Prosecution Motions

On Friday, May 10th the prosecution in the case of State of Florida vs. 
George Zimmerman, filed 9 motions in court, in an attempt to shore up 
its case and prevent some evidence from being brought forth at trial.  
 
In a peremptory move the State filed the following “In limine”, which 
is Latin for “from the start” or in other words before the trial 
testimony in presented to the jury. I will be breaking them down; 
provide my analysis of what the purpose or the goal of each motion is, 
and what effects they will have at trial. 
These are my own opinions which will be based on my research and 
that of some people who are far more knowledgeable than I am. As we 
will see later, some of the motions the State filed are very common, 
with one caveat, it is usually the defense that would be the one to 
file them. The nine motions are as follows,click on links,for filings:
 
Regarding Trayvon Martin
Here the State is trying to suppress from the beginning any evidence or 
opinions about TM in particularly:
·         Had ever been suspended from school
·         Had ever used marijuana or talked about the use of marijuana
·         Had ever been in a fight(s)
·         Had posted anything on Social Media sites or his screen name(s)
·         Had a set of gold teeth
·         Any mention of his schools or his grades
·         Any texts he might have sent before Feb 26th
·         Any texts he sent on Feb 26th unless they can be tied to the 
          incident and they are ruled admissible by the court

The State is trying to hide any reference of TM’s actions prior to the 
incident. They want the jury to only consider their version of TM or 
in the abstract to hide TM personality.  We know that TM is 
guilty of those offenses but the law does not allow prior bad acts 
unless they are felonies. In this case GZ is claiming self-defense as 
such; the Judge may allow some testimony that is relevant.  Any 
history of violence, may be relevant, as well as drug use, since GZ 
is claiming that this was part of the reason for his calling the police, 
he thought TM was high. The issue of his suspension may be relevant 
as well as this was the reason TM was staying in Sanford, because of 
the suspension.

Prediction; The law seems clear on prior bad acts, but it does give 
some lee-way in self-defense cases, I believe the Judge will rule on 
it as the issues come up.
Prediction Denied
 
 State’s motion in limine regarding calling of witnesses

The State has listed some witnesses that it may not call, and it 
wants to prevent the defense from stating that the reason for not 
calling in the witnesses is because the testimony is adverse to the 
prosecution. 

Some think this is in reference to Serino who was the lead 
investigator from the Sanford Police Department or other cops. 
It is also a possibility that this refers to the testimony of the FBI 
sound expert or one of the other sound experts whose reports are 
contrary to the findings on the third sound expert. The FBI 
determined that due to the quality and interference it could not 
determine who was screaming on the 911 tapes, the second sound expert, 
though admitting the problems and the marginality of the recording 
could only make a partial determination, but it determined that the 
lasts screams on the tape were more likely from GZ but definitely not 
from TM. 

To me this scenario seems likely as the defense is unlikely to call 
them to testify if the prosecution fails to have them appear. I 
believe the Judge will tell the defense that if there is a witness, 
they can call them to the stand themselves.

Prediction- Granted

Motion in limine regarding opinion as to appropriate penalty or 
disregard of law

This motion is interesting as the State is concerned that the jurors 
would disregard the law and acquit if they find the sentence too 
harsh or just decide to nullify the verdict. 

The US 2nd Court of Appeals in 1997 has decided that jury 
nullification in “just cause” to return a verdict of not guilty. 
There is also a movement currently present in Florida that aims to 
instruct jurors on their right to nullify a law if they feel the 
State was abusing its power, for instance. What the State is 
concerned is that jurors could find GZ guilty as charged or some
lesser included charge but that the sentence he would receive 
would be harsher punishment than what the jury feels that GZ 
deserves.  

Last year in April, 2012 a person was arrested for trying to impart 
pamphlets informing jurors of their rights to nullify a verdict. 
The Federal District Court in Southern Florida dismissed the 
indictment as the judge saw informing a juror was not jury tampering
in any stretch of the meaning. 

Sentencing guidelines are not part of the normal jury instructions, 
and neither is anything related to jury nullification. I believe that 
if MOM wants special instructions that he must file a motion
requesting the judge to add any other instruction. 
Standard Jury Instructions for Florida, 
(click for link)

Prediction-Granted

Motion for protective order/motion in limine regarding toxicology

The State wants a protective order to suppress any mention of the 
marijuana traces found on TM on that night as the State says:

“No witness has suggested that the level of marijuana reflected 
in the victim’s blood sample has any bearing 
whatsoever on the cause of his death. Nor is there any evidence 
to suggest the victim ingested the marijuana 
at or even near the time of death; that he was under the influence; 
or that being under the influence would 
in any way be relevant to the actions of either vict.”

This is not entirely true, as GZ mentioned that he thought that 
TM was under the influence which might have been causing his unusual 
actions. This argument also fails to mention that as there are no 
witnesses on record, besides the ear-witness, that had observed TM, 
to say his actions were not impaired is not established it is only 
alleged by the prosecution.

Prediction- Denied  

Motion in limine regarding self-serving hearsay statements of defendant

The State wants to exclude self-serving statements; it is unclear 
to what the State is referring to. The thought is that the State 
considers the statement that GZ made such as “I was screaming for help, 
and no one came” as self-serving. That particular statement was an 
“excited utterance” which is a covered exemption to the Hearsay Rule. 
I believe that the State is referring to statements made on the 
Hannity Show, or any such comments made to family and friends.

Prediction- Granted

Motion to limit/exclude improper opinion evidence

The State seeks to prevent the police or the previous State Attorney 
from providing their opinions as to why GZ was not charged, 
immediately after the event. They cite that in Florida “witnesses 
opinions” as to the guilt or innocence of the accused are not admissible. 

This motion again seems to be aimed at the law enforcement personnel 
and SA Wolfinger, to limit testimony for the lack of charges following 
the incident. Not sure what is the State trying to limit here, the 
release of GZ without charges are well-known, as are the reasons for 
that. The State might be trying to prevent or limit the scope of the 
testimony of SPD officers that there was not enough evidence for a 
charge, and that this was the consensus within the department and the 
local State’s Attorney office.  Thereby preventing any testimony as 
to why they felt that way, and undermine the State’s case. The 
State might also be trying to prevent testimony that implies that there 
was undue pressure on the police to make an arrest against their 
determination from outside parties.

The police only have the power to arrest, which they did, at which time 
the evidence gathered that night did not prove sufficient to hold GZ at 
which time he was released.  Only the State’s Attorney can charge a 
person with a crime, which they could have done if they felt that the 
police was wrong in their assessment. That neither felt the evidence 
warranted an arrest should be admissible. I think the State knows this 
but wants to limit the discussion. The SPD and SA are not just ordinary 
witnesses, it is their duty to opine how the law applies and to make 
determinations based on that, personal opinions aside, testimony should 
be allowed.

Prediction-Denied

Motion in limine regarding prior criminal history

The State seeks to suppress GZ lack of criminal history, as mentioning 
this is an improper way to introduce character or reputation evidence. 
This is a change from the prosecution which for many hearings would 
bring up GZ’s prior arrest, as proof of both criminal past and violent 
nature. Introducing this at trial could open the window for testimony 
about TM’s own criminal activities.  It could also open the door for GZ 
to introduce further rebuttal testimony about his general character and 
reputation, to contrast that of TM.

Not mentioning GZ past arrest is a minor concession but it has big 
dividends for the State as it keeps the Defense from introducing both 
evidence damaging to TM regarding his general character, but it also 
prevents good character references from being introduced this way by 
the Defense. 

Prediction-Granted

Motion to Compel Discovery

The State wants the Defense discovery turned in. This motion is very 
broad and non-specific, the State would need something more specific 
for the Judge to rule on.

Prediction-Denied

State’s Response to Evidentiary Hearing Request

The State does not want a Frye Hearing conducted regarding the voice 
experts. The State contends that a Frye hearing is not needed as the 
experts used accepted methodology to come their conclusions. The 
techniques are not new or novel; as such no hearing is needed. 
This is not accurate as Frye hearings are sometimes used in cases 
where accepted techniques are used in unusual circumstances.  The 
911 recording with the screams is one of those special circumstances, 
as the voices trying to be identified are from a low quality 
recording from a cell phone conversation, interspersed by ambient 
noise, the 911 caller, the 911 operator and a TV on the background. 

In addition the results the 3 State’s experts, the FBI, 
Harnsberger/Hollien, and Alan R. Reich are contradictory, and 
inconclusive.

Prediction-Denied

Final tally 5 granted, 4 denied.

In conclusion, the motions make clear that the State is well aware of

Trayvon Martin’s past drug use, criminal activity, school issues, lack of

violent history from George Zimmerman, and most important of all, that

the events as described by GZ are more that probable.  In order to

counter these facts, the State is trying to paint a completely different

picture of Trayvon Martin, hiding his activities during that day and in

his past. The State is doing this, while at the same time denying the

defense’s ability to put up a defense. The State is trying to prevent the

Defense from rectifying the record, regarding both GZ and TM, giving

the jury an inaccurate picture on which to determine the guilt or

innocence of GZ. This is a shameful abuse of state power, it is my

earnest hope that they fail.  Trial is set to begin June 10^th.

May 14, 2013 - Open Thread

Reblogged from State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman:

Will we see the Lead Investigator, Chris Serino, take the stand in the George Zimmerman trial?  In reading the slew of motions filed by the State of Florida late on Friday, May 10th, one might think we won't.

Headlines yesterday read the Prosecutor doesn't want the trial to be about Trayvon Martin's past troubles.  That of course would be unfair to the defendant, in a case where self-defense is being claimed. 

Read more… 1,124 more words

The State trying to shore up its case, Nettles has done a great job of breaking down the 9 motions the State filed last Friday. In addition the State released the 16th discovery, which consisted of experts reports trying to identify who was screaming in the 911 call. The first report by Harry Hollien PhD and James D. Harnsberger PhD from Forensic Communication Associates both are highly credentialed with lots of experience. Despite the cries on the 911 call being deemed "minimum-to-marginal material for identification purposes", the authors picked 6 "screams" to analyze. It concludes Martin likely made the first two screams and Zimmerman the last two screams, well sort of:

"...While the evidence suggests that Mr. Martin produced the first two utterances and Mr. Zimmerman made the last two, the confidence level for these relationships is not very robust."

Then there is the method used by them to arrive at their conclusions. The report also states that the analysis method used, "aural-percerptual" is "somewhat subjective" and subject to errors. Translation: It's not science, we made an educated guess and the screams that were the most clearly heard, those before the gunshot were made by Zimmerman. Strike One for BDLR. The second report is kind of hard to explain, as it seems like a farce, if it was not so serious. The expert Alan R. Reich Ph.D. can, unlike, the other experts identify 2 voices, one older male one younger but he can make out phrases that are spoken. Combine that with the extraneous commentary make his report seem more a report for a tabloid show than expert testimony. For instance;

"For example, approximately one second after the start of CALL3, Mr. Zimmerman makes a seemingly religious proclamation, "These shall be." His speech is characterized by the low pitch and exaggerated pitch contour reminiscent of an evangelical preacher or carnivalBarker"

I could go on but the bottom line is that his analysis boils down to 2 voices one younger one older and TM is the younger of the two. Strike 2 for BDLR. Now add the FBI report which could not determine who was screaming, strike 3 BDLR, yer out! The motions make clear that the is State is determined to hide anything about TM past, his drug use, suspensions, criminal activity, online activity, anything that will put him in a bad light, and can lead someone to think that he could start a fight. In other words they want to preserve the angelic TM image, that was working so well for them, at the beginning. I don't know at what point the State realized that the Narrative as is what being told was not accurate, or if they knew all along. What I do know is that the State knows now, and probably has for some time. That they have continued with this farce of a case, despite the lack of evidence and obvious amount of reasonable doubt, is telling. It is well past the time the State admits to their own mistakes;

"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

The State appears to have gone into this case with preconceived motions, GZ was guilty, and has been working ever since to try to prove that. They have fallen short, if anything the discovery process has made it clear, that Zimmerman was right. Trial starts June 10th.

Are we living in an Urban Jungle Society?

On March 13^th, 1964 a young woman attempting to get home after her shift as a bar manager around 3 am, was accosted, stabbed multiple times and raped for 30 minutes as she was dying. She was 28 years old; the attack was heard by at least a dozen neighbors, some who heard her cries for help at the beginning of the attack, others at the end. Nobody aided her and the police was not called until the attack was finished.

This event caused quite an uproar about the callousness and apathy that was emblematic with life in big cities. The New York Times published an article by Martin Gansberg “Thirty-eight who saw murder didn’t call the police”. We know now that it was not 38 people but closer to a dozen that were aware of some portions of the attack, but most said to the police; “I didn’t want to get involved.”

As a result of the attack, songs, books, movies and several psychology papers and studies have been done. The psychologists that have studied the case have determined that the story is more parable that truth, though it is continually used as a teaching aid;

 ”Despite this absence of evidence, the story continues to inhabit our introductory social psychology textbooks (and thus the minds of future social psychologists).” One interpretation of the parable is that the drama and ease of teaching the exaggerated story makes it easier for professors to capture student attention and interest.” (American Psychologist, Sept. 2007)

The studies prompted by the case, created new terms(click on them for definitions):

diffusion of responsibility 

bystander effect

Both of these phenomena have a bearing on our “Urban Jungle Society.” Recent events clearly demonstrate how both of these effects are affecting our society, and how they determine our reaction to events.

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, all of them accepted rides, all them were kidnaped by the same person and held in captivity between 9 and 11 years.

How did Ariel Castro the accused managed to maintain 3 women hidden for so long? His house is in the middle of a residential street, surrounded by other houses in close proximity. The neighbors have told reporters, that they knew of strange things going on in the house.

The say that Ariel only came in and out the back door, one neighbor claimed to call the police when he observed a naked women with a dog collar in the backyard (the Cleveland Police are denying this report). This might be just plain hindsight, or it could be that we are not as aware of the activities of others. This is where diffusion of responsibility and the bystander effect come in.

The attitude is it “none of my business”, is what allows a man to abduct 3 young girls, keep them captives for years and not one call to the police. We no longer live in a society where we look out for each other, we live a society that acts like a jungle safari, we ride along with windows closed, hoping, praying that the exotic animals don’t get in; while at the same we can’t help but be fascinated by them.

This is not an isolated case by any means, there are hundreds of other examples, where people have ignored signs or misdeeds because it is not their responsibility, or they are just bystanders. Just look in YouTube and there are thousands of videos by people of beatings, stabbings, fights most of which could have been prevented if we willing to help one another. Many feel that calling the police satisfies any civic duty they may feel. Now it is longer a problem; observing and filming the safari is the proper thing to do, so that they could share the wonders to others.

The same callousness and apathy also extends to other arenas, as it has been shown after the Congressional Hearings on Benghazi. 3 whistleblowers came forward to provide moving and firsthand accounts of the events on that fateful night of 9/11/12, the 11^th anniversary of another terror attack. Accounts that clearly contradict the story told by the Administration and that at the very least demonstrate a naïvetés by the Administration with regards to the region and al-Qaeda or gross incompetence. It also points to the lengths they went to keep this from the rest of the American public, even if it meant embarrassing an ally, the Prime Minister of Libya, practically calling him a liar to the world. He announced that it was a terrorist attack; it was through the intervention of Libyan forces that the tragedy was not worse. As a result of this the FBI was hampered in its investigation and delayed for 17 days from reaching the site, which was contaminated by then.

This apathy and callousness was not only displayed by some congressman who tried to deflect the blame, but by the reporters, who saw the whole thing as another political grandstanding by the opposition party, to quote congressman Cummings, ” Death is part of life…”, this before he heard any testimony from the whistleblowers. The media have not been far behind, calling it a waste of time, another witch-hunt. Some suggesting that the Hearings are sexist, had it been John Kerry the SOS at the time and not Hillary Clinton, none of the blustering would ensue. Perhaps former Secretary of State Clinton put it best;

“Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they’d go kill some Americans?  At this point, what difference does it make?”

In other words she was just another bystander, who was powerless to do anything. Now we are finding out that to some extent she setup the conditions that made it the attack possible, and when she had to make a decision to help those she put in danger, she just watched. In the following days instead of praising the personnel she abandoned and the Libyans that were injured and died, rescuing them, she lied; she blamed it on an obscured YouTube video that few had seen as the cause of the attack. She diffused her responsibility, if that video had not been shown none of what happened would have occurred. Regardless of the politics, she failed miserably at her task. She made decisions based on her hopes, ignored the warnings, tried to blame others to cover it up. We expect and need better from our highest government officials.

Another instance where government agencies, people, task to prevent this type of event failed terribly, the Kermit Gosnell abortion clinic. This is a classic case of diffusion of responsibility, that allowed his practice to continue even though the few times they had inspected the clinic it found terrible conditions and substandard procedures. Yet, the clinic not only flourished but, received referrals from other clinics. You see Dr. Gosnell was a pioneer and he was willing to do what more responsible clinics would not do, illegal late-term abortions. This being one of the sacred cows in politics, the MSM did not see fit to report on this case.

Furor, mainly driven by the bloggers caused the MSM to cover the story, which many did in a peculiar way. They would write a story about the furor because of the lack of coverage of Dr. Gosnell and his trial, in doing so they reported the story by reporting about their lack of coverage. The MSM did this to avoid the appearance of reporting on an aspect of abortion that would put the abortion issue in a negative light and bring it back to National attention. The media became bystanders to a major story, letting bloggers and others tell the story, avoiding the appearance of objectivity. The media avoided the bus to the safari to avoid reporting that in the wild, sometimes the strong are cruel and kill the innocent.

Now we have an opposite story, this is the story of a young man who saw it as a duty to look out for neighborhood. One time he saw another young man beating a helpless homeless guy on video. The guy who did the beating was the son of a local police lieutenant, and it seems he would get away with beating the helpless old guy. This young man decided not to be a bystander on the safari, but to act he sought help from an organization that was founded with the goals;

To promote equality of rights and to eradicate caste or race prejudice among the citizens of the United States; to advance the interest of colored citizens; to secure for them impartial suffrage; and to increase their opportunities for securing justice in the courts, education for the children, employment according to their ability and complete equality before law.

The organization could not, would not or was not interested in joining with this young man to demand and accounting for the misdeeds of the cop’s son. Undaunted the young man decided to do something on his own; he printed flyers, went to local churches and spoke at a town meeting. The cop’s son was arrested, an investigation was launched and now the organization that had shown little interest before became the old person’s advocate.

This young man was not done, within his community a crime wave was affecting his community (in a little over a year 411 calls to 911 have been made by the community, only 8 of which were from him), with the help of the local police and community a neighborhood watch was form with the young man as one its captains. He decided not to be a bystander anymore, and actively help make his community safer. Anytime he saw something wrong he would inform the police, who usually arrived too late to do anything about it, or catch the suspect. This went on until on one occasion on his way to the store to run an errands, he observed another young man entering the community through a cut through, he appear to be walking aimlessly in the dark cold night. As was his custom the young man, park his truck to call the police to report what he had seen, following the instruction from the dispatcher he attempted to maintain visual with the suspect, something that was hampered by the darkness, on that rainy night. The suspect noticed the surveillance at some point and fled using a dog path, between rows of condos. The young man no longer able to maintain a visual on the suspect left the relative safety of his truck, in an attempt to maintain a visual and gather an address to provide the police, who he hoped was arriving at any minute. He stayed on the phone with the dispatcher for an additional 2 minutes after he lost visual contact with the suspect, towards the end of his call he tells the dispatcher;

“It’s a home. its one-nine-five-zero, aw crap, I don’t want to give it all out, I don’t know where this guy is.”

30 seconds later the call ends, the young man is waiting for the cops to call to give them directions to his location, in the next 2 and half minutes his life and that of his suspect will change forever. According to the young man as he was walking back to his truck, the guy his was trying to maintain a visual with approached him from the left and behind. He demanded to know why he was being followed; as the young gave an answer the other one punched him on the face, causing a close fracture on his nose. The young man staggered about and fell to the ground, the other jumped and straddled him, slamming his head on the concrete sidewalk repeatedly, the young man screamed for help, he would later say that he was hoping the police who were already on the way would hear his screams. The other one try to smother him to keep him from screaming, at one point one witness heard the commotion, he observed the young man on the bottom struggling and he heard screams from help, the witness yelled stop I am calling the police, and went back inside his house, his protective shelter in this safari. Seconds later the young man felt the other one trying to attain the gun he was carrying; the same gun that the police had suggested he carried to protect him from some pit bulls in the community, he managed to grab his gun and he fired one shot. He scrambled from under the other guy, and unsure if he had shot him he put his arms to the side, about a minute later the police showed up. The young man was arrested, the EMT testified that 45% of the young man’s face was covered in blood; he had 2 black eyes, abrasions to both sides of his face, lumps on his head as well as 2 cuts. Dazed, hurt and confused the young man provided a statement to the police was interrogated for hours, stripped of his clothes, his gun. He would go on to submit to 2 lie detector test and 3 other interviews with the investigators, he even provided a taped walk-through of the events. He did all of this without a lawyer present, when charges were filed against him he voluntarily surrendered. Before he could do that he and his family had to go on hiding, why because the local prosecutor would not file charges against him, available evidence pointed to his claim of self-defense.

Before the suspect was even buried his family had hired a lawyer, who in turn hired a PR firm, and a narrative was created, the suspect was visiting his father home, at half-time of the NBA all-star game the suspect decided to walk to the store to get himself and his little brother a snack from the local convenience store. This was not possible as the shooting occurred before tip-off so when the details did not match the facts they were changed the narrative, the only thing that was constant was the portrayal of the young man as a violent, racist, cop wannabe vigilante. The media like the narrative and ran with it, in some instances it tried to change facts to help the narrative along. The organization that the young man once sought help from, was now calling for his head on a platter, this time there was no doubt about their involvement.

Why you might ask is this young man facing any charges? The prosecution says that he “profiled” the suspect. The meaning of profiled is not given, it is left to us to understand and define what the State means. That he got out of his truck to follow the suspect. He left the ride, he went into the urban jungle, and the habitants attacked him for it. His exiting his vehicles is seen as a provocation, which precipitated the attack. If not for this young man not following the rules of the Urban Jungle, and stayed in his truck, none of this would have happened; habitants in the Urban Jungle are dangerous.

Harvard law Professor Alan Dershowitz had been a staunch supporter of the young man, and has called the prosecution illegal and unethical, no charges should have been filed. Yet, even Mr. Dershowitz feels that while not legally culpable; the young man might be morally culpable for leaving his truck. What does that say about our society in general, where trying to do the right thing is morally wrong?

The young man I was referring to is of course George Zimmerman, the suspect was Trayvon Martin and the organization is the NAACP. Zimmerman is charged with 2^nd Degree Murder and his trail starts on the 10^th of June, let’s try to help a young man who accepted responsibility, decided not to be a bystander or defuse his responsibility to his community  in the Urban Jungle we live on.

The Trayvon Martin Case, Update 27: “I forgot about it.”

The Trayvon Martin Case, Update 27: “I forgot about it.”.

Once more, Mike does a wonderful recap of the events of last week’s Hearing in the George Zimmerman case.  As Mike stated once again, I am struck at the ability by the State to obfuscate obvious issues and the Judge’s willingness to allow it.

As we are founding out, the defense is moving to exclude voice analysis testimony  as the conclusions are not concrete but have the potential of being inflammatory and extremely prejudicial. The unraveling of W8 due to the interference of Benjamin Crump, and the unethical to say the least of having an important witness testify next to the crying mother of the deceased,  have allowed the defense to look into other potential evidence that might be submitted by the State.  Follow link for the motion:

http://www.gzdocs.com/documents/0513/mot_for_evidentiary_hearing.pdf

Here’s the Orlando-Sentinel take on the proposed testimony.  It is interesting to note that both of the experts involved were originally hired by the newspaper to analyse  a taping of the recording, later added to the State’s witness list. While MOM does not mention which experts they are challenging, a safe assumption is that they include them.

The danger of embracing the PC (politcally correct) philosophy as your Moral Guide

A little over a week ago, Bill Maher had on his show  CSU-San Bernardino professor Brian Levin, director of the Center for Study of Hate and Extremism, to talk about the Boston Bombing and the capture of one of the suspects.  It had recently been revealed that religious fervor was a driving force in the bombing attack at the Boston Marathon, and that the suspects were planning further attacks, this in New York’s Time Square. Maher is a favorite of the Political Left and an atheist so that, if he said something against any religion was not surprising, but what he said and how he said it, was certainly surprising to most.

Professor Levin and his Center for Study of Hate and Extremism, is an apologist for Islam, for Minority violence, etc and he came on the show as he had in other occasions to do the excuse the extremism of the Bombers, as he has done for others.  He likes to compare Muslim extremists to Christian extremis who bomb abortion clinic, for instance.  Maher surprised him and probably most in the audience;  Maher expressed a hard truth, one that anybody that lives by the PC rules would never express, watch the clip.

He exposed a truth, a truth that pc-minded people would not only never say, but would attack you for it, and called you an Islamaphope.  Before Bin Laden death, but especially since, the American public has been told over and over the War on Terror is over, al-Qaeda is dead or has been dealt a mortal wound.  We don’t have to worry about Muslim extremists anymore. Some go so far to say that those that do attacks in the name of Islam are not Muslim at all, denial is a big problem with the Muslim community.

This is contrary to the fact, that attempts are still be made some unsuccessfully but with notable exceptions, last September 11th, attack on our Consulate in Libya that killed the Ambassador and 3 other people severely wounding about a dozen more. Just this past week we find out the Canadian security forces stopped another attack, this time to derail a train connecting Canada and New York.

The PC police wants us to think that all Muslims are peaceful, which most are, but there is a fringe that goes to far, and more than a fringe that react approvingly, when the fringe attacks, if they feel that their religion’s sensibilities have been besmirched.  Maher did what no one aligned from the Center to Right politically could say and get away with it, because it came from the Left camp.

The PC police has invaded and is permeated in our government, as a consequence official policies have been implemented with this philosophy as a guide.  As a result, we now have policies that offend others, in other to not offend anyone.  Confused yet, quick example in soldiers are now asked to remove Bible verses that were sketched on by the manufacturer from their rifles.   Soldiers are not allowed to have Bibles in Afghanistan or Iraq, the Church of England school now has separate prayer facilities for boys and girls and does not sing any Christian Hymns, the problem is not just in America but in Europe too.

PC thinking extends beyond Religion, it enters into all aspects of life, including the one that I am most interested about at this time, its effect on the Criminal Justice System and the Media.

In the mid 1960′s when the War of Poverty was started to end poverty in the US, we have seen profound changes in American Society,  the results of the Trillions of dollars have been dismal.  The poverty rate was about 15% then it is at 17% now, for example. It also does not help the government changes the rules to maintain that number.

The changes have seen Black and White middle class neighborhoods ravaged as the policies that were meant to end poverty instead institutionalized poverty.  The Charities, mostly Christian, that used to help the impoverished were replaced by a large government bureaucracy whose PC policies made get out of poverty, nearly impossible for many. Instead of helping get out of poverty as the government defined it, it has become a clutch to many, at the same time it has changed the views of Marriage, pre-marital sex, work and personal responsibility.

As the Society changed, the media became the PC police, they changed the reporting policy, so as not to reflect poorly on any group, or ethnicity.  They search, for stories that would highlight what they perceived as un-PC behaviour, while ignoring, under reporting and in some instances changing stories that would put others in a bad light.

It has become a policy in most major news outlets in large Urban areas that when describing a suspect, if he is black this information not be released. While stories of alleged police would get headlines, mass killings by gang members were barely mentioned. Those that were reported were usually from the victim’s point of view.  Scandals involving minority politician, are a local story, while  at the same time accusations about a politician on the Right are on the front-page.  The issue is so prevalent that if you read an article that portrays a misdeed and the party denomination is not mentioned, you could be assured it was someone on the Left.

By following this PC philosophy, the MSM tied its hands, it could not longer report things that would put the PC philosophy in a bad light.  The manner of its stories changed, straight forward reporting was replaced by what the media called “hard-hitting” stories, which in essence was excusing any bad acts by looking for a PC angle to the coverage or not reporting at all.  A recent example was the non-coverage of the Dr. Grosnell trial.  He is an abortion doctor who was performing illegal late-term abortions, and killing the babies born in botched abortions by severing their neck.  It is believed that up to 100 babies were killed in this gruesome manner. His actions also   led to the death of at least 2 of his patients, though he is facing charges for only 1.  This story as un-PC as it gets,  Dr. Grosnell is also a black physician, the problem was known by the regulating authorities and Planned Parenthood, was directing those that wanted illegal abortions to him, because they would not do them.

Some in the MSM tried to place the blame on the Right by suggesting that the reason Dr. Grosnell was able to operate in such a manner was the Right Wing stance against abortion and the restrictions that it had put on them. This is the PC angle, abortions are good and any restrictions on them would create more Dr. Grosnell.  The media had put itself in the position that it could not report the story correctly, so most of the MSM just ignored the story. Instead, stories were written about the lack of coverage, about the excuses for not covering the story. One such excuse was mentioned  in several media outlets;  the excuse was that it was a local crime story not deserving the added expense to send reporters  to cover it.  This particular excuse is important to remember and we will come back to it.

News stories became 3 paragraphs of actual reporting and 10 of editorialized filler, changes were going on at the Justice System as well.  After the turbulent 60′s and early 70′s large swings in population were going on in most Urban areas.  The black middle class was dwindling, those neighborhood taken over by the institutionalized poor citizens, immigrants and a criminal element.

Crime in minority areas had been a minor problem, now it became a major headache.  One that has overwhelmed the Justice Systems to this day. “White Flight” (a misused term, as it first used to describe the Europeans leaving the anti-colonial policies being implemented in Africa) was the common PC reason given for the deteriorating circumstances in Urban Areas. Forgotten was the Black Flight that was  occurring at the same time, as Middle class Blacks also moved to the Suburbs to escape the same problems, Whites families were escaping, that were happening in the same urban areas.

The PC media would report the high numbers of arrests, the high number of crimes but would ignore in the reporting who was committing those crimes in these Urban Areas now devoid of the Middle Class. Any reporting was to point out the disparities. The media mention the perpetrators of the crimes came only, to blame past racial problems as the root cause for the poverty and criminality.  This led to an Urban Myth,  which still lives to this day; Blacks are targeted by the police, and the Justice System and  more disposed to convict blacks and minorities than whites.

The stats are bleak, anyway you look at them, but study after study when variables are accounted for, the truth is this is Not True. In fact, some studies have found that black defendants are treated with more leniency in some areas that comparable white or hispanic defendants. This includes the DOJ studies conducted by the government.  This is the un-PC Truth, which never gets reported and will label me a Racist for pointing that out. I was having a conversation with someone who insisted that blacks were targeted and killed by the police, ” the police are exterminating black”, that was his cry on Twitter. I took the time to find out, this was a difficult endeavor as a National database for cop killings is not available, so the information is hard to obtain. For the year of 2011 the last year for which I could get the most accurate stats, there were 220 cop killing of black suspects, out of 538 total.  Which worked out to about 1 every 40 hours as he kept telling me.  This is a sad statistic, but I put it context of the 2.4 million arrest, 4500 of them for homicide, almost 600 of which were by juveniles under the age of 18 and a population of 43 million.  Put in that context, the amount does not give the same impression, especially since black on black homicides is more than 10 times that number.

A few years back, the Rev. Jesse Jackson had this to say:

 ”I hate to admit it, but I have reached a stage in my life that if I am walking down a dark street late at night and I see that the person behind me is white, I subconsciously feel relieved.”

He spoke the truth, but to this day some that followed the PC philosophy have called Jackson anything from, old dinosaur, to irrelevant, to a sell-out.  Rev. Jackson walked back that statement and claimed it was taken out of context, but the truth was out for the world to see. Black Republicans have been pointing this out for years, but have been shouted down or ignored by the PC media.

This brings me to the Boston bombers and another case that caught National attention last year.  I am referring to the George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin case.  In the Boston bombing case the Media had attempted to blame the Tea Party, right-wing extremists, lack of gun control, misplaced youth, and our Society for the bombing.  As news of the real reason for the bombings, Islamic religious fervor. The media have shifted, so now they excuse the surviving bomber as one that was brain-washed by his brother and now it appears his mother. At the same time Tom Brokaw ask what is American Society doing to turn what appeared like any regular young man into a terrorist? American Society is still blamed.

In the case of George Zimmerman, the media has blame race, first labeling Zimmerman as a White supremacist, then using a seldom used label of White Hispanic, to maintain the white label on Zimmerman.  Nobody calls the President a White-Black man, or would ever think of doing such a thing.  This is coming from the same media that now it is claiming that it does not report on local crime stories, which this was.

What made the GZ vs. TM story different that any of the hundreds of over cases with similar circumstances, was the PC media inability to accept that GZ might be right.  TM was painted as an aspiring astronaut, the PC media just lapped it up.  The truth, as it alway does, started to come out, TM was helped by the Miami-Dade Schools Police policy of  ignoring , erasing or misreporting of  criminal acts.  This will the goal in mind of reducing the Statistics of Black crimes in the School System.  This policy directed from the top, the Chief of Police, who when one reporter had the temerity to report accurately information detailing Trayvon’s activities and multiple suspensions, an internal investigation was launched to catch the officers who released the information to the media.  A touch of irony is that this Internal Affairs  investigation, eventually led to the Chief being terminated for this policy and other issues brought forth by the investigation.

Another Chief of Police was also fired, this time it was the Chief in Sanford, his un-PC crime was not arresting Zimmerman, right away, his years of the force or knowledge of the law non-withstanding his decision to stand by the investigators and not filing charges led to his dismissal.

The PC establishment demanded an arrest, the myth that had it been a black man, he would have been arrested right away (btw GZ was arrested, and interrogated released because evidence confirmed his claim of self-defense). Those that  support GZ are labeled racist, child killer sympathizers by the those the use PC as they Moral Guide. The feel that they are Morally superior in this, and completely ignore any evidence that points a different picture.  To say that GZ did nothing wrong by reporting a suspicious character, who GZ later was able to identify as Black, is crime a crime of  un-PC thought, this crime carries the penalty of derision, insults, and the label of Racist.

The PC media failed Zimmerman, as it tried to convict him publicly, the Justice System is failing as it bowed to the pressure of PC minded mob.  Freedom of Speech is one of our most revered freedoms, but we are allowing that right to be diluted in the search of  Political Correctness. We can no longer say Christmas Holidays, or fireman, or illegal alien, Islamist, Jihadist, or tons of other words that are being retired in the name of PC.  Just as we can’t point to Black Crime, or look into the policies that drove the Miami School Police Department to fudge its reports, this is un-PC, if the consequences on Society will be dire, I will leave you with a quote from President Ronald Reagan’ s farewell speech in 1989;

 Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which ‘We the People’ tell the government what it is allowed to do. ‘We the People’ are free.

Don’t be afraid to see what you see

If I may add to the last quote, and say it out loud.

Update thoughts/ Danny Warrion GZ case

Danny Warrior with a great recap of the latest on the Zimmerman case, it returns to court on April 30th.

Update thoughts (Read more)

Excellent recap, about Crump and the his filling the settlement into the criminal record.

There is another reason Crump wanted to add the settlement into the record, when Sybrina or Tracy were on the stand, he knew MOM would ask about any lawsuit or settlement as a result of the shooting.

IMO MOM had already asked that in the depositions, so they knew it was bound to out, by filling in the court and sealing just the information that he wanted, he affects the jury pool, pre-empt MOM at trial, a possibly embarrassing moment in the stand.

From what I found it is possible that he may have the law on his side. So, there is little damage done to his client but the damage to GZ is yet to be known.

I found that the answer from Crump did not come from Blackwell interesting, as Blackwell was the attorney of record representing Crump.

Another thing that will be interesting to watch will be how Judge Nelson rules on BDLR’s motion to force the Defense to reveal its strategy, this is attorney work product, and she already ruled against MOM on the same issue in Crump’s favor.  Will she do the same with MOM?

It will be an interesting Tuesday to say the least.

The Question Is Answered: Mirandize

Reblogged from Stately McDaniel Manor:

If you, gentle readers, ever had any doubt that Democrats cannot be trusted with the safety of the American people and the national security of America, lay that doubt aside.  There can no longer be the slightest question.  But before I provide the latest outrage, a brief side trip into the Twilight Zone that is the brain of our Secretary of State--America’s top diplomat--John Kerry. 

Read more… 1,351 more words

Another Great Read by Mike, showing how once again we are left holding the short-end of the stick when protecting Americans is concerned.

We live in Interesting Times

For those that were in outer space or exploring caverns last week, was a terribly eventful one. A terrorist attack, letters with ricin poison sent to a Senator and President Obama, a fire at a fertilizer plant that caused a huge explosion and eviscerated the town of West, TX, an earthquake of the coast of Japan, followed by another in China days later and finally we had a car chase that included, thousands of rounds of ammunition, explosions, more bombs and ended in the capture on 1 of the suspects of the terrorist attack, the other having been killed by the surviving suspect when he ran over him with the getaway SUV. Interesting times.

For future historians if they wanted to know the state of affairs in the country during our times, all they would need is to read the accounts and the comments of the media and the people after the events and they would know right away all they needed to know about our country’s state of affairs. The divisiveness, the wild accusations, the pointing of fingers and of course the people using tragedies to advance their own agendas, were all plain to see for anyone who wanted it to.

We had a successful terrorist attack that killed 3, injured as last count 178 others and caused over a dozen amputations at the Boston Marathon, a yearly family event, and the oldest in the country. Two bombs, filled with nails and ball bearings for maximum carnage, were placed in the crowd along the route of the runners, one near the finish line, the other about 100 yards away. Among the many tragic victims of the senseless attack was an 8-year-old boy, who was there with his mother, sister and older brother cheering his father who had run in the marathon. The boy, Martin Richard, died in the bombing attack, his mother and sister are still in serious condition in the hospital, and his older brother somehow was uninjured. Thankfully for the victims of the attack, it was a marathon and the bombs were placed closed to the finish line. That meant that they dozens of nurses, ambulances, doctors, and interestingly enough National Guard troops who were carrying their full rucksack. In those rucksack they had medical kits that were used on the victims, had that not been the case, the death toll would undoubtably, been a lot higher. The loss of blood from limbs blown apart, and lack of intravenous fluids would have killed most of them.

Within minutes of the bombs going off, pundits on both sides started blaming other people or organizations. With no information whatsoever, the Progressives blamed right-wing extremist for the bombings, after all it was Patriots Day and it was Tax Day, so the proper way to protest both in the opinion of Progressives is to plant a bomb in a crowded venue. On the other side, while for the most part calmer heads prevailed, the Right blamed left-wing Progressives for the bombing attacks; it was Boston, where the Tea Party got its inspiration from, after all. In the end both were wrong, the suspects turned out to be 2 Caucasian, ethnic Chechen, Muslim brothers who had arrived as refugees and had been in the country for about 10 years. The two brothers on 19 years old, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was a student at UMass-Dartmouth University, he had been captain of the wrestling team in High School, like to smoke pot and a general party boy. The other brother was Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was 26 years old, an amateur boxing champion, part-time student was married with a 3-year-old daughter he died when his brother ran him over with the SUV he used as a getaway vehicle.

Before the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured, the apologists started coming out in force. He was described as a fun-loving (pot smoker) guy, he loved to party, Obama, had many friends, etc. The calls that he could not have done it had begun. His older brother, who was quieter, was blamed for everything. He it was found out had religious extremist views; he had even been kicked out of a local mosque for screaming at his Imam, but Dzhokhar he was a sweet boy studying to be a marine biologist. As soon as he was captured calls to treat him as a citizen, he was naturalized on 9/11/2012, ironically that same day there was another Islamic terrorist attack, this one on the Benghazi Consulate, the Ambassador and 3 other people died in that attack. The Leftist Progressives wanted him to be Mirandized and given all the protection the Constitution grants its citizens, the Right wanted him named an enemy combatant, and as such he could be interrogated indefinitely and tried by a Military Tribunal.

Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press was asking what was wrong with this country that turned someone who has been here for 10 years, into a terrorist. Mathews on MSNBC was wondering what was the big deal, only 3 people died in the bombing, and implied that the bombers failed in their attack. Geraldo apologized to his Muslims brothers and Sisters for the friction this would cause in their community. On twitter several #Johar is innocent (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) threads appeared including one asking for funds to defend him. It does not matter that the bomber has admitted to bombings or that they had other bombs with them and planned to use them; according to the car-jacked victim whose car they stole, they were headed to New York for more mayhem. It does not matter that the day after the bombing he was at a party in his college, or that he told his car-jacked victim who was Chinese, that they had spared him because he was not American. I guess he did not considered himself American, even though he swore loyalty to the country when he was naturalized, in the end it won’t matter as the DOJ will be prosecuting him as an American citizen and will be afforded those rights he so callously took for granted.

I think that blogger Ace of Spades, explains the empathy phenomenon the best:

I went off on this phenomenon yesterday on Twitter, noting that we are now in the Conspicuous Compassion Floor Exercise program of the Moral Peacocking Olympics.

Many statements during this phase must be discounted as to their false mention of external facts, such as terrorism. That is just a red herring. The real subject of these sorts of Look at Me and Be Amazed by My Empathy and Cleverness statements is, as usual, The Almighty I.

Palmer, whoever she is, doesn’t want to talk about Dzhohkar; she wants to talk about herself. However, as there’s a social penalty associated with Narcissism, many Narcissists have learned to make statements seemingly about external matters which in fact are actually all about The Almighty I.

A year ago, another case had the nation riveted. I am referring to the George Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon Martin. In the beginning it was just another local crime matter and was treated as such by the media. Due to a concerted effort by the Public Relation Firm the family of Trayvon Martin, the case became a national story. Much like Johar, Trayvon Martin was portrayed as an innocent youth with great aspirations and even greater expectations. The media painted George Zimmerman on the other hand as a racist, out of control, vigilante with a gun. Once, evidence of Zimmerman’s mixed heritage was known, a seldom used acronym “white Hispanic” was used to describe him. The racial theme had to remain. Zimmerman’s father a retired magistrate in Virginia whose primary functions are to conduct probable cause hearings on complaints of criminal conduct brought by law enforcement or the general public and to determine whether an arrested person is eligible for bail, was now anything from Federal Judge to a Supreme Court Judge, was blamed for Zimmerman’s lack of arrest.

Evidence that was exculpatory to Zimmerman was ignored or in some cases, tampered with. The Non-emergency call that Zimmerman made requesting the police investigate TM was edited to make Zimmerman sound racist; the CCTV tapes leaked to the media used the ABC logo over his head to cover Zimmerman’s injuries corroborating his account. Another ABC employee was present during the State’s star witness first interview, he and his assistant recorded the interview, but only a 5 minute excerpt of that tape was saved, in that small portion of the larger 25 minute interview, it is clearly evident that the Martin family attorney is not only coaching the witness, but creating evidence. Dozens of articles from Washington Post and others decried the racial elements of a case that had none.

Pictures of the young TM were shown non-stop, his innocence and good manners were taken for granted, comparisons to tragic events of long ago, such as Emmett Till the 14-year-old tortured and killed in Mississippi in 1955. Other instances of racial crimes were noted, the city of Sanford has had issues with the AA community ever since it absolved Goldsboro, an AA community during the segregated south years. Curiously overlooked was that Zimmerman had helped bring to justice the son of another Sanford police officer after he was caught on tape beating a homeless black man Sherman Ware, leading to the conviction of the attacker and the sacking of the Sanford Police Chief.

It did not matter by that time, as the politician from the President, who called TM his son, to Congress which was having resolutions about the case, to the Governor who allowed or forced the local prosecutor to step aside so that a new special prosecutor be named, to the Mayor who released the 911 tapes, against the wishes of the police, to the lead investigator who punted the case to State Attorney. Zimmerman’s due process rights were hijacked for political reasons, now he faces life in prison. The evidence that will be used against him will be almost entirely the same evidence that was found wanting before, until the politics of the case, and public pressure from all those who are trying to demonstrate, that they care, that they empathized, that they understand however misguided that is or that it is based on a lie.

There is evidence now, that TM was not the angel he was portrayed to be. That the reason he does not have a criminal records has nothing to do with how well behave he was, but because of another misguided attempt by the Empathizers, this time to reduce the incidence of criminality among black youths in the Miami-Dade School System. Who in order to lower the statistics of criminal behavior in its schools, mislabeled, misrepresented criminal acts into something not needing Police attention, leaving the School System to hand out discipline, this is why TM was on his 3^rd 10 day suspension for that school year, that was just over half over. It was the reason he was in Sanford that day, to get away from his neighborhood, however briefly, where he was getting in trouble.

In both instances misguided people in their attempt to be understanding rushed to judgment, the more prudent ones have jumped the Trayvon Martin ship as has most of the National media. In the end the damage is done, Zimmerman will be tried in court for a crime he did not commit, Johar will get his American citizen rights he squandered and did not care for. We the people lose in both cases. Interesting Times, indeed.

Objectivity, can it be maintained in the George Zimmerman Case?

On February 26^th, 2012 an hour before one of the most watched sports events in the country tipped-off a tragedy occurred. Two young people’s lives would intercept with tragic consequences. On one side was a young man, who was serving his 3^rd suspension from HS that year. His parents decided to send him to stay at the Father’s girlfriend’s condo, away from his local friends, whom they felt where being a bad influence on him.

On the other side, another slightly older young man, working as an insurance adjuster, and going to college to finish his Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice. He was also a volunteer in the Neighborhood Watch Program, establish after a rash of break-ins and other crimes were committed on the gated-community. On this fateful night, ironically he was not on duty, but just on his way to the store doing errands. Those are the objective facts; after these, your objectivity depends on which side your argument falls.

What happened next, is a matter of bitter contention, and will decide the outcome and future of George Zimmerman, his family and closure for the Martin Family.

Martin Camp

The State’s prosecutors have made their argument simple:

• Trayvon Martin was temporally staying in the Condo Complex
• Trayvon was returning from the corner store, and entered the Complex
• George Zimmerman observed TM enter the Complex
• GZ “profiled” TM as someone not belonging in the Complex
• GZ assumed that TM was acting suspiciously and called the Police
• The Police instructed GZ that they would respond
• GZ made comments in regards to young criminals coming to the Complex
• The comments were derogatory
• GZ continued to follow TM, disregarding the dispatcher who told him not to follow
• TM was on the phone with a friend, to whom TM describe what was happening
• GZ confronted TM, a struggle ensued
• The neighbors heard the commotion and called 911
• In one of those calls, a voice was heard screaming
• Sybrina Fulton, TM’s mom identified the voice as TM
• One shot was fired, it kill TM
• GZ admits to firing the weapon

This is in essence the State’s case against George Zimmerman. As some familiar with the case will quickly point out, there is a lot that is not mentioned on the Charging Affidavit, where all these points came from. You can read the whole document here:

http://www.flcourts18.org/PDF/Press_Releases/probable_cause_affidavit.pdf

From an objective point of view this document is incriminating, but very incomplete, as it does not mention GZ injuries, it misstated some of what GZ said on the call to the police, it fails to mention that Tracy Martin, TM’s father did not recognize his son’s voice, when asked by the Investigator. It paints the picture of a vigilante, fed up with criminals getting away, deciding to take matters into his own hands and disregarding the police. This recklessness created a situation that led to the tragedy.

This position has been the middle ground for most people who feel GZ is guilty, but with some reservations. The feel GZ had a weapon, was the older person, could have avoided the confrontation, and did not have to shoot the teen. The only thing they are unsure about is this Murder 2, as charge, or some lesser charge, but guilty of something.

This would be the objective view of the occurrence if only the prosecution’s view would be taken into account. Things are rarely that uncomplicated, and so clear-cut.

George Zimmerman’s Camp

• The Complex had been victims of recent break-ins
• Observed TM entering through a cut-through, not through the gate
• It was a dark cold rainy night, TM appeared aimless walking
• TM approached GZ’s vehicle in a threatening manner
• After which he ran
• GZ was following the dispatcher’s order to maintain visual and inform
• Dispatcher told GZ to stop, he did
• Had lost visual with GZ, was returning to vehicle
• TM approached him and then sucker punched him
• TM pinned him to the ground, slammed his head unto the concrete
• GZ was screaming for help, none was provided
• TM noticed gun, at that point GZ managed to grab gun and shoot once
• GZ was unsure he had shot TM, only did it in self-defense
• GZ had injuries to his face, the back of his head and a broken nose, unlike TM
• He surrendered to the police, answered all questions
• Passed 2 lie detector tests
• Assisted the police throughout
• Provided a filmed walk-through
• Witnesses testimonies was consistent with GZ story
• Cooperated throughout until charged
• Turned himself in to authorities

This is the objectives facts as the Zimmerman’s Camp presents them, they give a much different view of the crime. Are some of these facts in dispute, by the State, yes. The State claims it was TM that was screaming for help, the GZ camp contends why would he, be screaming for help, he was giving GZ a beat-down.

Provided that the truth is somewhere in between, does that mean that reasonable exists? Did the Sanford Police Department do the right thing by not charging George Zimmerman that night?

Yes and Yes. Those that like to inject race into the discussions, claim that had it been the other way around TM would have been arrested and charged. But, here is the truth, unlike some wild stories that were bandied about, George Zimmerman was arrested. He was handcuffed, he was detained, he was interrogated for hours, his clothing was collected, he was photographed all without an attorney present and voluntarily. He was then released. Why?

The object of this post is objectivity, lack of favoritism toward one side or another, so why objectively was GZ released after questioning? Lack of probable cause, as defined by;

• A reasonable belief that a person has committed a crime.

• A reasonable amount of suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong to justify a prudent and cautious person’s belief that certain facts are probably true.
  

GZ shot and killed a young teenager, without a weapon, he should be arrested, he was. He should be charged. Now this is the problem, with what. On those first 48 hours what information was available to the Police and the prosecutor’s office?

A resident of the Complex, called to report a suspicious person, the caller was on the phone with the dispatcher describing the situation, the dispatcher decided it merited a response, the caller was later involved in an altercation with the suspect, the caller had noticeable wounds, the suspect did not, the caller was cooperating, the caller did not have any outstanding warrants or on probation, the suspect did not have any identification on him, the caller claimed self-defense, and the evidence gathered indicated that to be the case.

The objective
evidence as available that night and early morning, did not rise to the level where;

“A reasonable amount of suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong to justify a prudent and cautious person’s belief that certain facts are probably true.”

What about the argument that if GZ have been black he would have been charged or not released? It is a sad commentary that young black males are a disproportionately represented in the Justice System. Why is this important?

Often times when black males are not released, it has nothing to do with the crime that was just committed by because of other crimes, or as a result of other crimes. Many are on probation or parole, which means a new charge is enough to hold them, until an investigation can determine whether new charges will be filed, often they have warrants for minor offenses that they did not clear up, or did comply with the terms of release.

The effect of this is that black males, when facing new charges will be incarcerated at a higher rate, before the new charge is even added. This is the objective truth. Couldn’t they hold GZ for 48 or 72 hours while they investigated, yes.

Would this have change anything? Other than the early perceptions and accusations that the SPD was biased, by the time the uproar started about arresting GZ, he would have been released due to lack of evidence.

What made this case different was not the way it was handled, it was the addition of subjective conclusions and assertions that outside forces at the invitation of the Martin Family and with their active participation caused, in my opinion, the Objective facts of the case to be forgotten, substituted by subjective opinions, many with no bearing on the case. Before I talk about the hijacking of the case, there are a few more objective facts that have to be established;

• The family hired a wrongful death lawyer before their son was even buried
• The family hires a PR firm to pitch the case to the media
• The family withheld information about their son to portray him in a better light
• The family obstructed the investigation, even as they were claiming that an investigation was not taking place

I am not passing judgment on the family, as I may have done the same thing, but those are objective facts and are a large reason why the case became so controversial. The family and their lawyers and PR firm created a narrative that was;

Is this an unfair appraisal?  I guess it would depend on which camp you are, but the there is no doubt that the strategy revolved around, portraying TM as an innocent child, which he was not, and GZ as an overzealous bully, who hunted TM down and killed him. The created Narrative was very successful in achieving this, and it is still believed by many people as the objective truth.

The hijacking of the objective facts and the consequences

I have tried to give the most objective facts as I know them to be, now let’s talk about the subjective facts conclusions based on a subject’s personal perspective, feelings, beliefs, desires or discovery, and how they hijacked the case, divided a nation, and caused bodily harm to some people.

Once the objective facts of the case were forgotten the story driven by the subjective facts and opinions of others the case took a life of its own. The first and most enduring subjective fact was the racial element and what effect it had on the case, the players, the investigation, the witnesses, the politicians and the media that was reporting it. For some “subjective facts”, they only have to mention for them to be accepted as fact. In this case, race became the first fact that transformed the story.

600 lb. elephant

The shooting had remained a small local story, for over a week, on March 7^th the first national story about the shooting was a Reuters story, not a full story, but a brief, that described the first of the many stories about that evening from the Martin family and the efforts of the family’s attorney to get GZ arrested, as Crump’s summarized his efforts in this manner

” Trayvon, a high school junior who wanted to be a pilot, was black and Zimmerman is white, Crump said race is “the 600 pound elephant in the room.”

Silliness of the statement aside, as a 600lb elephant is very small; this is all it took to get the attention of the major networks. Credit must be given to the PR firm, for getting that start, a few days later the story went national. A subjective fact as perceived by the family, with no corroboration, started the media frenzy. The objective fact that Zimmerman is of mixed heritage Hispanic mother and a White Father, and would never be confused for a member of the Aryan Brotherhood was hijacked, ignored, when it was no longer possible to ignore, a rarely used term was applied to describe GZ, White Hispanic.

Stand your ground-License to kill

From the beginning, one of the reasons given for not arresting GZ was the SYG laws in Florida. It was the press and the Family that were insisting that the reason for not arresting GZ was the SYG laws. The Sanford Police Department and States Attorney Norm Wolfinger were saying lack of probable cause, but not one was listening, another subjective fact, that caused contention. The facts about the SYG laws were completely ignored, a review was ordered by the Governor because of the pressure against the law, which few understood and was rarely invoked. A review that decided that there was nothing wrong with the law and that it would stand as it is.

The Hoodie, the Ice Tea, Skittles

Another opinion that became a subjective fact was the Hoodie, the Ice tea that was not Ice tea, and the skittles. All of these became points of contentions, when the objective fact that Trayvon was wearing a hoodie because of the rain, perhaps, were used as symbols to rally for support. The claim that TM had put up his hoodie and was the cause of GZ suspicions of him as a result, where unfounded, as GZ never said that. Even the revelation that TM was wearing his hoodie up when he visited the 7-Eleven, well before he encountered GZ, were not enough to change the subjective fact that GZ was suspicious of TM because he was wearing a hoodie. It spawned a Million Hoodie march, and other Hoodie demonstrations that once again stripped the case of the objective facts and transformed it. The Ice tea that was really a watermelon juice cocktail and the Skittles were transformed into symbols of innocence, as if a criminal could not have those items and still commit a crime or in this case assault GZ.

The girlfriend and “puppy love”

The young woman that was allegedly talking to TM was transformed into TM’s girlfriend and stories of the hours talking in on the phone with the 16 year-old sweetheart another subjective fact, that it is now known was not 16 at the time but 18 and was not TM’s girlfriend at all. She was not so traumatized that she had to spend the night at the hospital as was claimed. Her tale is still evolving.

Aspiring pilot and no criminal record

The portrayal of TM as an aspiring Pilot, little angel, with no criminal record, who was suspended by the school for truancy and was innocence personified. The family spread stories about his aspirations to be a pilot, would not show current pictures of TM, use angelic looking pictures of TM when 5 yrs. Old, a cute picture of TM 8-10 years old in his football uniform, and the most famous was perhaps the Hollister shirt picture of a 14 yr. old TM that was part of every story. Then there was the picture of a young TM in a hoodie which was photo shopped to make him look, lighter and less menacing another clear attempt to hijack the fact that TM was not a cute small kid, but 6+ foot tall young man. TM was young man who had benefitted from the MDSPD’s efforts to reduce the statistics for crime and delinquency within its schools, and was in Sanford serving another suspension. His criminal police record was clear due to those efforts, by the MDSPD; a picture of a troubled young man was appearing.

There are other things that became subjective facts in the case, I won’t go into all of them, instead I will return to the title of my post can Objectivity be maintained in this case? Perhaps, but we have our own perspective, feelings, beliefs, desires and sometimes it is a difficult proposition, to try to divorce ourselves of those, to maintain objectivity. A better goal might be. attempt to distinguish the objective from the subjective, even if the we agree with the subjective, by recognizing the difference we can become better human beings.

Crump files a response wants details of Settlement kept Confidential

Once again, attorney Benjamin Crump, the attorney for the Martin Family wants to hide information behind privilege and confidentiality. On April 4th, without a reason or an apparent need, Crump filed paperwork into the George Zimmerman criminal case. The documents were the confidential agreement between the Martin family and the HOA. The following day the Court Clerk sent Crump a letter informing Crump that the documents did meet the criteria, and would be unsealed. Crump was allotted 10 days to file a response to the Court as to why the Confidential Settlement should not be unsealed.

Today we get Crump’s response. In a 4 page filing today asking Judge Nelson to keep the settlement amount and the parties in the agreement to be kept confidential. In other words he does not mind that the Settlement is known to all, just that the conditions, the people involved and the amount be kept secret. This transparent attempt to influence and prejudiced the jury pool is blatant. Attorney Crump knows full well that a settlement reached before the conclusion and determination of the criminal case, send a bias message to a potential jury pool.

Just as he manipulated the political leadership to force a filing of charges, he is now attempting to do the same with potential jurors. It will up to Judge Nelson to see past this and unseal the details of the settlement, which had been reached months ago but, added to the record only recently. If the settlement was meant to be maintained confidential, then he should not have it entered on the record of the criminal case which has no bearing on the settlement.

His contentions that a financial settlement would not affect the testimony of Sybrina Fulton or Tracy Martin are belied by his own testimony in the 15 page Affidavits where he clearly states that he was retained with the express purpose of filing civil litigation or the communications of the Family though their attorney on March 14th, 2012 to the HOA stating their intentions to sue. It is clear what the family intentions were, even back then when evidence of guilt or the existence of the State’s star witness.

This Witness 8, the same witness, that he and the family found hid from the authorities, recorded a declaration that to this day remains mostly unintelligible, without LE or SAO’s. The same witness a partial recording by the ABC news crew present recorded, clearly demonstrate that Crump is coaching and in his own words had spoken about the events with Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, something both now deny. This is the same witness that Crump refuses to answer questions about, that led to the Defense team to file a Petition for a Writ from the 5th District Court of Appeals.

As with Witness 8, Crump is once again inserting himself in the criminal case. Once again he was to release information that he feels his is to his benefit, while trying to claim privilege and/or confidentiality to information detrimental to his case and flouting the law in the process. Will Judge Nelson put a stop to Crump’s shenanigans and remind Mr.Crump that he is an attorney representing the Martin family in Civil court, and that this proceedings are in Criminal Court and that BDLR/Corey are the ones representing the State.

In a total slap to the face of logic and fairness, Crump claims that releasing the settlement amount and naming the parties involved,

Was that not your goal, eh, Mr. Crump!

Link below,

http://www.gzdocs.com/documents/0413/opposition_to_mot_unseal.pdf (Crump’s response)