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.
Did you even watch any of the testimony? You are talking like the defense put on a terrific case. They put on a terrible case!
I am disappointed. I come to this blog for sound and solid logic and argument, which is usually provided by you, and from a dispassionate point of view.
You seem to be married to your earlier speculations about this case. Zimmerman may or may not be as bad a person as you claim. Fact is, it was irrelevant.
The ONE person who claims to have seen what happened said Zimmerman was on the bottom, as Zimmerman claimed. Other witnesses were not as close.
Then there was Trevon’s ‘girlfriend.’ Did her testimony, “honest as the day is long,” help seal Zimmerman’s guilt for you?
And how about the crackerjack legal move of putting Martin’s parents on the stand? Logic? Or pure emotion.
What happened in court. That’s what we have to talk about. Not what you or I or anyone outside that courtroom thinks or believes or suspects happened. We weren’t there.
Sidebar: how in the world do YOU know Zimmerman lied? Not one police officer agrees with you. How do you know what you know? What is your basis? I mean, were you there?
When the “facts,” as presented in court this time out, contravene what you believe, you’re supposed to change your mind. Your tone here is suspiciously like that used by the Team at Real Climate when they come up against a finding or viewpoint they disagree with.
Take a look at Legal Insurrection. Then come back and tell us how LI is run by a moron who hates blacks and favors vigilante justice. Then check out what Alan Dershowitz has to say about the case.
The prosecution shredded nothing. Most of the prosecution’s witnesses clearly backed up Zimmerman’s account. It’s odd that you don’t see that, but I’m thankful that the jury did.
One question I’ve always had is this: If Martin was scared and being pursued by the creepy ass cracker, why did he call his non-girlfriend, instead of the police. If I’m scared and running, she’d be the last person I’d be on the phone with. I’d call the police. I have to wonder if the jury didn’t have the same question. He had four minutes to do that, and chose not to. Had he called, Zimmerman may very well have been convicted.
We will never know what happened that night, so we have to accept the evidence that was presented. Unfortunately for the Martin supporters, that evidence tended to support Zimmerman’s account.
Sorry about stupid typos, Trevon for Trayvon, defense in para 1 when I meant to say prosecution. I was in a rush.
Nope, AJ that isn’t how it happened at all. That’s why they found him not guilty.
What a laughable, petty and ignorant howl of rage this post is! And to think there was a time I actually had respect for you.
YOU are the one who deserves to burn in hell for all of your slanders here. You have been wrong, outrageously wrong, legally wrong, and intellectually wrong from Day 1 on this one.
And now you have NO respect for the law.
And you have NO respect for a jury.
Remember when I tried to tell you that the prosecutions case had collapsed completely? That was because it had, and everyone in this country who actually works in real courtrooms knew it when it happened.
You don’t even have the minimal understanding required to realize that it is NEVER the Defense’s job to prove what happened, it is the Prosecutions job to PROVE beyond any reasonable doubt what happened. Even your fellow-travelers on MSNBC realize that, and they realize that the Prosecution blew this case from the start, and brought a case without any actual evidence to trial. And yet you seem to think that some mumbled hearsay from a biased witness who perjured herself on the stand counts as “evidence”. As soon as she was caught perjuring herself about writing that letter, all of her “testimony” became nothing but worthless hearsay. Astounding – this is why your judgment on anything can never be trusted again.
I tried to tell you this from the start – you see, I have actual courtroom experience, unlike you. I actually know what the law is, unlike you. I understand how guilt and innocence are determined, unlike you. I guess that’s why…
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
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I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
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I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
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I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
I was Right. And You were Wrong.
“Prediction: the Zimmerman verdict will lead to amendments to penal codes across the country to make it easier for prosecutors to win convictions, causing even more blacks to be incarcerated.”
… which will be called racist
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/13/shapiro-zimmerman-jurys-verdict-shines-troubling-l/
AJ,
You are an ego blinded idiot.
In following your blog, every time there is a question about the legimite use of force, you are cowering in the background.
You invested, recklesly, a lot in this case. Now you annot admit that you muight have been wrong. Therfor the entire society and the justice system, already warped left, must be wrong.
Are you really going to hang your hat on that??
AJStrata, I have no idea who you really are. But I did follow your blog for many years because you came across as a voice of reason. In regards to this case, you have left the reservation. You are condemning the justice system that you have so adamantly supported in years past. Your opinions have become the very orthodoxy that you would normally rally against. You have spewed forth the very vitriol and hyperbole that you have so often ridiculed. It is not easy to save face and back down. It is also not easy to admit error or poor judgment. But in this particular case, I think it fair to say, that your inability to approach this case as a dispassionate observer who admits their limited knowledge of the case, who did not watch all of the proceedings, who was not a member of the jury and who cannot possibly know the full evidence or facts of what actually happened; all of these things will combine to reduce the number of people who follow your blog. To which you might reply “big deal” but for people like me, who enjoyed your opinion and the dialog of your small group of followers, it is a sad blow. Why? Because this blog, up until now, was an intimate voice (small as it is) of reason. At this point, your reason has gone to be replaced by a feeble attempt at outrage advocating a lynching. You appear to me to be the squirming man at the back of the crowd shouting “hang him, hang him”. Your condemnation is loud, crass and devoid of substance. You sound like the echo chamber of the Internet and the mass media. Everything you appeared to be against, you appear to have become. Et tu, Brute?
AJ, I am with others here. Your take on this trial: Massive Fail. Goodbye.
You need to man up and go ahead and admit you have been wrong about every aspect of this case. I don’t know what you had invested in it that obscured your vision, but you obviously have a problem with the concept that if a person is not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, then they are ‘not guilty’. In this case a thug was casing houses “for some reason” in the rain at night. A neighborhood watch guy observed him and called the police. What else would you have him do? In keeping the thug in sight til the police arrived, the thug jumped him, believing he was attacking an unarmed man that he figured his MMA would beat the crap out of. It didn’t work out, he died. The jury said Not Guilty. That’s the American system, like it or not. I personally am happy that the right person won.
I am beyond belief you continue your jihad against this poor fellow.
I have no way to know your reasons but they are not rational as far as I can tell.
OK. WWS said it best, so, ….
“What he said.”
And you just continue your spiral down into the abyss of incomprehensible cacophony.
Sad and pathetic. Used to respect you. Now? Pity I guess.
Best towards your recovery and goodbye.
Point of fact, you should’ve titled this post, “The Creepy-Ass Cracker Got Away.”
LOL.
Are you sure you want to send “strata-sphere” to the Recycle Bin?
Yes
You have embarrassed yourself and your family with your coverage of this trial. Go out back and do the honorable thing. I’ll provide the rice whine….
This post is one of the reasons I stopped reading this blog. Complete nonsense.
Goodbye bookmark!
I was personally surprised by the Zimmerman verdict.
In my mind the well had been poisoned against Zimmerman from the get-go. Speculation as to his being a vigilante, someone malevolently stocking an innocent child, gunning him down with a racist heart was set in stone by the media, hysterical, aging black leaders, the WH, and people such as AJ who became instant experts of the ‘facts.’
Also, the jury was under extraordinary pressure to do the right thing. However, the right thing was viewed at opposite ends of the spectrum, by a polarized public. The only problem was that bringing in a verdict of ‘not guilty’ carried with it the wrath of people who threatened to riot and commit mayhem, while a ‘guilty’ verdict would have inspired none of this except many being extremely disappointed in our judicial system.
What a wonderful surprise it was, then, that the jury managed to stay out of the weeds of emotion and simply view, weigh, and make a decision of innocence or guilt based upon the evidence offered to them. They are to be commended for their ethics and bravery, as already there are outrageous tweets going out saying things like “the jury should go home and kill themselves.” It’s not going to be easy for them to slide back into normal life after such a sensational trial, followed by a verdict that has only inflamed white and black racists wanting nothing better than to see this turned into a civil rights battle, rather than a matter of self defense.
Our country is truly upside down, and going backwards, at this given moment………
AJ,
You’re truly in the strata-sphere with this post. I’ve been a long time reader of your blog but this Zimmerman story seems to be very personal to you. Did you have a bad experience with someone in a local neighborhood watch?
Now you want the “Fed” to go after Zimmerman?
While you’re at it let’s throw away the constitution and tar and feather him!
What’s next for you? Will you start banning people and write how you “parted ways with the right”. Hopefully not…
Dear Stata, just ran across your blog. I read your theory about the trajectory of the bullet and so forth….thought it was very compelling. I just registered on your blog to check for an update and views surrounding the outcome of The Creepy-Ass Cracker trial.
Sounds like a lot of bashing going on. The guy/gal who wrote “I was right. And you were wrong” – really! Is this how you guys treat each other? I thought the blog was more sophisticated.
Anyway, there is a lot of truth in the details or is the saying, the devil is in the details. The prosecution did not look close enough to the details to prove anything. Young, Treyvon needed a defense and prosecution on his side.
Zimmerman got a fair trial and the jurors did their duty. Lets move on.
* Question: now that ZM’s a free man..what $$ sales will do better in the next 6 months? 1.) concealed weapon 2.) Alarm System