Jun 22 2012
Zimmerman’s Incoherent Statements Destroying His Defense.
Updates Below (Including A Smoking Gun)
I have been reviewing the audio, written statements, video (here) and an earlier composite of events to detect inconsistencies for George Zimmerman – with sadly a lot of success (sadly for Zimmerman of course). And I have to admit I am totally surprised to see one of my earliest suspicions pan out (which I did not post, but started to many times). Reader Mata Harley and others have also been hard at work assessing George Zimmerman’s shifting story line and evidence. But let me start with that early suspicion that showed up to my surprise.
As everyone knows I felt like I knew what kind of person Zimmerman was, since he replicated other similar characters from my life time. When I heard the first rough details of the fight, I pretty much dismissed Zimmerman’s statements as nothing more than a hastily concocted alibi mixed in with some actual facts (some twisted). One thing I was not buying face value was the ability to pull a gun while on your back on the ground in a fight. That is nearly impossible to do without at least one missed shot going off.
It is a simple matter of physics and dimensions of the human body. Just like you cannot stick your elbow in your ear, you cannot reach your waist band with your hand unless you spread your elbows out so they extend out like wings (<O>) or you pull them back so the elbows extend behind your back. On the ground you cannot pull your elbows back beyond your back. So the only option is to spread your wings (see image below for example).
You can also cross an arm over your stomach to reach your waistband on the opposite side, but this makes it hard to pull a weapon from a holster – and we will discover this is impossible from where Zimmerman wears his gun.
These thoughts struck me early on, but since I had no idea of what transpired and there was one way to gain access to a holster on the hip with wings out (so to speak), I decided not to post such thin gruel.
But along comes George Zimmerman, reenacting the events and he sticks his foot into his mouth as he tries to gild is self defense claim. Here is a snap from the reenactment video (time 2:39) showing Zimmerman reenacting the moment he pulls the gun. He claims Martin has reached for his gun – now that it has become exposed – and Zimmerman has pinned Martin’s arm with his right arm – while he pulls the gun!
To prove how impossible this really is, look where Zimmerman’s hand can reach while pinning his other arm (representing Martin’s arm). He cannot reach up to his waist band with his right hand, nor can he really draw a gun up and out of a holster. Now look where Zimmerman puts his hand just a few seconds earlier when he indicates where he wears his holster (time 2:22)!
A few items to point out here. First is Zimmerman’s holster is worn around the back – which means Martin could not see it if he was sitting on top of Zimmerman with Zimmerman’s back on the ground. Second, there is no way to pin the arm and pull the gun as can be seen in this second position where Zimmerman mimics grabbing his holster. Look where is elbow is. This is all fabrication because it is all physically impossible (line of sight to the holster, elbow length and arm motion).
Trust me, I was as surprised as anyone to see this prediction come true. It gives me even more confidence my original suspicions were spot on.
Now back to Mata Harley’s comments on timelines. One thing I agree strongly with her on his how Zimmerman changed the events leading up to the incident:
GZ then says he followed TM in his SUV to the Twin Trees Lane spot where he last parked… the time elapsed from the “something in his waistband/checking me out” comment while parked at the clubhouse to arrival at the last place parked is 43 seconds, if you use the next pertinent comment… below. Quite reasonable for a slow moving car to round the corner from the clubhouse to the site where the SUV last parked.
The time when he stops there is now 2:08 seconds into the phone call.
While at that spot, GZ’s reenactment definitively states he observed Martin run down cut thru and turn right. Then he says that he doubled back, came towards his car and circled him. But of course, while on the phone with the dispatcher, he doesn’t say any of this. Why? In short, it never happened.
Actually, when he gives his statement the night of the incident, the point of circling seems to be some place totally different, back near the clubhouse (listen here at time 11:00). Update: Upon listening many times again it does sound like Zimmerman claims the ‘cicrling’ took place near the cut through and not back at the clubhouse. – end update
Why if you are on the phone with the police and now the ‘suspect’ is within spitting distance don’t you tell the police? At least you can update the description! Or you could roll your window down and ask him what he was doing. I agree with Mata here – this is a really bad ‘hole’ for GZ, who cannot afford any discrepancies given he took an innocent boy’s life.
Finally, there is a huge discrepancy in Zimmerman’s account concerning where he said the initial ‘attack’ took place and where it ended. Here is the problem in a nut shell (click to enlarge):
The Deadly Conflict
In the reenactment video you can see Zimmerman trying to make up the distance between where he is punched at the top of the sidewalk T (and in original statements where he just falls down and is pounced on by Trayvon) and where the Martin’s body ends up. You can see how quickly he tries to add something new – about pushing off Martin and pulling away. Something COMPLETELY at odds with his signed statement and audio statements the night he was detained.
Update: Another glaring problem with Zimmerman’s statements surfaced between the audio tape and the video reenactment. At 13:32 in the audio statement Zimmerman states he was returning back from the other side of the cut through (see image above) when Trayvon jumped out at him from the bushes. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to note that there are no bushes big enough to hide behind that are close to the walk. Here is another snap of the video reenactment with the detective in the image standing where Zimmerman says Martin came from. Clearly there are no bushes.
It seems more likely that what happened is Zimmerman, thinking he had an outsider in the neighborhood, had run all the way to the other street assuming Martin would head to the back entrance. But Martin instead had headed towards his home, between the buildings. He mentioned this to Dee Dee on the phone. It is clear, as I proposed a while back, that Trayvon thought the coast had cleared and headed back up behind the buildings, only to have Zimmerman see him again, and follow him back towards his home.
Dee Dee’s testimony is very damning here. There is enough consistency in locations, timing and sequence to confirm she was getting a real time report from Martin. This provides credibility to her statements. It is Zimmerman’s inconsistencies which are becoming glaringly obvious. He did not know Dee Dee was in on the event, so his statements are at odds to her and the dispatcher’s recording at key points. Which means these are points he is trying to adjust to his advantage somehow.
Update: Another inconsistency shows up between the audio and video versions. At 16;27 audio Zimmerman states that after he shot Trayvon, somehow Martin was down and he got up, holstered is weapon on climbed on Martin’s back (where one witness finds him). In the video reenactment Zimmerman claims he was on Martin, spreading his arms out with his gun in his hand. Not a big difference, but it does indicate he probably is trying to fill in details in a fiction account on the fly instead of recalling actual events
Smoke Gun Update: On more glaring disconnect in the audio statement. When Zimmerman first says he did not know what street he parked on (which really is not a credible story given it is the main entrance street, and his street is off that one) he says he has to get out to find a street sign. But then he makes a huge mistake and admits he is on the other side of the buildings ON HIS STREET!. He then repeats later he went through the ‘dog walk’ (where he REGULARLY walks his dog) to find a street name??? It’s his own damn street, and he knows it.
We now have proof he made up the reason why he got out of his car and followed Martin. He did NOT go to the other side of the buildings, to his own street, on a path he used regularly, to look at a street name. He lied.
Worse ye, at 21:11 of the audio tape he lets slip a detail. He says Martin was apparently upset he called the police. Now how would Martin know Zimmerman called the police? How much you want to bet the confrontation was longer and had a lot of exchanges, including Zimmerman telling Martin he called the police and his gun out trying to detain the boy?
He better be plea bargain right now.
BTW, full video here.– end update
I am sure there is more to come. I add these additional crime scene views to help in the discussions (click to enlarge):
Initial Sighting
Zimmerman's Initial Stop For Call
Second Stop At Cut Through
Zimmerman Loses Martin Who Went Between Buildings Towards Home
So it looks bad for GZ. Here are some of the arguments the Defense will make.
1. You really expect a guy who just has been through the traumatic event of shooting and killing someone, and having his nose broken, and having his head bashed on the concrete, to have all the details perfectly at his disposal. Really?
2. GZ was suffering from a bit of PTSD. When he went out for the reenactment his mind was trying to fill in gaps that he couldn’t consciously recall. This is totally normal! And they’ll have a bunch of noted shrinks on hand to so testify.
3. DeeDee’s testimony puts TM nowhere near the location of the confrontation just moments before it occurred. TM must have doubled back and confronted GZ.
I don’t know how good any of these will work but remember the standard here. GZ is innocent unless the State can prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. For a Manslaughter charge this is not too high a hurdle, but for Murder 2 is seems to me the bar is pretty high. I guarantee you that the Defense will work extremely hard to sow the seeds of reasonable doubt.
Layman,
The problem with your argument is that you’re approaching the charges based on the fight alone.
The 2nd Degree Murder charge is based on the entirety of the Zimmerman’s actions from the time he spotted Martin all the way thru to the time of the confrontation.
If the State can prove the last two elements of the charge (the first element is not in dispute), then it’s over for Zimmerman regardless of the issues surrounding the fight.
And all this talk of his head being “bashed” on the concrete is amusing to me. Z had two minor cuts. Two. One was 1/4″ long, the second was less than 1″. Neither required stitches. Neither required any treatment above and beyond on-the-scene first aid as administered by paramedics.
Z claims that Martin had his hands over Z’s mouth and nose. Yet, on the 911 call we clearly hear the uninterrupted and sustained calls for help that he claims belong to him. Of course, in the interview with Serino, Z says it doesn’t sound like him screaming.
One cannot have one’s mouth covered and be screaming at the same time. Right?
Though there are glaring inconsistencies in the re-enactment sequence, Z’s major problem has always resided in the series of decisions and actions that he took which lead to the confrontation.
His efforts during the interviews to explain his actions are weak tea at best.
Layman, I deliberately stopped at the point where he hung up for debate purposes. That doesn’t mean I don’t have theories in what transpired in the minutes after he hung up and during the fight. There are more holes there, and AJ only points out a few.
Remember what the State is charging… murder two… and what three elements they need to prove beyond reasonable doubt to a jury. If I thought that the State didn’t compare the dispatchers call with GZ’s story, ignoring the fact that circling his car was an impossibility, I’m not any more.
TM never “circled” his car – clubhouse or elsewhere – GZ wants tht element in his story to seem that TM was a threat to him in order to justify his aggression in chasing a “suspicious” Martin. Unfortunately, no where in his other statements does he mention looking like he was on “drugs”. He confines his suspicious that it was raining, Martin wasn’t in a hurry to get out of the rain, and he didn’t look like a paramilitary training in weather.
As even Serino pointed out, from the time that TM took off running at the Twin Trees location, and GZ following him within seconds, it was an impossibility for TM to get home without remaining in full sight of the man pursuing him. GZ was standing at the T, talking to the dispatcher for two more minutes only 34 seconds after Martin started running (from where ever he started running) and hadn’t yet rounded the corner out of sight…. according to GZ’s own reenactment.
If Martin rounded the corner and stepped into “the darkness” and shadows (say near the site of death) to see if he was being followed, what he would have observed is a guy who stopped within 15-20 feet, stayed there on the phone for two more minutes, then started wandering around only 100 feet away to continue a search for him. If Martin stayed there, hoping that GZ would just go away, it’s possible that when GZ was (if he was) at the end of the cut thru, Martin stepped back out and thought he’d lost him, only to have GZ reappear. If he is “behind him” again, as Dee says, GZ is now pursing Martin south on that cut thru a short distance, which is far more likely than this traveling road show fight that supposedly started right at the T on the east-west cut thru.
GZ is working pretty darned hard to not place himself off that east-west walk thru, but the story GZ claims and the final death site doesn’t lend much rationale to where he says the first punch was thrown.
All this begs giving the benefit of trust and GZ credibility to swallow. The problem is that we already know GZ has outright lied about this “circling” and “doubling back” over the grassy area bit. Needless to say, the GZ credibility factor has been in a spiral.. what with his story, his lack of candor with his own legal counsel and with the court.
As for Dee, as I said, we don’t know if TM used the exact words “by” his father’s house, or if that’s how Dee is translating what he said. What if TM said he was right “near” his father’s house? Certainly two buildings and a football field distance away is “near” considering where else he had been. There would be little need for her to urge him to “run” were he where you want to put this fake push pin. Her testimony is not capable of providing exact locations, except when she mentions the clubhouse.
As I’ve said, Dee can only be useful is possibly giving insight to TM’s state of mind, the fact that he was retreating and that GZ was following, plus put another time stamp on the start of the fight. But her account that GZ was following him in the car, again on foot and got “close” is documented by GZ himself.
What is really darned interesting is the CVSA interview, and what happened prior to the tester entering the room. GZ chit chats about how his psych (psychiatrist or psychologist) gave him a really rough time the day after the killing… followed by a long pause and some mumbled words about “authoritative” behavior.
GZ, himself, requested that test. Must have felt sure he would breeze thru. He confirms to the test administrator that the drugs he uses are Librax, Adderall and Tamazapam, and nods yes when the tester asks him if he suffers from ADHD. O’Mara is going to work pretty hard to keep GZ’s medical records out of the equation, while the State is may attempt to use those drugs and his psychiatric profile to demonstrate a man suffering from a malady similar to Short Man Syndrome – engaging in risk taking, aggression and desperately eager to please.
BBG, in the CVSA interview, Zimmerman told the woman in the room that the paramedics said he *may* require one or two stitches. Altho this is not stated on the paramedic report included in the May 15th doc dump.
Well, I’m glad we have a plethora of prosecuting attornies here to make the case. All I want to know is:
Does anyone doubt my assertion that the defense will attempt to explain away any incosistancies in GZ’s story and that they will attempt to paint a picture which leads to reasonable doubt?
See Mata, this where you and others get me wrong. I’m not necessarily defending GZ. But when I here a bunch of theory that “proves” his guilt and ignores evidence that might be exculpatory I point it out. Same thing the other day when I took on RT with my alternative view of the Prosecutor’s motives.
Call it stirring the pot or something else. I just get the feeling that once people get up a head of steam with their own view they tend to become myopic. This is definitely a complicated case and we still are not privy to all the evidence. When people like BGG start making their snotty little remarks (see post with 135+ comments) I feel compelled to step in with alternate hyposthes which may not be likely, but as least are plausible.
Me? Snotty?
You’re entitled to your own opinion as well as your own right to be wrong.
Obviously, I disagree with your assessment.
Of course, calling my comments “snotty” is a bit snotty on your own behalf, wouldn’t you say?
BTW, there is a second version of the full Pt I and II reenactment posted on YouTube, as an alternative source.
GZ’s Legal site, run by O’Mara, had provided links to the rest of the GZ statements released now available. However the entire site is down right now with the following error message:
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache Server at gzlegalcase.com Port 80
…. hummm
Layman, I think you are mislabeling the approach. I repeat… the State’s case for murder two is “strong”. What the release of GZ’s statements… first time we hear from him instead of media or family mouthpieces… documents why the State chose to pursue murder two, and no other charge.
As to the end verdict of acquittal or conviction, that is up to a jury. Stating that the State’s case is strong is not the same as declaring GZ guilty. But you can take his own words and actions to heart, and certainly say that he is guilty, or undeniably responsible, for pursing Martin relentlessly… and all based on him standing in the rain, not in a hurry, and not appearing to be a paramilitary in training ????
This evidence release lays to rest any idea that GZ was threatened by TM enough to justify what is obviously aggressive actions on his part, and he can’t claim this “I was returning to my car to comply with the dispatcher when Martin jumped me” bit. That could and would only be true if, immediately after hanging up with the dispatcher, he had chosen to travel west to his car, and not east to Retreat View Circle (if he even did that… who knows?). If the dispatcher asked him for an address where his car was parked, he won’t be finding it 265′ east of where is car is parked.
I also find this continued assertion that he is “unfamiliar” with Twin Trees Lane (as he says in the CVSA interview) hard to swallow. There’s only three streets in the entire complex… Retreat View Circle, Lone Oak and Twin Trees. I would find it hard to be such an enthusiastic and diligent neighborhood watch captain, who walks his dog around the neighborhood, couldn’t manage to retain the names of only three streets after two years.
What you should be asking yourself, is why is he trying so hard to claim he didn’t know where he was? The only answer is that he uses that supposed ignorance of his own complex as a reason to pursue TM.
Frankly, I don’t see one thing in GZ’s story that is to his benefit… or exculpatory… as it relates to the State’s charge of murder two. He’s in deep doo doo.
And of course the defense strategy will attempt to explain away GZ’s actions. No brainer. It is the primary job of O’Mara to place doubt in the jury’s minds that GZ was, in any way, as aggressive towards Martin strictly to combat the murder two charge. If they are not successful at that, then any self-defense strategy is pointless. He’s being tried for murder two, not imperfect self defense (i.e. manslaughter). If the state proves those three elements beyond all doubt, the jury will be instructed to convict.
O’Mara’s secondary job, if they accomplish establishing significant doubt in the jury’s minds for the elements of murder two, is to then convince them that GZ had no other recourse but to shoot and unarmed TM. That, in and of itself, will not save GZ from conviction.
GZ Legal site links are back up. They had to remove the reenactment video to free up band width
BGG: “Wherefore art the Zimmerman cheerleaders now that these damning pieces of evidence have been revealed?”
I stand corrected. Snotty was a very poor word choice. Juvenile is more appropriate. Your post in its entirety comes off as, “Neener, Neener, Neener! Told you so…ha ha ha!
Perhaps in the future we can stay focussed on more productive discussion.
Yes, perhaps we can refrain from calling one another’s posts “snotty” or “juvenile”.
That would most certainly be a productive first step toward remaining focused on a productive discussion.
[…] caught that one as well, using Zimmerman’s own reenactment to prove it could not happen: Unfortunately for Zimmerman, however, the bullet must have changed course somehow in the 2 to 4 […]
i wonder if anyone saw zimmerman’s car parked at the location where he claims to have left his vehicle. to me, seems like someone should have seen it, especially if it’s parked that close to the cut through. unless, of course, it was not parked where he said it was.
zimmerman mentioned seeing a car backing out so, i wonder if that person has been interviewed. i also wonder when exactly shellie zimmerman moved the vehicle and did anyone see her?
“Here is another snap of the video reenactment with the detective in the image standing where Zimmerman says Martin came from. Clearly there are no bushes.”
very clearly, between each apartment is a privacy fence. planted along each privacy fence are shrubbery(often known as ‘bushes’. they are clearly visible in each photo.
[…] As I noted in a previous post, GZ could not be pinning TM’s arm to his side and with the same arm pull a gun. Just not physically possible. When his arm is pinned to his side, GZ cannot reach – let alone pull – the gun in his holster. Moreover, TM could never see the gun with GZ on his back because the gun would be between GZ’s back and the ground! Two impossibilities now! […]
[…] See original here: The Strata-Sphere » Zimmerman's Incoherent Statements … […]
[…] let’s begin. As I noted in a previous post discussing the Video Reenactment performed the day after the killing, GZ demonstrates where he kept […]