More On Zimmerman Trial From Local Ex-Attorney: KARMA AND GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TRIAL
Goerge Zimmerman at His Trial
About a year and a half ago, a fellow living in Nashville, Tennessee, whom I call Nashville J, started corresponding with me about various goings on in the Florida Keys, which I was covering on goodmorningkeywest.com and goodmorningfloridakeys.com. After I started writing about the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, mostly at goodmorningbirmingham.com (I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama and practiced law there), Nashville J started writing to me about that terrible affair. I suppose there are around 25 separate posts on the Zimmerman/Martin case at the Birmingham website. A case for which I see no good outcome regardless of how it ends.
Yesterday, Nashville J wrote to me.
I don’t know how the Judge now keeps out Martin’s pictures and fights at school – suspension – etc. but maybe she can.
See the Associated Press article STATE WINDING DOWN IN GEORGE ZIMMERMAN TRIAL by Mike Schneider and Kyle Hightower.
I wrote back to J:
The prosecution is fully entitled to use anything from Zimmerman’s past which seems inconsistent with what Zimmerman said in the prior recordings, videos, statements.
I do not think the time has yet come for the judge to rule whether or not Martin’s past will be allowed into evidence. I think it is on the defense to try to put Martin’s past into evidence after the prosecution rests its case. I don’t know what the judge will do when that time comes. Her dilemma is Zimmerman is on trial and Martin is dead and cannot tell his side of what happened.
Maybe it won’t get that far. Maybe after the prosecution rests its case the judge grants the defense’s motion to dismiss based on the evidence already introduced and the stand your ground law.
An often used on CNN respected defense lawyer said last night that it looks to him that the prosecution is intentionally throwing the case. I certainly would have tried it differently, starting with getting Martin’s girlfriend prepared to testify. And, I would have been the only prosecutor.
On CNN last night, the Sanford police did not believe Zimmerman saying he did not continue to follow Martin after being told to stop doing that. If Zimmerman lied about that, did he lie about anything else that happened between him and Martin?
On CNN last night, the testimony of Zimmerman’s good friend who had tutored Zimmerman about buying the pistol and how to keep it on him at all times, so he would always know where it was. This good friend wrote in a book about Zimmerman, that Zimmerman told him that Martin had grabbed the gun and was trying to get it away from Zimmerman.
In the reenactment video, and in other statements, Zimmerman said Martin went for the gun and Zimmerman drew the gun and shot Martin. The good friend testified that he was not bothered by the different versions, they were about the same in his mind. I think Zimmerman would have told the police in his various statements that Martin grabbed the gun and Zimmerman had to wrest it away from Martin, if that had happened.
I also saw on CNN last night that death threats against Zimmerman, if he gets off, are appearing online. And, it has been a big problem protecting him so far, and he will need that protection the rest of his life. Not sure how a witness protection program will protect Zimmerman, given that everyone in the US who watches TV or uses the Internet or cell phones probably knows him on sight. Plastic surgery? A wig? He moves to Peru where is mother was from?
Sloan
J replied:
He doesn’t have to leave the country – just move to little torch key and buy a trailer in the woods – he can live happily ever after. That way, you get your place sold and he gets a place where he can live in nature and have an ATTACK CAT!
No one in KW will know he is there because they are all too busy trying to screw the citizens over again on the dredging (widening) and besides – it will be a couple years before they get the road finished and no one wants to go anywhere that they don’t really have to go.
Have a good Independence Day!
J
I wrote back to J:
Well, moving to Little Torch Key would be about like leaving the country, and he wouldn’t find many Trayvon Martin supporters on this or nearby keys, but not far away there are quite a few Trayvon Martin supporters in Key West. They aren’t the ones running the city, so maybe they wouldn’t be too busy to mosey up this way after hearing rumor of George Zimmerman sitings. He’s in a heap of shit no matter how the trial turns out, and I don’t see where he can point the finger but at himself.
***********************
Received this reply to the next previous post at goodmorningbirmingham.com – If George Zimmerman gets off God will take care of it, says Trayvon Martin’s stepmother who raised Trayvon from his early childhood but only now is anyone paying her attention.
Sloan, from what I’ve seen of the trial, I don’t believe there’s any way that prosecution can prevent the jury from finding reasonable doubt in this case and acquitting Zimmerman. As you point out, only George Zimmerman knows exactly what happened, since he killed the only other valid witness. I don’t see how Trayvon Martin could have gotten the better of him, if indeed he was practiced in the martial arts. It’s all very puzzling. I certainly agree with you that Rachel [Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend] was not prepared by the prosecution to testify. And that’s too bad, since she was on the cell phone with Martin when the shot rang out. The stepmother is the voice of reason in this entire debacle and I hope the community will pay attention to her, if there is an acquittal. It’s sad to realize that this all could have been prevented had Zimmerman just stayed in his truck when advised to do so by the dispatcher, instead of playing the gun-toting wannabe cop and going after Martin. I don’t for a moment believe he got out of the truck just to read the street sign, as he told the police. I believe he wanted to handle it himself instead of waiting for the police to investigate whether or not Martin was up to no good, which of course, we know he wasn’t. After this, I believe there must be a good screening background check on all persons involved with neighborhood watch. When I was in Key West and we were starting the neighborhood watch, one of the first things we were told was to notify police if we suspected anything was going on, and then to back off and let the police handle it; to never follow a suspect or in any other way, try to stay involved after our phone call to law enforcement. We thought that was a good across the board rule to follow. It’s too bad George Zimmerman didn’t think so! Enjoy your day, Sloan.
Peggy
I replied:
Hi, Peggy, thanks for your thoughts. This case should have been brought for manslaughter, not for murder. I think the judge can give the jury a charge on manslaughter. I don’t think Zimmerman has told the truth about important parts of the case. Sloan
P.S.
The stand your ground law in Florida was taken to bizarre extremes in cases where it was never intended to be used. Gangs got into shootouts and then used the stand your ground law defense. A fellow in Key West got into a fight in a bar, got bested, went home and got a gun, came back to the bar and got into the same fight and was getting bested again. He pulled his gun, the other fellow turned and ran and got shot in the butt. The judge said the shooter was protected by the stand your ground law. Our State Attorney, same as District Attorney in Alabama, told me about that case, and that State Attorneys and law enforcement agencies all over Florida were pulling their hair out how over the stand your ground law was being applied by the local judges. That’s why the State Attorney in Sanford’s county was reluctant to prosecute Zimmerman, the stand your ground law.
Returning my dialogue with Nashville J:
CNN keeps coming back around to Zimmerman never identified himself to Martin as being a resident in the neighborhood, on neighborhood watch.
On CNN tonight, testimony today that no Martin DNA on gun or on Zimmerman.
On CNN tonight, testimony that Zimmerman told the Sanford cops he didn’t know about the stand your ground law. The prosecution put on a professor who had taught Zimmerman cop stuff, criminal justice, etc., who said he discussed the stand your ground often in Zimmerman’s class, and Zimmerman was one of the best students.
I told you some time ago, if I were on the jury and I felt Zimmerman was not telling the truth, I would vote to convict him. Probably not of murder, but of manslaughter.
I still don’t see the defense letting Zimmerman testify, and I don’t blame them.
Sloan
I should have included, to cover their own butts, the defense needs to get Zimmerman to tell the judge he made the decision not to testify. Otherwise, as was pointed out on CNN tonight, it happens a lot, a convicted felon files a motion for a new trial based on having had incompetent legal counsel, based on legal counsel would not let the convicted felon testify even though he wanted to testify.
J replied:
Did they say that Zimmerman’s blood was on Martin’s sweatshirt/hoddie? It was.
I also believe that I remember spots on Zimmermans jacket of Martin DNA – BUT – there were so many spots of evidence – I could have gotten it confused.
Also, there was no reason for Martin’s DNA to be on the gun – it has not been testified that Martin touched the gun – only that Zimmerman said Martin was trying to reach for it.
Zimmerman didn’t need to identify himself (he had called the police) – and was going to let them handle it.
Stand your ground is a smoke screen – what difference does that make – he is not using stand your ground as defense. He is using self defense.
I think we would both agree that the charge should have been manslaughter from the start. Also, defense is still questioning the DNA expert and have already pointed out that at least some of the evidence was NOT properly handled or stored to preserve DNA.
I wrote back to J:
No evidence of Martin’s DNA on Zimmerman’s gun refutes the testimony of Zimmerman’s friend who wrote in his book about Zimmerman that Martin had grabbed Zimmerman’s gun. What Zimmerman’s friend wrote is in evidence, it is testimony from Zimmerman’s friend.
Zimmerman didn’t need to identify himself to Martin as being on Neighborhood Watch. Are you serious? I hope not.
I am pretty sure the stand your ground law is still available to the defense. The defense only waived a judge trial on it before the jury trial. I don’t think the defense waived a stand your ground defense, based on what I heard on CNN and read online from criminal law experts, who said the stand your ground defense could be raised at the end of the prosecution’s case, and again at the end of the defense’s case.
Yes, a sweatshirt was wet when it was put into a plastic bag and it mildewed and ammonia formed on it, according to CNN tonight.
Yes on manslaughter. Martin was trying to kill Zimmerman by pounding the back of his head on a sidewalk. The murder charge was not reasonable, but I suppose the political pressure made it inevitable.
Sloan
I imagine the entire State of Florida is on trial in this case over the stand your ground law, which I felt in the beginning, and still feel, is the reason this all happened. I was incredulous to learn on CNN that George Zimmerman told the Sanford police that he didn’t know about the stand your ground law. Of course he knew about it.
Naja Girard, co-owner/publisher with her husband Arnaud of online weekly Key West the Newspaper – www.thebluepaper.com – told me that my LOCAL EX-ATTORNEY PLAYS JUDGE: Forensic Psychiatric Examination of George Zimmerman’s State of Mind in the 911 Tapes article in last Friday’s edition (28 June 2013) of The Blue Paper received the second highest number of hits of the articles in that edition. I told Naja that the George Zimmerman trial is the most important legal case in America, and is the most important legal case in 100 years.
Again, although I was not a criminal law specialist, I defended a number of people charged with committing felonies and misdemeanors.
This style of “I wrote – he wrote – then I wrote- and he wrote- then I wrote back – and he answered – To which I said…” is really getting old.
I hope somebody instructs Mr. Bashinsky how to write coherently, rather than just to string together email threads and expect people to find them as interesting as he does.
While I was talking to Naja this morning by phone about the N. Roosevelt article in the Blue Paper today, she told me about your criticism. I said, well, if he doesn’t like how I write, he sure doesn’t have to read it. Naja said for me to say that in my reply. She told me the other day that my first article on the Zimmerman case in The Blue Paper, published last week, got the second highest number of hits in that issue. The N. Roosevelt article got the highest number of hits.
As I recall, you are the third person in a lot of years who has said my writing style in articles is incoherent. Just at goodmorningkeywest.com, there are 2,174 different articles, most of them used the s/he said, I replied style. I can write the regular way, and often do, but on my websites, and sometimes in articles at The Blue Paper, I prefer the s/he said, I replied style, as opposed to the traditional journalism style, such as is seen in the Key West Citizen, the Keynoter and The Blue Paper. Here’s why.
Journalists cherry pick comments made by other people, sometimes out of context, sometimes not, sometimes incomplete, sometimes not. I give people their full say, even if they slam me. I want my readers to see the full context and thinking of the people who engage me in discussion of various topics. I also use the s/he said, I replied style because I myself have many times had my remarks cherry picked by local journalists, used out of context, used incompletely, and even twisted.
Having said that, I will ponder your criticism. Perhaps it is well taken. Perhaps I need to simply write much as other journalists write. And, perhaps my editorial board will tell me to keep using the style they started me using many years ago. I do what they tell me to do, because I don’t like what happens to me when I cross them.
Naja emailed that maybe I should explain that my editorial board are not her and Arnaud. The angels who run me and otherwise boss me around, about whom I often write, are my editorial board.
It occurred to me after making the previous reply, that I also should have said the various reported email threads with other people make up part of a tapestry being woven, and the tapestry is the entire article, which itself can be part of a tapestry being woven in a thread of articles on the same topic. I never know where anything I write/publish is headed, or how it will get there. It comes to me in bits and pieces, and they get stitched together and published, and then the next bits and pieces come and get stitched together. I am sitting on something I now have written several times, which is more straightforward, just from me, about the Zimmerman trial. So far, the angels have nixed my publishing it. Maybe they will clear it, maybe not.
A question, Sloan: You, I believe it was, mentioned that the jury could find Zimmerman guilty of manslaughter. Can they do that if the judge did not give them that option? If second degree murder is the charge? I did not think the jury could change the charge. When I’ve served, we had to find for or against the defendant on the charge that was on the table, not a different charge. Wouldn’t the charge have to be changed from second degree murder to manslaughter in order for the jury to bring back a verdict involving that charge?
This has been discussed several times by lawyers on CNN. All I heard, the judge can give the jurors a manslaughter charge as a lesser offense, and the judge probably will do that if the case gets to the jury to decide. Also said, the defense can roll the dice and object to the judge giving the manslaughter charge, and hope for all or nothing verdict. And, it was said, the judge could deny that gambit, give the manslaughter charge anyway. The lawyers felt the manslaughter charge would be given, if the jury got the case to decide. I think that’s how it should go.
Florida Statutes on Second Degree Murder and Manslaughter
by PROFESSOR WILL HUHN on APRIL 12, 2012
in CRIMINAL LAW,WILSON HUHN
George Zimmerman has been charged with second degree murder, which carries a possible penalty of life in prison. A possible lesser charge is manslaughter, for which he could be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. This post sets forth the relevant Florida statutes on homocide.
Jeff Weiner and Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel report in: George Zimmerman jailed on second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting on the charges that special prosecutor Angela Corey has brought against Zimmerman.
The Florida Murder statute is contained in Section 782.04. First degree murder (Section 782(1)(a)) requires proof of “premeditated design” and is a capital offense. Second degree murder, in contrast, requires proof of “imminently dangerous” conduct “evincing a depraved mind.” Second degree murder is defined in Section 782.04(2), which provides:
The unlawful killing of a human being, when perpetrated by any act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular individual, is murder in the second degree and constitutes a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life ….
Zimmerman could have been charged with manslaughter, which is defined in Section 782.07(1). That section of the law provides:
The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification according to the provisions of chapter 776 and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder, according to the provisions of this chapter, is manslaughter, a felony of the second degree ….
According to Section 775.082, the maximum penalty for a felony of the second degree is 15 years.