Jul 14 2012
Zimmerman’s Guilded Lies Sealed His Fate
Update II: George Zimmerman’s friend, who relays details to police regarding events of that night portrayed to him by Zimmerman which I discuss below, is not only one time Seminole County Deputy, but also a Federal Air Marshall. This should be interesting…
Major Update: And this is why one needs to read things for themselves. Apparently reports claiming TM”s gunshot wound was not a contact wound (i.e., the gun was not pressed to the chest or shirt) were wrong. On page 205 of the latest document dump the forensic results indicate a contact shot. So my comments below regarding the muzzle of the gun being away from the body are inaccurate (since I based on them on inaccurate reports). Anyway, this does not help GZ. If (and now I have to question the conclusions of other reporting on the autopsy) the bullet’s trajectory is straight front to back and not at an upward angle, then GZ’s statements on when/how the gun was fired are still in doubt. Of course, if the bullet path does reflect a gun pointed upward from the waist into the chest, I will be back here eating a mighty pile of crow….
end update
It is sad to say this, but the concept of ‘critical thinking’ is now a rare talent in America. Too many accept information unconditionally, and then deny all clear evidence to the contrary once they are emotionally committed.
Critical thinking requires an individual to assess information in a manner that challenges all associated assumptions and conclusions. Believe nothing – challenge it all. It means you dig down on your own to determine the truthfulness of claims, instead of taking propaganda and PR at face value.
For example, when the New York Times runs a story claiming George Bush “bypassed FISA” to snoop on Americans, a critical thinking person looks at the details in the story and challenges the hidden assumptions and conclusions being spoon fed to the mindless masses to digest. In this manner, the critical thinker discovers that the entire New York Times story is a crock. A fiction crafted to hide reality: a liberal judge bent out of shape over actions taken post 9-11 to make sure no more Americans died horrible deaths here in the US because of out-dated, ill-conceived POLICIES that provided terrorists more protections within our borders than without. And thus the critical thinkers expose lies and deceptions being hoisted on the public.
And so it is with the George Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon Martin. So many people jumped to conclusions before the details were known, and now actively avoid critical assessment of the information just now coming out. Especially if it upends their initial conclusions.
My engineering/science background – acquired over 3 decades now – does not allow me to avoid the hard truths, or to ignore false claims. It is just not something I can (or will) change. So when you ask why I keep looking at this case, it is because I am a critical thinker who is challenging all the unfounded assumptions and conclusions.
So while the non-critical thinkers claim there is nothing new in each release of evidence in the Trayvon Martin case (as if closing one eyes really does make the world go away), the critical thinker spends time reviewing and assessing the information. If nothing more to cross check his conclusions to date to make sure they still hold, but also to see if there is additional corroborating information that strengthens those earlier conclusions.
Sadly for George Zimmerman he has acted true to form as it pertains to my original assessment of him. I said early on, IF GZ was guilty, his guilt would be discovered because his on-the-spot-alibi would crumble under the weight of evidence and witness statements. I only said this because it was obvious – the liar would be caught in his web of deceit while the honest person would be vindicated as fact unfolded. I did not know then HOW GZ would be caught, just that the truth would win out.
As I read the more extensive interviews now available, I discovered two that really box GZ in because they attempt to provide support to those aspects of GZ’s testimony which are PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE. Let me emphasize this again: some of GZ’s statements could simley be inaccurate (and he would still have self defense claim), but when his story about how he was in a life-and-death situation and had to save himself is proven IMPOSSIBLE, then he is going to be found guilty of Murder 2. He admits to the killing, so if the killing could not happen as he claims, he is lying and he is then going to go to jail for a long, long time.
So let’s recap what aspects of the story are not just inaccurate, but impossible. GZ claims he was pinned under Trayvon Martin – who was beating his head against concrete (this is simply inaccurate, there are no injuries to sustain this claim). Trayvon then notices GUZ’s concealed weapon (again inaccurate, since the gun was on GZ’s hip, trapped between the ground and his back).
So far bad, but not horrible. But GZ, in an effort to bolster his credibility makes the classic mistake of all bad liars. He attempts to add details to make it seem more realistic. But it this series of these details that make GZ’s claim go from unlikely to impossible.
So 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 his holster.
Note this is around the back in the waistband of his pants. Also note the angle of his elbow when reaching to his gun. His elbow HAS to bend to reach his waist. You cannot reach your waist and pull upward (to pull a gun) without bending the elbow. It is physically impossible.
Not 10 seconds later in the reenactment, GZ adds one of his embellishments that make his story now impossible. He claims he has Trayvon Martin’s arm pinned to his side because Martin is going for his gun. Now look at his elbow and hand!
There is no way to pin an arm AND reach behind AND pull a gun from your waist band – because once the elbow bends to get to the gun you loose the pin on the arm. This is Impossible Fiction 1.
I also noted in that prior post you cannot pull a gun from a holster on your back hip if you are on your back, pinned to the ground by someone ‘mounted’ on your stomach. This observation brought out a lot of fanciful thinking from GZ defenders. They created a series of mythological positions with TM standing over GZ, not sitting on GZ’s stomach pushing his back onto the ground.
It turns out GZ repeated this story many times after the shooting to friends and allies, and in the telling added more damning details. And these details prove false the fantasies. Here is a snippet from Interview Record 52 (from this record of evidence, starting page 77 – click to enlarge):
This version of events was told to police by a very good friend of Zimmerman’s. The same friend GZ and his wife stayed with after the shooting. The same friend who went with his wife to pick up GZ the night of the incident and the same friend who is with GZ during the video reenactment. A man who was a Seminole County Deputy for 6 years. This is what he told police GZ told him. In this telling GZ is quite clear: TM was mounted on him with his butt on GZ’s stomach, knees on the ground next to his ribs. I have no doubt the man conveyed completely and accurately what GZ told him.
This means it would be impossible for GZ to ‘pin’ Trayvon’s arm to his side – TM’s knees are in the way. This results in Impossible Fiction 2. It also means GZ cannot reach his gun to pull it out of the holster. TM’s knees are in the way and GZ back is on the ground, the holster under a jacket. blocking access (ee the picture below as to why this is not possible):
This gives us Impossible Fiction 3.
But GZ is not done enhancing his lies. He changes the story slightly, from pinning TM’s arm in the video reenactment to swatting it away in the telling to the friend (or the friend’s telling to the police):
But that is not all that changes, there is one more tidbit that brings us to the big impossible fiction- the angle of the bullet:
Now this is one helluva detail for GZ to recollect – not to mention emphasize enough that it comes through one second-hand telling by GZ’s dear friend and also comes through in the synopsis of the police interview report. This detail had to been heavily emphasized in order for it to make through these two different renditions. Thankfully GZ and his friend went to all this trouble, because it also creates a really big impossible fiction.
When laying on your back, with elbow on the ground, you are going to restrict the range of motion of the arm and thus the aim of a gun in the hand. Let’s look at those elbows again, and see what range of aim is possible from your back with your elbow on the ground.
Those who are critical thinkers (and who know the bullet path in TM’s body) can see where this is going. Here is a representation of the bulletpath according to the autopsy report (note: this is NOT an autopsy image or from the police, but someone’s reasonably accurate rendering of the details in the report). The bullet path indicates the gun was shot straight at TM’s chest (as if held straight out from a standing position).
Is this possible given this new detail about the elbow? Let’s overlay someone mounted on the prone body, sitting on the stomach, and check those firing angles again.
Nope, can’t happen. This is why GZ’s account is total fiction – not just inaccurate. From the ground a shot into the chest straight on is really not possible. Not mounted in the manner GZ states many times in various interviews. And remember, GZ claims he wiggles down farther between TM’s legs to get off the pavement, only THEN he is able to pull the gun and shoot. So even this representation is not showing how badly GZ’s alibi stands up to the physics of the elbow and bullet trajectory. Physics can be unforgiving.
So this is Impossible Fiction 4- shooting TM from this position with elbow on ground. In this orientation I doubt you can get the proper angle at all given the distance the gun was fired from and the angle (gun was medium range, not up against the chest). There are probably some contorted positions, but they won’t match the ballistics residue on GZ or TIM, or the blood splatter patterns, or the path and distance of the muzzle, etc. I am not seeing how the shot happened as GZ claims. Such are the challenges of off-the-cuff alibis. It is hard to get all the physics and biology right.
Just a side note here. GZ definitely tried his alibi out on a few people right after the incident. And in doing so got himself into some serious perjury traps. As we have heard before, GZ swears he did not leave his truck to follow TM. He only left it to find street signs or apartment numbers. But when he went to work the next day, he told his coworker a different story – one more consistent with the dispatcher call (fixed the link for enlarge):
This is petty damning. My guess is GZ wanted to convey more of him as cop-like figure in this telling. So instead of keeping with the safer excuse (he was trying to get oriented), GZ is clearly admitting here he is looking (hunting?) for TM. He first follows him in the car, and gets out of the car to find him on foot. GZ awkwardly lied to Sanford Police when he tried to change the reason why he was out of his car. BTW, GZ made the same mistake when he told his friend above – also stating clearly to him he left the car to find Martin. So that is two witnesses who confirm GZ was looking for TM, because GZ told them he was.
George Zimmerman is claiming his life was in danger and he was attacked. But the encounter he describes (or more accurately, he concocted) does not fit the evidence. He was not mounted after he was knocked to the ground at the T at the beginning of the altercation. There was an argument followed by some physical interactions that ranged over 40 feet with him and Martin on their feet at times. There are no life threatening head injuries. All we can confirm is GZ has broken nose and he landed on his ass in the wet grass.
That does not constitute life and death, and thus does not warrant deadly force.
The details of Zimmerman’s account are just not possible. Therefore he made them up, sprinkled here and there with a touch of reality (like it was dark out). But since his story is provable fiction, then his self defense claim is also fiction. His self defense claim lies on his account being true and accurate. Some people like to lean on ‘reasonable doubt’. Well when the story told by Zimmerman is fiction, beyond any doubt, then guess what.
You get a guilty charge on Murder 2.
Mata,
Diagram is from the evidence released by State last week. It is the crime scene diagram and measurements. All police developed….
I just augmented it with highlights
RT could care less. When he says everyone is late to the dance, it is code for he shut his mind to reality weeks ago and no one can make him wake up and address realty. Denial is deep in that one.
ROTFLMAO!
The diagram doesn’t seem to fit with the photo at the crime scene, AJ. That cell isn’t that far away. Especially since you can see the partition wall in the background. The cell was still north of that partition wall, just as Martin’s body was.
I had to pull up pg 145 in the doc dump ( I guess you added the text with the key/legend) to get a handle on this. As they say, it’s not drawn to scale.
Using the partition walls as distance brackets, and the body, the cell would be anywhere from 7-12′ away from the body. All are located still to the north of that second partition wall. The dimensions they have noted aren’t between the two points, as would would instantly assume. i.e. the cell phone is not 39′ away from the body. It’s that distance away from the B point, which is the SW pillar on the building across from the scene of death. That’s a longer building that the east side building.
You can see in the Google Earth aerial of the neighborhood that they are playing only with the first of the building units in a row of three that go south. Brandy Greene lived in the last building on the SW of that row.
RT is probably confused (maybe I should stop there? LOL) because he’s assuming this was 39′ from Greene’s building when, in actuality, her building is another 171′ feet south to the most NW pillar of that building.
It’s a 50′ greenspace between the back porches there, likely 60′ from wall to wall of the building exteriors. (note the 29.2′ from the keys at the tee to the pillar on the building to the east. That’s about right.
The cluster photo shot, while not giving a great idea on the dimensions, still shows the cell was within the 7-12′ away from the body, but no where near Greene’s house. “Not to scale” is an understatement… :0)
Hey, ivehadit – intersting article. Thanks for the link.
AJ: This will be my last comment on the “physics” situation. Look, I’m sure the Defense will make the case that Trayvon was moving and postured up (MMA term) when he was shot. Unlike you, I do not take GZ’s failure to explicitly state that this happened as proof that it did not.
GZ made a statement to the police (I paraphrase): The guy hit me in the face, knocked me senseless. I fell down and attempted to fight back. He mounted me and was pummeling my head on the sidewalk. I shimmied around, got my hand free, drew my gun, and shot him.
Do you really expect him to describe in vivid detail every momment exactly as it occured, including the geometry of TM’s position? I don’t necessarily take every tiny detail (or its absence) as literally as you do. I as a juror would be open to the arguement that his statement is a broadbrush and that some (very important) details were left out. My other choice is to believe that he was laying there motionless on the ground and that TM was almost completely stationary except for his hands grabbing GZ’s head and slamming it onto the sidewalk. That just doesn’t make sense to me.
So if (I said if) the Defense can make the case that TM did assault GZ and was on top of him then (only then) do I try to picture in my mind how the fight went down. And in my mind it is very dynamic, not static. And if it is dynamic then your animation of the gun shot angles, if not completely wrong, is at least subject to an alternate hypothesis.
oops… direction backwards on this sentence:
Meant the west side unit where the death occured.
The A and B points are the NW pillars, and SW pillars on the first unit across from the death site. Each side has three units.
The west (got it right) side, where the death occurred in the grass there, has it’s shorter building first in the row of three, the other two being longer.
The east side has the two longer units to the north, and Greene’s shorter unit last on the row to the south. This way the buildings are somewhat staggered.
mata:
“(and always without any links to back it up), ”
now you know why I hesitate to continue to overload you with more links that will have you stuttering and stammering as you are in trying to change the facts as AJ presented them to ‘fit’ your guesses.
I really like this one: “RT is probably confused (maybe I should stop there? LOL) because he’s assuming this was 39? from Greene’s building ”
you sure pulled that out of your butt, didn’t you? Now you’re into guessing what I’m ‘assuming”? I didn’t say I assumed anything and I don’t. I only deal with facts, not assumptions. I leave assumptions to the echo chambers.
AJ:
“ROTFLMAO!”
That’s not something all critical thinkers do. but I will concede that mata can be quite humorous. but I hear she’s on the way. (even tho the dance is long over)
Speaking of pulling things out of butts…
Hey RT, have you located that elusive order from the judge in which he supposedly pronounced GZ “Guilty”?
How about those statements you claim Dershowitz made regarding the bond hearing?
Anything yet on those still sealed cell phone records you claimed to have access to?
Nothing on any of that, eh?
You claim to be dealing with “facts” yet, when repeatedly challenged to back up your assertions with sources, your bravado suddenly goes flaccid.
Evidentiary Dysfunction perhaps?
Echo….Echo….Echo….Echo…..
Actually, RT, we’ll be introducing you to your own butt, thank you. On the prior thread, you said that Martin dropped his phone on the way *back* from BG’s to attack Zimmerman.
You hinge this desperate stretch of logic on the cell being dropped some 171 feet away from the NW corner of Greene’s building (i.e. closer to BG’s?? LOL) – but coincidentally right in the same area as the site of his death … sigh… Why? So he can chase and attack Zimmerman standing 50′ or so away at the tee?
Seriously… speaking of wastes of time. Bend over, and meet your source.
Why would a phone found some 7-12 feet away from the body be considered “closer to BG’s” 171′ away, and negate any possibility that it was part of the final wrestling and death?
In your version, the debris field starts with the cell phone… how about the flashlight and the baggies… them too? All dropped while he’s headed to attack Zimmerman, 50′ up the path… only to have the fight ironically end right where he started and dropped the phone?
Dang… considering the argument and fight took a minute or less, when was Zimmerman supposed to find the time to get his head bashed within an inch of his life, what with all that traveling back and forth over 90-100′? As it is, with the witnesses telling of the argument and all these shadows moving, it seems that the actual fight on the ground wasn’t all that long. So much for life threatening.
Here’s my suggestion once again. A dropped phone call is not the same thing as a dropped phone. Therefore, to me, the phone’s location doesn’t mean squat. I can’t speak for AJ, and won’t.
Martin’s cell was a Comet U-8150A, which has both a headphone jack on the top of the phone, and is also Bluetooth compatible. He did not have a Bluetooth as that would have been noted in the evidence, but he did possess “headphones”… model, features and details unknown.
So the burning question would be, was Martin a hands free cell user? No one has bothered to consider this, let alone ask.
I would think so… Not only because it would be painful to hold the phone to his ear for the length of time he and Dee spend on the phone, but most especially because he was within GZ’s sight when he was on the phone with Dee.
Wouldn’t Mr. Astute Watch Captain notice if his perp was holding a phone to his ear? Per the dispatcher call, he saw Martin “reach into his pocket”, likely to answer a phone if it’s not a feature of the headset.
And speaking of that, doesn’t anyone find it downright hypocritical that Zimmerman should be afraid when Martin, walking down the street and minding his own business, reached into HIS pocket – but Martin’s not supposed to have fear when some loon who has been following him for 5 plus minutes, does the same? But I digress…
TM’s headphone/headset would be under his hoodie and the wire zipped inside of the sweat shirt from his phone in a pocket. All of this would have been hidden from GZ’s view, so he would never know he was on the phone.
A hands free TM fits with GZ’s own dispatcher call, not knowing he was on the phone with Dee.
Further, any thud sound Dee would hear is picked up via the headset’s microphone, worn on Martin’s head. So it’s more likely that it was Martin hitting the ground instead of Zimmerman because the headset mic isn’t all that strong for distance… let alone when the pick up pattern is shrouded by a hoodie.
I’ll say it again…. a dropped call connection is not the same as a dropped phone.
If you, RT, want to believe GZ unconditionally, you got bigger problems than making up crap about the cell phone merely to portray Dee as a liar. Zimmerman says he was attacked at the tee, decked by the first punch, and it all pretty much happened there.
Nothing in GZ’s multiple versions accounts for why the body isn’t anywhere near those two places he noted in the reenactment, or how he describes how the fight came down to multiple people.
What’s also obvious is that the *end* of the fight happened where the body is… and where the flashlight, bullet casing and cell/headphones were found. No where near where Zim said it did.
There is no evidence or logic to assume that the cell phone was the first piece of evidence that hit the ground… unless, of course, you’d like to say that the confrontation happened there instead of the tee. But then, Zimmerman’s in ever deeper manure.
I am not sure we can confirm that he had a broken nose.
I’m eagerly awaiting RT’s explanation of how the scattered physical evidence jives with GZ’s account of being punched and knocked to his keister at the “T” intersection.
I wanna know how Z can supposedly be knocked down, and subsequently pinned in place… yet, the body is 50′ away from where Z claims the whole thing happened.
For just a moment, forget all the other evidence. Put all the other inconsistencies on pause.
Focus on just one thing RT… and see if you can explain away the 50′ gap in Z’s story.
Welcome BGG,
But don’t expect RT to be rationale on this matter. He closed his mind way back before any hard evidence surfaced. Since then he has been rude and lame. His mind is in full lock down
Yes AJ, you’re right about RT.
He makes stuff up and then, when called on it, ignore it as if he never said it, leaping from one extraneous issue and wild conclusion to another. Shameless and cowardly behavior really.
We shall see if he has the stonz to address the 50′ gap in Z’s story.
After that, we will see if he can explain away the remaining inconsistencies one by one.
Mata:
I think your suggestion that TM was operating “hands free” may be right – but we don’t know. I think all this back and forth simply highlights that there is: a) a lot of evidence we know, b) a lot that we don’t know, c) a lot that that is subject to interpretation, and d) all of us forming our opinions are filling in the blanks with our own experiences/biases/etc. Some of these interpretations are probably right on the mark and provide good insight to how events unfolded – but others may be completely wrong.
I love the analyses and exchange on this site but I bristle sometimes when someone (most recently AJ with his graphic on gunshot angles) demonstrates that something is absolutely impossible and refuses to even consider alternative hypotheses.
GZ is probably guilty of something – but the enthusiasm with which people want to target his motives, credibility, character, etc. bothers me. The difference between a “concocted ad-hoc alibi” and a traumatized person trying to remember events the best they can is not totally clear in this case. At least to me.
The crucible of truth will work its magic at trial.
Layman,
Actually we will/do know TM used his phone hands free. For one there was the ear/mic set found. Two, he is on the phone a lot, so his parents and brother will confirm. Three, I believe he is on the phone while in the convenience store, and the video indicates hands free.
And 4 – GZ himself. He talks about TM having something in his hand or in his waistband area. Probably the phone itself (or Skittles, take your pick). What throws GZ off (‘somethings not right’) was probably how TM as talking and gesturing to the air. Ever watch someone talk hands free – it does look bizarre.
AJ, the “hands free” discussion is to try and pull RT back from never never land on the cell phone location. It seems he can’t figure out the that TM never was likely to have the phone in his hand to “drop”.
I believe this is a direct response to the GZ devotees that want to try Martin’s character as a drug using, gangsta thug who deserved what he got that night. I’m not saying I saw that here, but that is a common topic of discussion… that Martin’s parents were abyssmal failures at parenting and TM was a rotten teenager.
It becomes even more odd when you know that many of our elected representatives were also indulging in the same at Martin’s age. Nor will those occasionally smoking pot or zoning out on cough syrup exhibit the violent and paranoid tendencies as those using the drugs Zimmerman has been regularly taking.
It’s also odd that they cast judgment on TM’s parents, yet studiously avoid that Zim’ close air marshal friend told the FBI that Zimm said he was an abused child, and was estranged from his parents until after this murder.
At the end of it all, what I believe what Zimmerman is guilty of is being overzealous in his “protective” instincts to the point that he spooked a kid he was following. He got caught up in his own profiling, and was convinced that Martin was a criminal and he wasn’t going to let him get away with it. Everything he did put Martin in the position of victim and self defense… most especially when Zimmerman’s response to Martin’s question was to reach into his “pockets”. Truth be told, after all this evidence, now I’m not convinced that GZ was reaching for his phone at all. I think that GZ was high on adrenaline by then, and Martin’s voice startled him… so he instinctively went for his holstered gun. His unconscious and repeated movements indicate a “draw”, not a casual reach into his pockets. And why does he say he “forgot” he had a gun to the CVSA officer? What responsible CCW person “forgets” he’s carrying?
Ultimately, the decision to his innocence or guilt lies with a jury. Personally I don’t give him a chance in Hades at immunity. Statistically few are granted by the judges. Most certainly not with the sketchy and questionable evidence in this case. Any immunity is dependent upon his story as true, and his credibility is shot.
Here’s something else that has me curious. We know GZ had a full mag and one round in the chamber on his body that night. Did he have additional loaded mags in his car?
The reason I ask is that I noticed some pertinents in the latest doc dump. GZ showed up at one of the guns stores first on April 12-13, telling the clerk he needed to buy more guns for his “protection”. This was when the story was just first hitting the national airwaves.
The second time he hit a gun store was Mar 20th, where he told that clerk that his “life was in danger”. Yet the NBPP didn’t put out their reward for him until three to four days later.
When he was charged and booked on April 11th, the PD took possession of another firearm, and three loaded mags from his vehicle. Assuming 8 round capacity mags and one chambered in the firearm, this guy was walking around with at least 26 rounds .
My first thought? Was this guy expecting an old fashioned shoot out to be packing so much ammo? I mean, how much do you need to pack for self defense and retreating? This is the amount that serial killers pack for mass murders, fer heavens sake.
Then I wondered…. did the police go thru Zimmerman’s car the night of the murder? Was he always carrying around a mini-arsenal as his norm, or was this only post TM’s murder?
As you say, much we know. Much we don’t know. And all of it is likely to be pieced together for a trial presentation by the State. This is like given the box of puzzle pieces, and trying to construct it ourselves.
[…] at the next house to the right)? Prosecutors are going to have a field day with this BS. BTW, recall we have two witnesses who testified GZ told them he got out of the car to find TM. And GZ admitted he was chasing TM to […]
[…] which is quite a shock. I don't think the gun was in a right side IWB holster…….. http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/18585 Either the gun wasn't in the holster or Trayvon wasn't sitting on George. Can't have it both ways. […]
AJ, I just caught this post by Frederick Leatherman Law Blog, and the firearm forensics report that the bullet holes in the hoodie and under sweat shirt do not align with the entry wound on the body.
What seems to be the case is that both items of clothing were being clutched and pulled down when the gun was fired into Martin’s chest.