipulating evidence. Looks like they will get away with it too.
Don West said in court that he was furious about the state hiding the recovered cell phone data from them until June. Making it impossible to backtrack the texts and prove that Trayvon made them. That lack of proof was the excuse the judge used to get them out of evidence in the trial.
This entire case just reeks of political maneuvering.
How are the victim’s facebook and twitter accounts evidence in a case where the two people involved only knew of each other minutes before the killing?
Because Trayvon talks about fighting. Including beating up a another kid. He even said he wasn’t done with that kid yet either. Meaning of course he was planning on beating him up again.
But all that was denied from court earlier this week because the defense didn’t have time to backtrack the texts and get witnesses to say they were from Trayvon. All because the state hid those texts from the defense until June. That article I linked was very interesting.
This issue will be one of several raised if an appeal is needed. If Z is acquitted then there won’t be an appeal and I guess this will just be ignored.
I’m not sure we discussed the hearing on the cell phone texts. Here it is. The texts were excluded because they couldn’t be verified as Trayvon’s texts. Even though it was the phone he carried.
As a side note, I hate the fact that on news programs with talking heads and attached public opinion, it seems at least to me that black people overwhelmingly want Z convicted and that whites (especially men) want to see him walk. I wish that opinion had become more diverse so that some could see past race.
I’m especially troubled with some continually calling the victim “Trayvon” like they were best buds since childhood. It reinforces the stereotype that all blacks are of one voice with no regard for any evidence of the facts.
It’s a damn sad case all around but one in which I hope that Z doesn’t have to be sacrificed on the altar of this nation’s past sins.
But wasn’t that a repeat of the Affaire O.J. where all the bitter, old, racist, dying-out, old white men, clinging to their guns and prejudices, with a blind faith in evidence, assumed Mr. Simpson was guilty; whilst all the bien-pensants just knew in their hearts he was being rail-roaded by the man ?
Incidentally, personally I would a thousand more times prefer the unexpected company of the affable Mr. Simpson on a dark and rainy night than that of the more unstable Mr. Martin, even if the former happened to be carrying a hunting knife.
State Attorney Angela Corey fired her office’s information technology director Friday after he testified last month about being concerned prosecutors did not turn over information to George Zimmerman’s defense team in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
…
Kruidbos said he became concerned that lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda might not have turned over Kruidbos’ report to defense attorneys. Kruidbos asked White in April for legal advice and described some contents of his report such as a photo of an African-American hand holding a gun, a photo of a plant resembling marijuana, and a text message referring to a gun transaction.
White then contacted one of Zimmerman’s attorneys and learned the defense had not received the report generated by Kruidbos. The defense did receive the source file from the cellphone and used its own experts to extract data.
Last month, Zimmerman’s attorneys subpoenaed both White and Kruidbos during a pretrial hearing on their motion seeking sanctions against prosecutors. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson deferred a ruling until after the trial.
Before Kruidbos’ name surfaced in the Martin trial proceedings, he received a pay raise for “meritorious performance,” according to a document dated May 16 in his personnel file.
But the dismissal letter written by Peek contends he did his job poorly as information technology director and said he should have asked someone in the office about his concerns regarding the Martin case.
…
White said he and Kruidbos are reviewing their legal options in response to the dismissal.
White said he wants an outside review by a state attorney from another circuit.
Hope he sues Corey, de la Rionda, and the whole corrupt scheme comes out.
Hell, I’m hoping there’s grounds for criminal charges against them. There’s certainly proof that they’ve acted unethically, but I don’t know if that amounts to a crime.
That ruling is ridiculous. I can see excluding it for relavence but the standard that she used means that every stalking and harassment case in the country should be thrown out.
Haven’t read the whole thread, did the defense ever make the argument that Trayvon made it all the way to his father’s house, then doubled back to ambush Zimmerman?
Since he’s dead Martin can be assumed guilty of assault? That’s going too far isn’t it? All that we can say is we don’t know for sure so we have to let Zimmerman walk.
Well, Zimmerman did have injuries consistent with having been in a fight. Martin had superficial injuries to his left hand, but other than the gunshot wound, no indication that he’d been punched.
It stands to reason that a) Martin illegally met the threat of force with force (IOW, even if Zimmerman stands there and calls him every racial epithet in the book, the law doesn’t allow us to use a physical solution to a verbal provocation.)
b) Martin saw the gun and, in “fight or flight” mode, reacted with “fight,” even though he was severely outgunned. If he’s in fear of death or serious bodily injury, he had no legal duty to retreat.
c) Martin never touched Zimmerman, and in between the time of the gunshot and the arrival of the first witness, Zimmerman beats himself up.
Evidence from trial:
Zimmerman’s statement that TM was on top of him, hitting him. His injuries and the grass stains on both sets of clothes back this up.
Witness Good, who came out of his house and testified under oath that it was the dark-skinned person straddling the lighter-skinned person and using “downward motions” on him.
So we can basically eliminate C. And, reasonably, I’d say there’s a strong chance A is what happened. But, since B is impossible to disprove, then we ultimately don’t know, and Zimmerman walks.
An assault by Martin on Zimmerman cannot be assumed solely because Martin is dead. Such an assault can be assumed based upon the physical injuries Zimmerman sustained and the testimony of witnesses.
Had Martin survived he could have faced a criminal assault charge, and would be free to posit a self defense claim to justify his actions.
Here’s a stab: though, be warned, I doubt you’ll get it. I wanted George Zimmerman to take the stand because his story would’ve changed. I’ve listened to many of his interviews and it’s clear that he takes a question and, instead of immediately coughing up an answer, he pauses, then either omits or embellishes what occurred. His testimony he gave to Serino was different than the reenactment SPD, which is different than the interview with Sean Hannity, which is different from the book his brother wrote about the incident. There’s no doubt in mind that if he took the stand, he would have contradicted himself (again).
Why?
It’s because he’s a narcissist. Now I’m sure you’re smacking your teeth in frustration, but be rest assured, he’s a narcissist. Narcissists believe they are always right, everyone is always wrong, and they are a perpetual victim of circumstance. No doubt in mind if Zimmerman took the stand, he would’ve ensnared himself in the web of lies he told. You see, people like him, aren’t interested in telling the truth, they seek to give you the “correct” answer which would not work during intense questioning on the witness stand.
Lastly, his sociopathness was on full display in the Court room. While pictures of a bloodless corpse flashed on the screen, he sat there, unmoved, blinking owlishly with those black, beady raccoon eyes. Let’s not forget when Zimmerman laughed and smiled in the Courtroom inappropriately. No humanity left in that body, just a husk of a man who craves attention and adoration. West is a similar type of guy, though, O’Mara, to his credit, does (seem) to possess a vestige of humanity, bless his heart.
Honesty
P.S. Debra Nelson is a boss: Overruled! Regardless of the verdict, she did a phenomenal job and hope the people of Seminole County won’t vote her out. But maybe, that’ll be for the best, because we could sure use someone like her in Cook County.
Why would Chewbacca, a 7-foot-tall wookie, want to live on Endor with a bunch of 3-feet-tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! And what does it have to do with this trial? Nothing. It does not make sense!