Friday, March 29, AD 2024 4:19am

Racism, State Power and the Zimmerman Prosecution

 

 

 

After more than three decades at the bar, little shocks me about courts and how they operate.  I confess, however, that I am shocked by the George Zimmerman prosecution.  First, that it was brought at all with virtually no evidence that could lead to a guilty verdict by any honest jury and, second, the way in which it has been conducted.  However, what shocks me as a lawyer does not shock me when I view it as an example of current racial politics in this country.  Cornell Law Professor William Jacobson who has been covering the trial at his blog Legal Insurrection, explains:

 

 

We also knew that Eric Holder had the DOJ investigate the case, and that the FBI found no evidence that Zimmerman was racist or motivated by racism.

What we didn’t know until today was that the DOJ supported some of the anti-Zimmerman rallies, as disclosed by Judicial Watch (which also is helping me with my lawsuit to obtain David Gregory non-prosecution records from D.C.): Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents in response to local, state, and federal records requests revealing that a little-known unit of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Community Relations Service (CRS), was deployed to Sanford, FL, following the Trayvon Martin shooting to help organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman.

The way the trial has been conducted is an equal travesty. The prosecution is throwing everything against the wall, including conflicting and inconsistent theories that Trayvon was on the bottom of the fight screaming and alternatively that Trayvon was on top pulling back. Similarly the prosecution creates obsessive distractions such as whether Zimmerman “followed” Martin, even though that is legally irrelevant. We have had the strange spectacle of the prosecution attacking its own police witnesses who had the temerity to believe George Zimmerman’s story and find it consistent and credible. The law enforcement world has been turned on its head in this prosecution, because it had to be turned on its head to justify the prosecution.

If you want to understand just how dirty this prosecution case has been, consider one bit of evidence which probably slipped by most viewers. The prosecution elicited testimony from defense gun shot wound forensic expert Vincent DiMaio that he participated in studies of gunshot wounds on live animals (under a federally regulated and sanctioned program in which the animals were under anesthesia). What’s the relevance of that? Nothing. Except that the prosecution knew that there were animal owners on the jury, and this was an attempt to poison the jury on something having nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman.

It’s all coming together in this case.

Racial politics supported by State power.

Go here to read the rest.  The Democrat party survives in this country largely by playing on race hatred and racial paranoia.  This event last year was a god send to the effort to re-elect Obama.  The Obama administration seized upon this case in order to stir up a poisonous brew of racial anger in order to help gin up the black vote in 2012, particularly in Florida.  Mission accomplished.  The sufferings of an innocent man prosecuted for a crime for which there is no evidence are of no consequence to them.  The riots that will inevitably follow a not guilty verdict are of no consequence to them.   If George Zimmerman is ultimately murdered after an acquital, once again of no consequence.   In this administration we are dealing with gangsters who will use any device to hold onto power, no matter how base.

 

 

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T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 7:15am

“Cuz, from day-one, it was about hyper-activating the race base for the November 2012election than about Trayvon Martin or (gasp) (pregnant pause) justice.

It is always this way with tyrants.

WK Aiken
WK Aiken
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:05am

From the CRS’ website:

“CRS does not take sides among disputing parties and, in promoting the principles and ideals of non-discrimination, applies skills that allow parties to come to their own agreement. In performing this mission, CRS deploys highly skilled professional conciliators, who are able to assist people of diverse backgrounds.”

Yep.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:12am

Instapundit: “It was important for the Obama Administration to increase racial polarization so as to boost black turnout in 2012.”

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:16am

The Community Relations Service is a fine example of a useless agency which endures because no one was attentive enough to seek to abolish it. The federal government is festooned with cruddy little dumps like that. The misfeasance they have demonstrated here is all the more reason to drive a stake through its heart.

It’s your trade, so you might educate us. From a distance, it appears that the miasma is flowing from the public prosecutor’s office in Jacksonville. A law professor quoted by Jeralyn Merritt offered the opinion that Gov. Scott had (willy nilly?) selected from among the state’s D.A.’s the one most ill-suited to handle the task at hand. The fish rots from the head down, so it stands to reason that she attracts and retains assistants who are just as exhibitionistic and unethical as their boss. Mark Geragos, Alan Dershowitz, and Jeralyn Merritt have said the conduct of the special prosecutor’s office has been quite extraordinary and unprofessional. Mark O’Mara supposedly told an interviewer that he had not had many occasions in 26 years of practice to file a discovery motion in a criminal case, and every last one had been filed in this case. The other distressing thing has been that at least one and perhaps two of the three judges who have presided over this case have been handmaidens of the prosecution.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 9:10am

There could be prayer vigils for justice and peace outside the courthouse and in congregations. What a different tenor that would be.

I notice that all the noise outlets including Fox refer to George by his last name and Martin by his first.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 11:42am

We’re truly inching towards Banana Republic status –
“Prosecutors Drop One Charge, Add Third Degree Murder Charge, Premised on Underlying Charge of… Felony Child Abuse”
http://minx.cc/?post=341573

Clinton
Clinton
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 12:49pm

Thank you for that link, Paul Zummo. If the prosecution can add charges
after the defense has rested, then could someone please explain why
we even bother to have arraignments these days?

Phillip
Phillip
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 1:17pm
Dante alighieri
Admin
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 1:20pm

Now it looks like the Judge has ruled against the prosecution on the extra charge. So at least a little sanity prevails.
http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/11/prosecutor-to-judge-can-we-also-charge-zimmerman-with-third-degree-murder-based-on-er-child-abuse/

To clarify – the Judge has permitted the jury to consider the lesser manslaughter charge, but not the 3rd Degree murder based on child abuse one.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 1:53pm

I suspect that instructing the jury to consider a felony murder charge when no evidence was presented of an underlying crime (nor any allegation in the indictment) would have been too transparent.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 3:11pm

Murder charges were always a joke, but none of this would’ve happened if Zimmerman didn’t have delusions of superhero grandeur.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 3:27pm

Murder charges were always a joke, but none of this would’ve happened if Zimmerman didn’t have delusions of superhero grandeur.

There is no evidence he had such delusions. Put your imagination away and read the autopsy report, listen to the recordings of the various calls to the police, look at the crime scene photos, and stop being an ass.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 4:14pm

Kind of think the riots may be a goal, though not the goal.

More division, there will probably be at least one murder if riots happen– probably more, especially of folks who make the “wrong” determination– and lo, many more crises to avoid wasting.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 5:14pm

Art,

It doesn’t take much imagination to see what GZ was up to. Here was a neighborhood watch captain – a busybody function with Bruce Wayne delusions if ever there was one – who was armed and following a teenager despite instructions from authorities not to do so. Even if Martin was the one who precipitated the use of violence, it was Zimmerman who precipitated the confrontation. I think that is fairly clear from the facts.

Was the name calling really necessary?

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 5:37pm

Here was a neighborhood watch captain – a busybody function with Bruce Wayne delusions if ever there was one

A guy who actually cared enough about his neighbors to look for criminals, even though it was no skin off his nose.

who was armed

As is his legal right, even when making a run to the store on a rainy evening.

following a teenager despite instructions from authorities not to do so

Who followed a drug using thug that was bigger and more fit than himself who bragged about assaulting people, was booted out of school in part for having burglary tools in the same manner that construction workers had followed another criminal earlier that week, and when told by the 911 operator that he did not have to get the exact address of his location (instructions which were explicitly stated to be for liability reasons, not for any force-of-law reason) after losing sight of Martin, headed back to his car.

Even if Martin was the one who precipitated the use of violence, it was Zimmerman who precipitated the confrontation.

Two guys walking around on a dark, stormy night.
The one that’s at fault is the one that was attacked and defended himself after his worthless neighbors heard his screams for help and went back inside for the phone, rather than at least running out to yell at the assailant.

I think that is fairly clear from the facts.

Anything can be “clear from the facts” when you ignore or make up facts to support your view.

HA
HA
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 5:39pm

Here was a neighborhood watch captain – a busybody function with Bruce Wayne delusions if ever there was one…

Based on what had been happening at Retreat at Twin Lakes prior to this incident, I would say that a neighborhood watch captain is hardly a busybody function. Of course, if enlightened citizens like yourself were to step up and take over those roles, the Bruce Wayne wannabe’s of this world would have to stay home in their Batman pyjamas playing video games. But that didn’t happen, did it?

If you do live in a neighborhood that has no need of a neighborhood watch, good for you. I suppose it’s a cushy place from which to lob potshots at those like Zimmerman who stick their necks out. I’m very sorry for Trayvon Martin – he did not deserve to die. But a passing glance at the selfies on his phone indicates that he too had delusions of grandeur, of a thuggier kind. I suspect they had some party to play in this tragedy as well.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 5:42pm

Here was a neighborhood watch captain – a busybody function with Bruce Wayne delusions if ever there was one

As opposed to playing amateur pop psychologist based on no evidence whatsoever.

who was armed and following a teenager despite instructions from authorities not to do so

A blatant misrepresentation of the facts often repeated by those whose sole source of information is the mainstream media. Zimmerman was merely told by a 911 operator that he “didn’t need to do that,” but she had no authority one way or the other to tell him not to follow Martin.

Even if Martin was the one who precipitated the use of violence, it was Zimmerman who precipitated the confrontation.

Balderdash. Zimmerman did nothing more than to monitor the behavior of someone who fit the profile of others who had committed crimes in the neighborhood. By your logic anyone who dares actively engage in a neighborhood watch is guilty of precipitating a confrontation.

I think that is fairly clear from the facts.

No, it is not.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:23pm

Who followed a drug using thug … who bragged about assaulting people, was booted out of school in part for having burglary tools

None of which was known to GZ at the time. This is pure blame the victim stuff.

Two guys walking around on a dark, stormy night.

No, not just walking around – one was watching the other. That’s a big difference. I don’t know if you’ve ever been followed by a stranger before, but it’s disturbing. Maybe Trayvon Martin was casing houses to burglarize, which gave him extra incentive to be on edge. We don’t know all the details.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:32pm

@HA

If you do live in a neighborhood that has no need of a neighborhood watch, good for you.

Actually, I do have a neighborhood watch, and just a few days ago the watch captain almost sprayed mace at my 15 lb. dog that had escaped (and posed no real threat to anyone or anything) and my 9 year old son who was trying to catch the dog. She screamed hysterically at my son. This experience was not an outlier but rather indicative of my previous encounters with neighborhood watch captains. Maybe GZ was different, but if we’re going to start profiling people… Let’s just say there’s a certain type of person.

Foxfier
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:37pm

What was known to Zimmerman at the time was that Martin attacked him, straddled him, was punching him and then threatened to kill him.

There’s blaming of the victim going on, but only because he had the bad form to survive.

I have been followed by people before. I don’t turn around and assault them, I do not lose them and then assault them, I don’t even lose them and then turn around to confront them. If I’d been scared enough that I even THOUGHT I’d need to fight to escape, I’d be calling 911 instead of talking big to my not-a-girlfriend, who feels the need to tell me not to “play with” the guy.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 8:57pm

@Paul Zummo

As opposed to playing amateur pop psychologist based on no evidence whatsoever.

No evidence? Let’s see, I have my own experiences with neighborhood watch captains (see above) plus years of interaction with police officers listening to their accounts of watch captains, as well as my own experience with community and police relations gathered through my own academic research at a think tank. Never mind what we can infer from the evidence in this particular case. Yeah, I’m just making this up off the cuff. If you think I’m guilty of profiling, well then… Talk to George Zimmerman about that practice.

A blatant misrepresentation of the facts

How so? He was following TM and the dispatcher told him he didn’t need to do that. If he hadn’t been following him, I don’t see how they could’ve ended up in a confrontation in the first place. I’m not misrepresenting those facts.

she had no authority one way or the other to tell him not to follow Martin.

That’s beside the point. I’m not making a legal argument, I’m saying that the confrontation was initiated due to GZ. That’s a factual statement – TM did not go out that night seeking GZ; GZ was looking for… something.

Zimmerman did nothing more than to monitor the behavior of someone who fit the profile of others who had committed crimes in the neighborhood.

He did a little more than monitor someone’s behavior; it’s not as though he was passively looking through his window. He was engaged in some kind of patrol when he profiled TM. And when he notified the authorities about the suspicious behavior, he could’ve stopped there and gone home, but he didn’t. Which is somewhat understandable, given the recent crime in the area – he wanted to do something about it. But in hindsight, we can see what a poor decision that was.

Look, it’s entirely possible to hold simultaneously the view that (a) the state has no murder case and never had one, and (b) that the lack of a murder case doesn’t exonerate GZ and elevate him to hero status. He shares some culpability in all this. That’s not an outrageous claim.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 9:03pm

What was known to Zimmerman at the time was that Martin attacked him

No, you’re getting your chronology wrong. Martin hadn’t done anything at that point except “staring at houses” and “looking real suspicious.” GZ knew nothing of Martin’s criminal record or lack thereof. He was a young, black male in a hoodie walking through a neighborhood at night in the rain… Maybe that was enough to call the police, but this was a racially diverse neighborhood, after all, and his father did live there…

Dante alighieri
Admin
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 9:50pm

Yeah, I’m just making this up off the cuff.

Well at least you admit it.

that the lack of a murder case doesn’t exonerate GZ and elevate him to hero status.

Somewhere some poor Isrealites are left without means of manufacturing bricks again because all of their straw has been taken to construct that argument.

anzlyne
anzlyne
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 10:09pm

If I had to make a judgment, I hope if I erred it would be on the side of mercy. God knows I need it myself

HA
HA
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 10:21pm

Actually, I do have a neighborhood watch, and just a few days ago the watch captain almost sprayed mace at my 15 lb. dog…

Yeah, and the next time a house in your neighborhood doesn’t get broken into because the thief would just as soon steer clear of the hyper, mace-spraying crazy lady, I suppose you’ll thank her then. Or maybe not.

In any case, will you ever decide to pitch in and serve a term or two of your own, so the community, including small dogs and children, can bask in in the righteousness of your own benevolent gaze? I’m guessing that’s not going to happen either and if it does, no one will be more pleased than the robbers at the happy-go-lucky new sheriff in town.

And with regard to cheap shots about Bruce Wayne syndromes, I don’t think there’s a cop or a soldier or fireman, or school crossing guard for that matter, that doesn’t have, deep down, a kind of superhero delusion, just as I have yet to meet any sincere Christian who doesn’t have a messiah complex they have to struggle with. And yes, every time they step out and try to do the right thing and it blows up in their faces (which, if they’re human, happens frequently) there will be no shortage of jackasses gloating over their downfall. But unless you want to claim that the world would be a better place without neighborhood watch captains – and if that’s the case, you’re the one with delusions – you’re going to have to live with the neighborhood watch captains you get, at least until you step up yourself and take a turn getting ridiculed by people like you.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Thursday, July 11, AD 2013 11:34pm

HA,

I was not trying to make this about me with my personal anecdote, and I would truly appreciate it if you did not make it about me, either. You don’t know me or what I do in my community, so it’s hardly charitable to make such statements. (As it turns out, I do support our neighborhood watch and have called police to report suspicious behavior. I do not regularly carry a gun around my street and follow people I don’t recognize. I know my own limits and failings.)

By your own admission, the superhero complex is a struggle. But for most of us, having it blow up in our faces doesn’t mean we kill a teenager. I think GZ was trying to do the right thing, but he made a rush to judgment – his 911 call demonstrates that he was already convinced TM was engaged in criminal activity even though he hadn’t witnessed anything yet. TM was one of “those assholes” who always get away…

I don’t know if your “gloating over their downfall” comment is directed at me, but I’m not gloating over anything. This was a tragic event. Yes, I assign some of the blame to GZ, but I also said up front that it was apparently TM who turned it violent. Use of deadly force in that case appears justified. I’m sorry if my less than wholehearted defense of GZ offends anyone, but I think sincere Christians should at a minimum see this as a cautionary tale against their own crusader complexes. The desire to see justice can sometimes come at the expense of mercy if we are not careful.

The dog anecdote is somewhat instructive. Here is a woman who should’ve known better: she lives on our street, we’ve bought cookies from her daughter, etc. Yet in a moment of panic she didn’t recognize us; she reached for her mace, consequences be damned. Call it an overdeveloped sense of fear, a superhero complex, whatever — In my experience, this is often a problem with neighborhood watch captains – it’s a selection bias problem, really. I’m sorry if that observation contradicts your experience, but it jibes pretty well with mine.

This is a Catholic blog. It just seems out of place to argue for the inherent dignity of all persons while bearing almost no criticism for the actions of a man who so quickly disregarded the human dignity of another. It’s all very well to label TM a thug — there’s certainly evidence to support that — but it’s sad to see how quickly GZ passed from suspicion to conviction — “these assholes always get away.”

Foxfier
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 12:34am

J. Christian-
You seem to be skipping over the part where your chosen good-guy attacked at late-20s year old fat guy whose only sin was noticing a 17 year old drug user he didn’t recognize “acting funny” in an area where there’d been a series of break-ins.

Following someone is not a crime.

Breaking someone’s nose is.

but it’s sad to see how quickly GZ passed from suspicion to conviction

This, from the guy who’s quite willing to convict an ASSAULT VICTIM?!?
The irony meter breaks.

Stop pounding the table and bother to find the facts. Don’t use sources that have edited audio.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 1:03am

Spare me the strawman arguments, Foxfier. TM is not my “chosen good guy,” as if there has to be a white hat/black hat. I even said that there is ample evidence to show that he had thug credentials. Although to be fair, he was never arrested for assaulting a police officer, nor did anyone request a restraining order against him, unlike George Zimmerman. And you seem to be conveniently applying 20/20 hindsight to GZ’s decisions. He knew nothing of TM or his “record,” he just knew that there’d been a lot of burglaries in the neighborhood, and here was a young black guy strolling through. I guess he’s automatically guilty based on that alone? Following someone is not a crime, but neither is Walking While Black.

And I have not convicted GZ of anything. The totality of the facts in the case seem to point to him being a nosy busybody, possibly a little hotheaded, but that doesn’t justify TM assaulting him. I said it was justifiable self defense. What more do you want me to say? Do I have to give some sort of ringing endorsement of everything he did that night?

Foxfier
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 1:14am

J. Christian-
when attempting comment judo, first find a place with an IQ over room temperature.

The “accuse others of what you’re doing ” trick doesn’t work here.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 1:17am

That doesn’t even make sense. I will not stoop to insult you, however.

HA
HA
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 6:21am

My point remains. I am well aware of Acton’s most famous dictum, and the Zimbardo prison experiments, and also Claire Booth Luce’s quip about no good deed going unpunished. (Coincidentally, it seems that all 3 of those were Catholic to one extent or another at some point in their lives.) The cynic in me also knows that anyone who tries to do the right thing and presumes to take a stand for something as trite and hoakey as defending the common good is in some sense asking for it, but that is precisely what Christians are called upon to do. So even though I am mostly sorry for the poor dumb dead kid, I also have some compassion left over for the poor schmuck who was only trying to right thing as best as he could determine at the time, because apart from winding up dead or killing someone, I’ve walked a mile in both of those pairs of sneakers.

And with regard to rush to judgment, and inserting unwarranted assumptions about what is going on the head of another, reread your 5:14 PM quote and start heeding your own advice.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 7:43am

There’d be none of this “pomp and circumstances” (and intramural insult flinging) if TM had shot to death George Z.

It was never about poor, little TM. It was always about getting out the black vote.

George Z. wasn’t familiar with the Twelfth (Old Army joke) General Order: “Walk my post from flank to flank. Take no $#!+ from any rank. In case of fire ring the bell. In case of trouble run like hell.” “Run like hell” should be SOP for “watch captains.” It’s a lose-lose situation.

I’m not a lawyer. If this were a civil, “wrongful death” case, George Z. may be at fault. The burden of proof/reasonable doubt threshold is higher for criminal law.

Anyhow, now I’m less in George Z’s “camp.”

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 7:49am

J. Christian, I did not call you names. I told you to stop being an ass. You respond by producing 1,400 words of commentary on a subject in which you have not done minimal research, a great deal of it derived from your imagination of George Zimmerman’s self-concept which was a) unwarranted to begin with and b) discredited by witness testimony, specifically that of the co-ordinator of neighborhood watch programs for the Sanford Police Department. You also reveal yourself to maintain a notion of personal agency and culpability that no normal adult should adhere to.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 7:59am

My point remains as well, HA. I would hardly call my assessment of GZ a “rush” to judgment – we’ve had a good amount of time since the incident to learn some things about it. I also mentioned just one of several negative experiences of neighborhood watch programs I’ve had. I didn’t judge GZ in the span of a few minutes, as he had to do with TM.

I don’t disagree with your comment about walking in both of their shoes. I think that the reason I made my initial comment in the first place was that it doesn’t take a lot of moral imagination to see how either party could’ve done things differently and avoided this unfortunate incident altogether. Call it a reference to Lord Acton, paving roads with good intentions, whatever – GZ was probably out to do the right thing, but it was my humble opinion that he crossed a line. And yes, I can see myself making some of the same mistakes. There but for the grace of God go I.

HA
HA
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 8:26am

If you had opened with that most recent post recent earlier, you would have gotten a different response. As it was, you went off on neighborhood watch captains in general, with their “busybody functions” and “Bruce Wayne delusions”, and then complained about others making it personal. You’re making far more sweeping judgments than GZ or anyone in his neighborhood would have reason to make regarding those who “always get away”, given what had happened there in the recent past.

If you really think the neighborhood watch captains of this nation are what you say they are, go out and show them how it’s done, and I’ll applaud you. Until then, you’re going to have to either do without neighborhood watch captains (good luck with that), or else, put up with the schmucks we typically rely on to do that drudgery for us, just as we rely on other similar schmucks to police our streets and patrol our prisons and fight our wars, even if sometimes, their “conduck isn’t all [that] your fancy paints.”

Foxfier
Admin
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 9:25am

That doesn’t even make sense. I will not stoop to insult you, however.

He says, after having attempted to do so several times– including a blanket accusation of lack of charity at those who don’t join him in calling Zimmerman names, or offer factual descriptions of Martin that don’t play in to your desired view.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 9:50am

Where are these insults I made against others? If you read through all the comments, you can see the various points at which I’m told to “stop being an ass,” reference is made to “jackasses gloating,” my personal contributions to my community are questioned, and finally your IQ comment was made. At no point did I make this personal except when I made an appeal to charity in response to these kinds of comments. All of this because I had the temerity to suggest that GZ appears (to me, at least) to exhibit a certain kind of psychology prevalent in neighborhood watch captains. Maybe the initial comment was uncharitable in the sense that I didn’t intend to impugn all those who volunteer for the role, but I didn’t think it would be taken that way.

Foxfier
Admin
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 10:00am

I specifically pointed to your highly ironic accusation that those who disagree with your ugly caricature are lacking in charity, and my “IQ statement” was about those you are trying to buffalo.

Since you seem to enjoy making false accusations, even if you have to misunderstand people to farm up some grounds, I see no reason to take you seriously.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 10:09am

i did not say that persons were lacking in charity for disagreeing with my opinion of GZ; I said they were lacking in charity by making comments of the “get off your couch and do something yourself” variety. I don’t see how complete strangers would know anything of the sort about me.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 10:35am

“Racist-Regime-Double-Standard” Department:

For 17 months, the racists at DOJ, CRS, and their lying liberal journalists have been all 24/7 over the tragic death of TM.

Wondering why you never heard of this (dog bites man) story?

On July 1, black gang members attacked and beat a random white man in Cobb County, Georgia. He was thrown onto the road where he was killed by oncoming traffic.

This story received minor coverage in the local news. If the races had been reversed this would be the biggest news story in the United States. It would have knocked the Zimmerman trial out of the news.

That’s why you never heard of it.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 10:50am

I don’t see how complete strangers would know anything of the sort about me.

Complete strangers can tell when someone is speaking from inside a thicket of prejudice and ignorance and when they are not. As it happens, you have been.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 11:18am

a thicket of prejudice

And I suppose, Art, that you have never harbored any prejudices whatsoever? No preconceived ideas, heuristics, shortcuts to judgments as a way of reaching conclusions without having to research the particulars thoroughly? Not even, say, about the legal profession or government bureaucrats or Ivy League alumni? It must be difficult to go through life that way, never relying even once on your cached mental portraits to make a statement about anything.

and ignorance

Well, color me ignorant. I haven’t had the luxury of following this trial word for word, but I’ve at least familiarized myself with the 911 call, the timeline of events, various snippets of testimony, etc. I would say I have enough information to make a comment or two about George Zimmerman. Let’s revisit some of the facts, shall we?

1) He was once arrested (and yes, I know the charges were dropped) for assaulting a police officer.
2) He had a restraining order placed against him.
3) Depending on which sources you read, some neighbors had concerns about his aggressive approach to his neighborhood watch activities.

You can draw whatever conclusions about the man you like – knight in shining armor, or perhaps a petty tyrant with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. I don’t know, I’m just calling ’em like I see ’em.

J. Christian
J. Christian
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 11:19am

Oh, and I forgot fact number 4: He was a registered Democrat. Now if that doesn’t scream busybody, I don’t know what does!

Pat
Pat
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 11:57am

” It must be difficult to go through life that way, never relying even once on your cached mental portraits to make a statement about anything. ”

Not so very difficult to rely on objectivity – innuendo, irony, and touches of the insidious in statements reveal symptoms of a difficulty that clear objectivity can remove with no difficulty.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 12:26pm

Well, color me ignorant. I haven’t had the luxury of following this trial word for word, but I’ve at least familiarized myself with the 911 call, the timeline of events, various snippets of testimony, etc. I would say I have enough information to make a comment or two about George Zimmerman.

No luxuries. All the important evidence was made public 13 months ago if you were interested enough to look before, during, or after forming an opinion about the character of one George Zimmerman. It is not voluminous.

And no, you have not familiarized yourself with any objective piece of information, because if you had, you would not be trafficking in internet memes and irrelevancies. That he had a fight with his fiancee eight years ago (which concluded with mutual restraining orders) and was arrested for shoving an undercover cop in a bar eight years ago are irrelevances. That he ‘disobeyed instructions from authorities’ is an internet meme debunked over a year ago with the publication of the recording of his call to the police dispatcher and debunked again when the dispatcher testified about departmental policy.

The facts that matter are these:

1. He called the non-emergency police dispatcher to report a suspicious person (later described as standing on the lawn of a local resident); The co-ordinator of neighborhood watch programs testified that this call was perfectly according to protocol.

2. During the call, he moved his truck twice while continuing to talk to the dispatcher.

3. Trayvon Martin remarked his truck in a noticeable way. Zimmerman noted that to the dispatcher in real time (“here he’s checking me out”).

4. Martin heads up a walkway perpendicular to and connecting two residential streets and an alleyway where the back entrances of the houses on each face.

5. Martin abruptly runs out of sight. (This is remarked on the call).

6. Zimmerman gets out of his truck while continuing to speak to the dispatcher. He heads along the walkway. He is asked if he is following Martin. He replies yes. He is told that is not needed. He says ‘OK’. The point is moot. Martin is out of sight and never resurfaces during the course of the call. The dispatcher testified that the department does not as a matter of policy issue instructions or orders in these circumstances.

7. Zimmerman heads to the residential street on the far end of the walkway to check an address, then decides to leave his phone number for the police to call him when they arrive in lieu of meeting them at a pre-determined point. He elects against giving his home address.

–You can see from a map of the complex that the distance from where Trayvon Martin disappeared to the back door of his father’s baby-mamma was about 85 yards. He could have loped right past Zimmerman’s truck and been home in less than two minutes – before Zimmerman ever got off the phone. From where he abruptly ran out of sight, he could have been home in less than 20 seconds. Yet, about two minutes later he resurfaces and fights George Zimmerman.

–We have a passable idea of where this fight began (the location of where Zimmerman dropped his key chain was recorded in crime scene photos).

— We have a passable idea of who slugged whom (the autopsy report showed Martin had a gunshot wound and an abrasion on one knuckle; Zimmerman was photographed at the scene and follow up medical reports show he had a broken nose and lacerations to the back of the head.

— an eyewitness standing right there said Martin was straddled over Zimmerman pummeling him.

–The mess of forensic evidence indicates Martin was shot at ‘intermediate range’ (a term of art meaning 0.4″ to 4′) and was leaning over when shot and that the muzzle of the gun was in contact with the cloth of his outergarments.

There is about two minutes missing from the timeline that has never been filled in with objective evidence or the word disinterested witnesses. The thing is, nothing has emerged to indicate that Zimmerman was doing anything but loitering about on a walkway waiting for the police. That’s where he was talking to the dispatcher and that is around where his key chain was located. No evidence has emerged which demonstrates he ever went anywhere else or caught sight of Trayvon Martin in the interval between when Martin disappeared down the alleyway and when he resurfaced and broke George Zimmerman’s nose.

There are quite a mess of people who hold George Zimmerman culpable for schlepping about his own neighborhood waiting for a police patrol (after having committed the novel crime of felonious truck egress) or for calling the cops (as if walking around aimlessly in the rain, standing on the lawn of a person unknown to you, staring down a person in their vehicle talking on the phone, and running out of sight a propos of nothing in particular were…perfectly unremarkable. Indeed, perfectly unremarkable in a neighborhood that had had a rash of burglaries which included the home of the man on whose lawn you were standing).

You get into these conversations and you realize that for some people, George Zimmerman is not an individual who did certain things and did not do other things. He is an icon of a mess of things they find wrong with the world. George Zimmerman is replaced with a literary character of their own imagining (‘wanna-be cop, Bruce Wayne, &c). But they have argued themselves into a corner in which the rest of us might not wish to stand: the notion that ordinary people are culpable when feral young men decide to practice their MMA moves on them, because it is perfectly normal for said punks to assault ‘creepy’ people they fancy have ‘disrespected’ them.

If that’s your idea of an appropriate rule governing social relations, I ask you please not to move to any community in which I am living. We will all be safer when you, miscellaneous black particularists, the liberal chatterati, and the Catholic peace-and-justice fuzzheads who seem to think he should have had Veritatis Splendor uppermost in his mind while Trayvon Martin was smacking his head into the concrete, have their own colony and are away from centers of civilization.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 3:36pm

Money quote: ” . . . feral young men decide to practice their MMA moves on them, because it is perfectly normal for said punks to assault ‘creepy’ people they fancy have ‘disrespected’ them.”

Second Prize: “miscellaneous black particularists, the liberal chatterati, and the Catholic peace-and-justice fuzzheads who seem to think he should have had Veritatis Splendor uppermost in his mind while Trayvon Martin was smacking his head into the concrete. . .”

AD: I salute you!

Foxfier
Admin
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 8:26pm

Art Deco: free lance educator.

Jay Anderson
Friday, July 12, AD 2013 8:46pm

Hear, hear, Art Deco!

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Saturday, July 13, AD 2013 4:28am

I have seen some reports of the proceedings and what I always find shocking, as a Scots lawyer, is that the prosecutor, before leading his proof was allowed to make a speech to the jury, detailing the facts he intended to prove and the evidence he expected his witnesses to give.

Surely, the facts that the prosecutor intends to prove should be libelled in the indictment, where the defence has notice of them and where they can form the subject of a debate on the relevancy and, as for the proof, the witnesses can speak for themselves.

That this pernicious practice is copied from England is no argument in its favour.

As for adding charges after the indictment has been served, without deserting the diet, well, words fail me.

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