LOCAL EX-ATTORNEY PLAYS JUDGE: Forensic Psychiatric Examination of George Zimmerman’s State of Mind in the 911 Tapes

 

Local ex-attorney Sloan Bashinsky on the ongoing George Zimmerman trial.  [Neighborhood Watch Captain Zimmerman is accused of having murdered 17 year old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012.]

From Sancho Panza to Don Quixote:

Opening Statements Prosecution:

Opening Statements Defense:

Don Q replied:

Hi, Sancho –

Saw highlights of both side’s opening remarks on CNN last night. The defense lawyer looked and sounded like an idiot. The prosecutor looked and sounded like a great white shark. The main defense lawyer is not an idiot, except he might feel like one after letting the idiot make the open 2-3-hour defense remarks, starting off with the knock-knock joke.

The prosecution has a very steep road because it has to prove Zimmerman was acting with mean intent. A seasoned criminal defense lawyer said on CNN that he didn’t see Zimmerman being put on the stand, that usually doesn’t happen. The only person who knows what really happened after the 911 call is Zimmerman.

I saw on CNN tonight that the prosecution wants to use the earlier 911 calls Zimmerman made. On that, I wrote this to your good buddy Nashville J earlier this evening.

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I think recordings of George Zimmerman’s prior 911 calls re what he viewed as suspicious people in his neighborhood are relevant to the prosecution’s theory that Zimmerman was growing more and more frustrated with the Sanford PD and finally, on the unfortunate night, Zimmerman crossed the line and took the law into his own hands.

Tough call for the judge, for she knows if she lets the prior 911 calls into evidence, that will be appealed if Zimmerman is convicted. If the judge doesn’t let the prior 911 calls in, I think the State can appeal if there is no conviction. Apparently, Zimmerman made similar complaints/comments about suspicious people in prior 911 calls. If the judge does not let the prior 911 calls in, it won’t surprise me if there is a strong public reaction from the Trayvon Martin corner.

I imagine the judge is thinking an appellate court would say the prior 911 calls are relevant under the specific facts of this case. I imagine the judge is thinking the defense is not going to put Zimmerman on the stand, and that also will influence an appellate court, because the only evidence the State had of Zimmerman’s state of mind was what was on the 911 tapes and the statements Zimmerman later made to Sanford police and to other people. The judge has to be thinking the best evidence of Zimmerman’s state of mind that night, and generally toward perceived suspicious people in his neighborhood, is his own words.

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I don’t think many TV armchair legal experts know the State is just as entitled to a fair trial as is Zimmerman. The judge knows this. The judge knows the only living eye witness killed the only other eye witness. The judge knows Zimmerman’s state of mind that night is relevant. The judge knows Zimmerman’s state of mind that night is a progression from Zimmerman’s prior 911 calls. I imagine the judge is thinking, if she lets in the prior 911 calls, the defense will demand to be able to put in everything they have about Trayvon Martin’s past as it might pertain to violence and mean intent.

I don’t see how Martin’s marijuana use is relevant. Marijuana usage does not have a history of inciting violence – understatement. But I’d hate, if I were the prosecution, for the jury to see the photo of Martin shooting a bird at the camera. And there are other Martin photos I would not want the jury to see, if I were the prosecution. Nor in your face statements Martin made online, and troubles he got into. That’s the door the prosecution just might open if it persuades the judge to allow the prior 911 calls into evidence, which I believe are relevant if they are anything like what was reported on CNN.

Zimmerman is swollen up like a giant pumpkin, he ain’t doing good. He doesn’t look in CNN news reports in the courtroom like he is engaged. He doesn’t look to me like an innocent man. I can’t imagine Zimmerman being put on the stand. I imagine the prosecutor who made the State’s opening remarks would have Zimmerman for lunch on cross-examination.

I hope the black female prosecutor Judge Scott appointed stays out of the trial. She has done nothing but cause me to think she is an idiot; she clearly is emotionally prejudiced because of her skin color, which fuels her legal incompetence in this case. She may be a great prosecutor generally, but in this case she is compromised.

Based on what I’ve seen and heard on CNN, hard for me to imagine this mostly all-white women jury will convict Zimmerman. But, I was taught in law school, and heard many times thereafter, and told my clients, there is no way to predict a jury, as the legal armchair experts learned in the Casey Anthony trial.

Don Q

Sancho replied:

It’s interesting to see how these trial proceedings feel so much like an operetta to me… every actor playing their part… each in turn, adding his/her voice to the performance… and of course, the Jury plays the part of the audience. Both GZ and TM were involved in the same kind of Kabuki theater, each thinking: “I am this mask”… tough guys, toughing it out like Samurais until one drops!

A true lover of wisdom has hands too busy to hold on to anything!

He learns by doing and and every pebble in the path becomes her teacher!

Don Q replied:

Agreed on operetta … Agreed, neither lead male won beauty contests …

Were I the trial judge, assuming there is procedure for it, I might halt the trial and ask an appellate court to advise me how to rule on the earlier 911 calls, and on other Zimmerman and Martin history. The last thing I would want in this particular case, if I were this judge, would be to have a jury verdict, guilty or not guilty, reversed because of a ruling I made on evidence being admissible or not.

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My dreams that night left me the next morning pondering yet another possibility I had not yet considered. I felt like an idiot.

In my now enlightened state, were I the trial judge, I will continue the trial until I can get a top-notch respected forensic psychiatrist to review all of the 911 George Zimmerman tapes, and to interview and examine George Zimmerman if he and his lawyers agreed to it. If they do not agree to it, I will tell them they had their chance, and now the forensic psychiatrist will rely solely on the 911 tapes, all of them, in arriving at an opinion of George Zimmerman’s state of mind leading up to the 911 call, and during it.

Then, I will have the forensic psychiatrist come to my courtroom and, out of the presence and hearing of the jury, under oath, tell me, the prosecution, the defense, George Zimmerman and the Martin family his/her forensic psychiatric impression, based on all of the 911 tapes, of George Zimmerman’s state of mind leading up to the day of the shooting and during the 911 call. I will not have anyone else in the courtroom other than the court reporter. No spectators, no journalists, no other court personnel, no law enforcement officers, nobody. I will order the people present not to breath a word of it to anyone else, under penalty of contempt and incarceration until hell freezes over.

After hearing the forensic psychiatrist’s testimony, which I will elicit, I will give the prosecution and the defense the opportunity to cross-examine the forensic psychiatrist. Then, I will give the prosecution and the defense a chance to hire their own forensic psychiatrists, who will then go through the same motions, and testify before the same limited audience under the same order not to breathe a word of it to anyone else.

Then, I will ask the defense if it wishes to change its plea to not guilty by reason of insanity, or if it wishes to proceed without changing its plea, knowing I am going to allow into evidence forensic psychiatrists’ testimony on George Zimmerman’s state of mind in the 911 tapes, all of them, and knowing I will allow the jury to hear the 911 tapes, so they can decide for themselves how they feel about the forensic psychiatrists’ testimony.

Excerpts from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Forensic psychiatry is a sub-speciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology Howells K, Day A, and Thomas-Peter B. (2004). “Changing Violent Behaviour: Forensic Mental Health and Criminological Models Compared”. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 15 (3): 391–406.. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. A forensic psychiatrist provides services – such as determination of competency to stand trial – to a court of law to facilitate the adjudicative process.

Forensic psychiatrists work with courts in evaluating an individual’s competency to stand trial, defences based on mental diseases or defects (e.g., the “insanity” defense), and sentencing recommendations. There are two major areas of criminal evaluations in forensic psychiatry. These are Competency to Stand trial (CST) and Mental State at the Time of the Offence (MSO).

Right, I know arguments will be made that a similar forensic psychiatric examination of Trayvon Matin leading up to the day of the shooting should be made, based on his Facebook posts and online comments, and on his prior brushes with the law. My problem with that, as the trial judge, is Trayvon Martin is not here for forensic psychiatrists to examine. He is not here to speak for himself. George Zimmerman, on the other hand, is  here, he can speak for himself, although the law does not require him to do so. (Amendment V, US Constitution)

Right, I know that might well be a la la land scenario criminal defense lawyers and prosecutors alike will lampoon. However, the truth is, I have felt since hearing the 911 tape just preceding the shooting, and reading the transcript of it, that Zimmerman had a loose screw. That feeling was reinforced by Zimmerman moronically lying about his finances to the court during his first bail hearing, and getting his wife to do same.

Complaints about this post can be filed with the angels who put me up to it: Jesus, Archangel Michael, Melchizedek-Magdalene.

Sloan Bashinsky, not an ex-criminal defense lawyer, although I did defend a few criminal prosecutions, and I did have clients whom I felt were insane, and I have known many people since then, whom I felt were insane.

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