Jul 14 2013
The Effing Punk Got Away
Update: Here is a good reminder of the limitations of our legal system, and why ‘not guilty’ so many times does not mean ‘innocent’. – end update
Zimmerman’s defense team won a Pyrrhic victory yesterday. The prosecution had done its job in many respects. We all know Zimmerman chased down, confronted and – when losing the fisticuffs battle – killed an unarmed kid.
The prosecution proved Zimmerman’s statements were a series of lies. He lied where he first saw Trayvon. He lied about Martin circling his truck. He lied about not knowing the name of the street he was on . The prosecution had Zimmerman on tape with that lie:
Zimmerman’s problem came out during Officer Chris Serinos’ testimony when they played the reenactment video. It is just prior to time stamp 1:21:50 in this court video. At this point Zimmerman is in a police car talking through the incident. He and a policeman are parked in front of the club house and Zimmerman is explaining how Trayvon Martin – who he had seen back down the street a bit – had walked past his parked car and then down towards where he was staying.
The subconscious mistake Zimmerman makes is he automatically recalls the name of the street (Twin Trees Lane). I mean it just comes right out of his mouth. The same street he could not recall the night before!
Zimmerman, the effing punk, lied about how he could pull the gun from his pants and holster,all the while on his back with Trayvon on top. He lied about his injuries (clearly not all from the concrete). He lied about being jumped (Rachel Jeantell testified and ‘witnessed’ that truth there). Zimmerman lied and lied and lied.
But the jury apparently decided that they could not prove what did happen. The prosecutions one big mistake was going for Murder 2, which relied on them proving what happened absent Zimmerman’s concocted story.
A variant on negligent homicide (like what happens when a drunk or reckless driver kills someone) would have been attainable. In that kind of trial Zimmerman’s recklessness would be clear. His reckless assumptions, his carrying a gun to confront a kid, his unwillingness to wait for police. That verdict was in reach of the prosecution under those kinds of charges.
With Zimmerman’s story now shredded by the prosecution, the only way out for George was the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ escape hatch. And that door was sadly open. Murder 2 requires more than recklessness, it requires motive.
Another problem probably was that the jury never clearly got the fact that when Martin retreats (at a full run no less), Zimmerman cannot pursue him and retain any “self defense” rights. None. It is the right of retreat. Again, Rachel Jeantell testified clearly about Trayvon’s efforts to retreat. And no, he was not required to retreat home (though the prosecution gave a good rationale for why not to lead some psycho stalker back to his 12 year old friend).
There is no doubt Zimmerman shot Martin. There is no doubt he pursued him for up to 4 minutes after getting off the phone with police. There is no doubt his story is a sham. And there is no doubt Martin had as much right to defend himself from a stalker as anyone else. The challenge is whether the incident was driven by hate and malice or just by a dumb, reckless, idiot? What I saw in court was a lot of both, but there was wiggle room on the Murder 2.
Zimmerman is not done yet. The Martins should go after him in civil court. The Fed should consider a case too.
His neighbors will mostly shun him, and they should demand he remain unarmed.
The vigilante who killed a kid is going to burn in hell. He may have side stepped justice for now, but he is damaged goods. Watching his father in court, I am pretty sure he knows his son killed Martin without justification. The killing of Trayvon will haunt ZImmerman and his family forever, and I for one hope it burns the entire time. He took a life without good cause.
More importantly, it will be hard to convince others to not become vigilantes now that Zimmerman has won his case. Zimmerman took the law into his hands and killed someone. Now he is going to find himself the target of others with a similar mindset. They will profile him, judge him, and possibly confront him. I pray to God no one does. This is not the time for an eye for an eye justice.
But those are the ramifications for not confessing, not plea bargaining, not coming clean. Sometimes you can do more damage trying to be found not guilty than doing your penance.
Zimmerman’s problems are still mounting, and rightfully so. And justice will be done in the end someway, somehow – even if it ends up being at the pearly gates of Heaven. This weekend the effing punk got away. But he cannot run forever from what he did.
I read him, years ago, but not for many years. Once someone displays that they are nuts, there’s not much point in hanging around.
Kind of funny listening to Obamster yesterday – it was obvious, for those paying attention, that he was trying to soothe his faithful followers and calm them down so they’re not so butthurt when he has to tell them that there won’t be any civil rights charges. (he already knows that, of course, as does everyone else in the DOJ)
also kind of funny, and telling, that now all the race hustlers are going on about “stand your ground” laws, even though in the end they weren’t part of this case. The NAACP now wants a “Give the Gangsta’s all of your stuff and run away, but only if you’re white, or have a white-looking name” law.
I wonder if AJ is out Marching for Trayvon today???
AJ, your posts on the Zimmerman case have consistently been pathetically ignorant. I watched the entire trial on NBC’s live web feed (I’m retired). The prosecution did not prove a single case of a Zimmerman lie. The closest situation concerned his failure to remember the name of Twin Trees Lane and later remembering it. We all often find ourselves in similar situations of temporary forgetfulness concerning place/street names. The other “lies” you claim are BS; they simply did not happen.
Your claim that Zimmerman chased down Martin is demonstrably false. Zimmerman, who was obese at the time, simply did not have the athletic ability to chase down the young, athletic Martin. Martin had 4 minutes to go approximately 100 yards to the townhouse where he was staying. During those 4 minutes Zimmerman could not see him and was unaware of where he was. Martin decided to find Zimmerman, sucker punch him (likely breaking his nose), and then pummel him while Zimmerman was on his back on the ground.
Zimmerman yelled for help for 40 seconds before finally getting to his gun and shooting Martin. I’ve read your explanation of how it would be physically impossible for Z to reach his gun. You simply fail to consider the impact of the adrenaline rush and resulting strength increase of a person who believes he is about to die. The seemingly impossible becomes possible.
It is a tragedy when a person 17 years and 3 weeks old dies even when his death is due to his own mistakes, foolishness and meanness. Trayvon Martin did not need to die; he needed to go home.
FYI, Florida has a law that grants civil immunity in cases of self defense, so there will be no successful law suit by the Martin family.
Zimmerman, an innocent man, was found not guilty by a jury in a case that should have never been brought.
I have never met you and have no idea why you have become so invested in the very false notion that Zimmerman wrongly killed Martin. I’ve read your blog since it first appeared. My political and social philosophy are very similar to yours. Like you, I am a scientist/engineer. In this case you are wrong, dead wrong. Franky, you are making yourself appear a fool.
AJ, if you had a shred of logic, you would draw the obvious conclusion from the interview with the detective where the det. put him on the spot. det. Serino testified that he pushed GZ hard, even telling him falsely that the cops had gotten a video of the entire incident. serino testified that GZ expressed great relief, saying, “Thank God.”
so how ya account for that?
Come on, Raven! Nefarious criminal mastermind George Zimmerman knew that there were no video cams in the complex and he knew from watching Law & Order that they were probably lying to him (after all, nobody has cell phones with cameras these days, right?). So using his law training and reverse psychology (all learned in online JUCO classes) he put on a brave front in order to make a fool of the detective.
You got it nailed, Layman! And now a further outrage – he just used his MegaMind powers to cause a car to crash right where he was waiting, just so he could jump out and save the people inside! Of course that was just a plot to make his noble critics look bad, dontchaknow. He’s very, very crafty, this Zimmermann.
well there’s always the Trayvon rallies. I heard that tens of dozens of people nationwide showed up.
Shelby Steele’s article, The Decline of the Civil Rights Establishment, is a reasoned one, when analyzing the black community and it’s sometimes over-indulgence with race and racism.
Another earlier piece, by the same writer, is also well-worth the read: The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin.
MegaMind! Who knew? I thought they were Jedi mind powers. Whatever. Does it really matter? Bottom line is he was able to force Trayvon (against his will) to impact his fist into GZ’s face.
Better get Professor Xavier to help track this guy down and lock him up in Gitmo with Magneto and the other mutants (oops, mixed up my genres once again).
If it wasn’t for George Zimmerman, Detroit wouldn’t be bankrupt today. I’m gonna send that in to Eric Holder’s tip line.
Oh my God! MSNBC just reported that Anthony Weiner’s sexting problem was a psycholgical response to George zimmerman.
I new there had to be a logical explanation.
LOL! That was the best yet! Except maybe this true story out this morning, which still has me laughing!
“Fox News just released a nationwide poll in general in keeping with many others, finding voters are unhappy with the economy and want Obamacare repealed.
But what’s truly eye-opening are the comparisons of partisan opinions of President Barack Obama and George Zimmerman, who was acquitted July 13 of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges(…)
Republicans have a more-favorable opinion of Zimmerman, a figure of sympathy to a number of conservatives, than Obama. That’s right: The Democratic occupant of the White House is held in less favorable regard by Republicans than the guy who shot an unarmed teenager and successfully pleaded self-defense. (ed. note: Martin actually WAS armed with both his fists and a concrete sidewalk, and he was only a few days short of his 18th birthday)
Specifically: Republicans are two-and-a-half times more-likely to have a favorable opinion of Zimmerman than Obama. And they’re almost three-times more likely to have an unfavorable opinion of Obama than Zimmerman.
Republicans, with independents siding more with them, also agree with the verdict more than Democrats (who disagree with it). There’s also a clear racial divide, with blacks disagreeing most-strongly with the verdict than whites. African-Americans are more likely to see race as a major factor in the case. (ed. note: African Americans are more likely to see race as a major factor in EVERYTHING)
Asked for whether they rate these people as favorable or unfavorable, here’s how GOP respondents answered the pollster:
Obama: 18-79% favorable-unfavorable
Zimmerman: 45-27% fav-unfav
But independents aren’t far behind Republicans.
Among them, Zimmerman’s fav-unfav: 28-34%. Obama: 30-60. So while independents narrowly liked Obama more, they disliked him by an even greater margin.
Overall, Obama beat out Zimmerman with a 50-46% rating for the president, thanks to strong Democratic support (88-11%).
blogger jwf adds: “The only thing preventing Zimmerman from besting Obama is the huge support from the braindead Obama zombies. Meanwhile, the exalted racial healer Obama has continued to make race relations worse.”
well that disappeared into moderation, too much quoted material I think. in short – you made me laugh, layman! Almost as much as the story out this morning on jammie wearing fool’s blog that says that Zimmerman is more popular than Obama is today among republicans and independents!!!
The Good Morning America interview with “Maddy” Juror B 29.
My God this woman is an airhead. She says the case should have never went to trial, but know in her heart GZ is guilty of murder.
I think she is getting pressure from the public. Feels guilty now.
Yes, Oneal she’s very much an airhead. “My God this woman is an airhead” Nothing she said makes any sense. She says there was no intent, but he got away with murder. Surely she was told that without intent, there could be no murder. She’s just trying to by sympathetic with the public. She has no obligation to speak out and she sure did not do herself a service in doing so.
Now William Saletan, who has seen the uncut video of the interview with Juror B29, says that ABC manipulated her words, cut lines out, and spliced tape to make Juror B29 look like a fool. Very interesting – the media is still up to its old tricks, but since they can’t hurt Zimmerman anymore they’re using their power to destroy the Jurors. This poor juror, who is a minority herself and was the most sympathetic to Martin now must be crucified because she “Betrayed her Race” by following the Law.
This Must Not Be Allowed, say our Masters in the Time of Obama.
on a side note, it really is a shame that AJ is so embarrassed by what he wrote over the last year that he doesn’t think he can even show his face here anymore. I told him this was going to happen, over a year ago, if he stuck with this idiotic deification of Trayvon, but he doubled down on stupid every chance he got. I don’t think anyone will ever understand it – throw away 8+ years worth of work on this blog over a gold-toothed gangsta-thug? Really? In what universe does that make any sense?
Hey AJ, if you are still reading (although I doubt it) just apologize and we’ll forget it. (well, eventually) There’s a reason every practicing lawyer in the country saw this verdict coming way ahead of time (I know and work with quite a few, obviously you didn’t talk to any) and there’s a reason you got stuck out on a limb with Al Sharpton, Reverend Wright, and Ed Schulz. Think about it.
I saw some of that jurer interview, and was really disappointed by her comments. It was just adding fuel to the racial flames that have already been ignited by the distortion of the Zimmerman/Martin event.
For those of you not seeing this utube video called, “Afterburner w/ Bill Whittle, it gives more background info that was never introduced into the trial, including autopsy discoveries, and general background of Martin. Somehow, why Zimmerman was so smeared and Martin has been painted as such an innocent kid continues to baffle me. It’s been such a racial con job, all the way around! How that services the public good, or racial relationships, is beyond me!
It was never about “the public good”. In the beginning, it was just about Angela Corey trying to get enough minority voting support to earn her a comfortable margin in her next state-wide election. But after she jumped on it, all of the other usual suspects jfollowed, realizing that this was a great way of fanning the flames of racial division in order to ensure an extra-high black turnout in the 2014 and especially 2016 elections – they Obamabots know they need that or they’re sunk.
So no, this isn’t about “good” or “justice” in any way, shape, or form. This is pure, unadulterated racebaiting in order to maintain power over an intentionally fractured and divided population. It is a vicious, divisive, and evil way to try and run a country – fairly typical of the way most 3rd world dictators run their affairs, but something this country has been mercifully free of – up until now.
WWS
Good post above!
I’m reading Shelby Steels’ book, ‘A Dream Deferred.’ It’s 15 years old, but has an analysis of race relations that should be a primer for all to read.
This whole Martin/Zimmerman confrontation has really set race relations back into the dark ages, IMO. It has so distorted and inflamed people, that it will take some time to heal the open wounds.
I used to be very sympathetic to Trayvon’s Mom. But, seeing her speeches, following the trial, my regard for her has retreated. She is in such absolute denial as to the direction her son was going. Had she not let him off the hook for the items found in his locker, Trayvon would have been back with her, doing some kind of time or service for his behavior, instead of being shuffled off to do his school suspension with his father’s girlfriend.
My own son went thru some tough-guy times in high school — graffitti in the bathroom. When the principal showed me pictures of his work, I identified it as his, and he was not only suspended for 10 days, but had community service to do, as well as daily make-up school work, which I personally had to get from the teachers. It was not a pleasant time for either of us. But, he was accountable for his actions, and I was there to see that he kept up with school and got on a better path. I also remember warning him that tagging was dangerous, and if caught by an angry property owner or the police, he could be shot. Bad boy behavior gets a person into trouble, no matter what color they are. And, a parent who doesn’t recognize this, admit this openly, is not doing their son or daughter any favors, IMHO.
I think it is to someone’s advantage that we spend all this time arguing about Trayvon Martin (and no time talking about Antonio West).
Now what could that advantage be?
And who is profiting from the Trayvon Martin case?
Well it ain’t Trayvon, and it ain’t Zimmerman, and it sure as darn heck ain’t Antonio West but I am sure as I can be that powerful people want to keep the dialogue exactly as it is.
Just sayin’
Whats happening to me, I am starting to agree with Jimmy Carter:
“The United States is no longer a functioning democracy”
“The verdict in the GZ trial was the correct one”.
“Edward Snowden did the country a great service”