One Term More!

All three videos were rather cruel….

Here’s a real palete cleanser.

When they’re not lying, they’re citing the wrong facts.

Public schools! I love it when a plan comes together.

With respect, the facts suggest, as they often do, that there is plenty of blame to go around.

From what I see, it looks like it was a good shoot – hence his defense shift from “hold your ground” to self defense. However, if he had followed the 911 dispatcher’s instructions, he would have stayed in the car and would never have been assaulted. My guess is that he asks himself dozens of times a day why he didn’t stay in the car.

The drive to be a cop, for those who think of being cops, can be quite strong and can lead to dumb hero stunts. I think this was one of those that went awry.

I understand your visceral reaction to my comments. I was responding to the misuse of a tragedy to score cheep political points and my flippedness about the tragedy was uncalled for. For that I am sorry.

I went back and re-read the timelines and reviewed the articles. I do not agree and it is unfair to suggest that my views of the matter is unreasonable.

There is insufficient information released to state anything with certainty.

It is clear that the first 911 call includes specific instructions by the didpatcher to stay in the car and that he decided to strike out on his own and follow the boy. The girlfriend’s testimony suggests that Martin knew he was being followed immediately before the shooting.

My analysis is as reasonable as yours.

We’ll know more when we have all of the evidence. I’m willing to be proved wrong with evidence.

It is clear that the first 911 call includes specific instructions by the didpatcher to stay in the car and that he decided to strike out on his own and follow the boy

No, that is not clear, and you have not listened to the recording properly. He was given no instruction to remain in his vehicle, and, in any case, the dispatcher had no authority to instruct him to do anything. He was advised while jogging along a particular pathway attempting to get Martin back in eyeshot that “we don’t need you to do that”, to which he replied “OK”. The call concluded with a discussion of how the police officer dispatched to the complex was to make contact with Zimmerman at the time he arrived. He never caught site of Martin again during the duration of the call.

And you are forgetting the context. The geography of the complex was such that Martin had ample time to return home at an ordinary loping pace during the interval in which Zimmerman was conversing with the dispatcher. Martin had abruptly run out of sight a propos of nothing in particular and could have arrived at the back door of where he was staying in an interval measured in seconds. That he was wandering around the complex several minutes later suggests he had other objects in mind than returning home from the convenience store, but what these objects were has not been properly identified.

We shall see. Call me on it when we have evidence. In the meantime, God Bless.

We shall see. Call me on it when we have evidence. In the meantime, God Bless.

Just about all the salient evidence has been released to the public – recordings of the phone calls, witness statements, Zimmerman’s interrogation, Martin’s autopsy report, photographs and treatment records documenting Zimmerman’s injuries, the security camera footage at the convenience store Martin patronized, &c. Maps of the complex are also available online. There have been some redactions so the names of local residents who called the police and gave statements were not published.

I really hoped we could just let this rest until we knew more but, since you called me out:

The most readable summary that I was able to find is here:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/05/18/new-trayvon-martin-evidence-10-things-you-should-know/

This is a sample of the kind of documented behavior that suggests to me that George Zimmerman behaved unreasonably in his conduct that night. (Note what I am not saying. I am NOT saying that he intended to shoot Trayvon Martin or that there was any other motive than self defense for his shooting Mr. Martin. I have said before that it seems like it was a good shoot.)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-12/zimmerman-trayvon-martin-shooting/56166884/1

It is merely my opinion that the most likely explanation for Mr. Zimmerman’s behavior that night was a latent desire to act like a cop. He certainly took his neighborhood watch duties quite seriously and, without any training or authority, followed Mr. Martin that night. It may be that Mr. Zimmerman is just a good guy out to help his community. If so, I’m sorry that it ended as it did. However, it is reasonable to question the propriety and the ethics of his actions that night. I offer this:

http://thegrio.com/2012/03/21/zimmerman-not-a-member-of-recognized-neighborhood-watch-organization/

as some evidence that neighborhood watches are not some willy-nilly, do as you please, kind of thing. George Zimmerman took this burden on himself and he got burned. Again, had he done as the 911 dispatcher advised – stayed in the car and waited for the police – he wouldn’t be facing a trial for killing Trayvon Martin and that messed-up youth would be alive.

I don’t claim any expertise in these matters. I am not a prosecutor and have no coursework in crime scene investigation but the lead investigator, Chris Serino, spared no kind words for Mr. Zimmerman’s behavior.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/17/2804442/law-officers-set-to-release-evidence.html

One last thing: I listened to the tapes and viewed the video. Nothing there does more than flesh out the matter. We see a youth buying stuff from a store, nothing more. We hear a neighborhood watchman being told that he ought to stop following a kid and refusing to do so. We then hear cries for help.

There are no known witnesses of the moments leading up to the altercation. There is no evidence I can see that supports or refutes Mr. Zimmerman’s version of the story. His story is “reasonable.” I concede the point. However, I maintain that the prosecution’s case is substantial and am unable to share your confidence that this was an entirely one-sided affair in which George Zimmerman behaved like a good citizen should have and that Trayvon Martin was wholly responsible for what happened.

Trayvon Martin may have caused George Zimmerman to shoot him but Zimmerman should have stayed in the car. This was an avoidable tragedy.