Trayvon Martin case heading towards the political abyss
I predicted Saturday night that the Trayvon Martin case was being set up for an explosive outcome in which expectations of a conviction faced the reality of the rights of an accused and evidence which cast “reasonable doubt” on what happened.
Two developments today make the facts supporting a conviction even murkier, and cast doubt on the simplistic narrative in the media since the beginning of the case of an out of control Neighborhood Watch vigilante who hunted down Martin with an intent to kill or capture because of Martin’s race.
First, the narrative of Martin being a young man free from trouble has been challenged, Family: pot linked to Trayvon Martin suspension:
”A family spokesman says slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school last month for having a baggie that contained marijuana residue in his book bag.”
Remember, Zimmerman’s call to police said that there was a person acting strangely, as if “on drugs.” If and when autopsy results are released, we will know if drugs played any part in the incident (although Zimmerman was not tested, presumably the autopsy did testing).
Second, more details are coming out about what happened in the moments before the shooting, Police: Zimmerman says Trayvon decked him with one blow then began hammering his head:
With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered, authorities have revealed to the Orlando Sentinel.
That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say…
Zimmerman told them he lost sight of Trayvon and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from the left rear, and they exchanged words.
Trayvon asked Zimmerman if he had a problem. Zimmerman said no and reached for his cell phone, he told police.
Trayvon then said, “Well, you do now” or something similar and punched Zimmerman in the nose.
Zimmerman fell to the ground and Trayvon got on top of him and began slamming his head into the sidewalk, he told police.
Zimmerman began yelling for help.
Several witnesses heard those cries, and there’s been a dispute about from whom they came: Zimmerman or Trayvon.
Lawyers for Trayvon’s family say it was Trayvon, but police say their evidence indicates it was Zimmerman.
One witnesses, who has since talked to local television news reporters, told police he saw Zimmerman on the ground with Trayvon on top, pounding him and was unequivocal that it was Zimmerman who was crying for help.
Zimmerman then shot Trayvon once in the chest from very close range, according to authorities.
When police arrived less than two minutes later, Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose, had a swollen lip and had bloody lacerations to the back of his head.
If true, this would be what I was wondering might be the case. An unintended up close and personal encounter which took an unexpectedly violent turn:
What was the geography? Is there evidence Zimmerman continued to chase Martin after the 911 operator said it was not needed? Was the shooting in a place where Zimmerman may have run into Martin while Zimmerman was heading towards a place he could be seen by police, or was the location indicative of Zimmerman still chasing Martin?
I still reserve judgment. We only know some of the facts, and the facts we know may not be reliable.
But it is looking like this case is heading towards the political abyss.
Update: Via the comments, ABC News reports the following:
Martin’s girlfriend had said in a recording obtained exclusively by ABC News that she heard Martin ask Zimmerman “why are your following me, and then the man asked, what are you doing around here.” She then heard a scuffle break out and the line went dead.
None of this is going to be easy on the Martin family any more than it is in so many cases where the conduct of a deceased loved one is an issue; keep in mind these people lost a son:
The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, said Martin son had been suspended for 10 days from his high school the day he was shot after traces of marijuana were found in his book bag. Martin’s father had said previously Trayvon was suspended after being found in an unauthorized area at the school.
“If he and his friends experimented with marijuana, that is completely irrelevant to George Zimmerman killing their son on the night of Feb. 26,” Crump said. “Law enforcement is attempting to demonize and blame the victim.”
“They killed my son, and now they are trying to kill his reputation,” Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon’s mother, said, holding back tears.
Unfortunately, these statements were made with Al Sharpton, someone who made a career of smearing innocent people for which he is unrepentent, standing at their side.
And, it gets worse, via Miami Herald:
Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school in October in an incident in which he was found in possession of women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that a schools security staffer described as a “burglary tool,” The Miami Herald has learned.
Trayvon, who claimed that an unnamed friend had given him the jewelry, was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald.
And, readers have been posting similar links over the past few days, and I really, really wanted it not to be him, but The Daily Caller says it is, so I’ll finally link.
+67-2
Comments
Freedom of speech guarantees that all ideas – no matter how noxious – get a proper airing for consideration by those who hear them. Good ideas will out, while bad ideas die out. This is how a free society evolves.
However, the process is slow and patience is required. The reason the process is slow is the same as why it is so hard and takes so long to enact meaningful, big change legislation – you don’t want to make big changes quickly lest haste make for the waste of errancy. Patience again.
Along with this necessary patience comes the need for faith that this is how it will work out eventually. I fear that too many people are losing faith in truth, which cuts short their patience, and the impulse is to reply in kind – with the same sort of bad ideas they despise and oppose in the first place.
Trust the system* (oh, THAT will rile some, fershur). Have faith in the power of truth. Do what you can, sure, but within the lines of our own vaues – let’s not lose our collective compass.
*Many of us are old enough to remember times far more divisive and uproarious than those we are currently experiencing. They don’t last. There exists a social/political pendulum, forever transitting between the apogean extremes. Ebb and flow, ebb and flow. Truth wills out, eventually. Bad ideas die, eventually. Good ideas live on, get incorporated, thrive – eventually. Resist the temptation to declare the system isn’t working the minute you realize an idea is bad. There are many, many other people involved whose agreement is required. Patience. Faith.
Indeed.
“Resist we much!”
I bet you post from a room with CSN&Y playing on vinyl, under black lights, poster of Nixon on the shitter taped to the door, incense burning, wearing striped bellbottoms, three inch wide belt, and a fur vest like Sonny Bono’s.
Huh? Am I right? Am I right? I’m right, aren’t I? Hahahaha. I knowed it. I KNOWED it.
OK, LOL. And I NEVER say “LOL”….!!!
Except that allusion to Nixon…good thing I’m a touch typist, cause I’m blind now…
I’m sorry, but I can’t give any of the “details” from the girlfriend any credence. The timeline she describes just doesn’t match the other available facts, including the 911 calls.
Concerning the NBPP…
Let’s start with solicitation to kidnap. In announcing a reward for the seizure of Zimmerman, the New Black Panthers may have violated Florida Code 787.01. It makes it a felony to “by threat, confining or abducting, or imprisoning another person against his . . . will without lawful authority with intent to . . . terrorize.”
Merely soliciting someone else to do this is also a felony in Florida under code section 777.04. “A person who solicits another to commit an offense prohibited by law and in the course of such solicitation commands, encourages, hires, or requests another person to engage in specific conduct which would constitute such offense or an attempt to commit such offense commits the offense of criminal solicitation.”
The solicitation and threat to seize Zimmerman may also constitute a crime under Florida Code 876.35. The felony of Combination Against the People of the State occurs when someone is unlawfully seized by a mob, or at the behest of a mob. Think of a small town jail 100 years ago and angry crowd, armed with rope, demanding a particular inmate. Sound familiar?
Florida Code 876.35 defines the crime of Combination “to remove them forcibly out of this state, or to remove them from their habitations to any other part of the state by force, or [when people] shall assemble for that purpose.” Remember, solicitation to commit a crime is in itself a crime.
Florida Code 876.34 even makes it a felony to “interfere forcibly in the administration of the government.”
Florida has an oddball law which may play a role as the facts of the Trayvon Martin become clearer. Florida Code 843.20 is a criminal provision entitled “Harassment of participant of neighborhood crime watch program.” It makes it a misdemeanor to threaten or intimidate a member of member of a neighborhood crime watch program “while such member is engaged in. . . an organized neighborhood crime watch program activity.” The law says that a neighborhood patrol includes a “crime watch program activity.” Of course Zimmerman was on his neighborhood crime watch patrol when the tragic incident occurred.
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/
Of course, those are the statutes. The case law could be quite different.
Still…
Oh, man. Holder and the DoJ will be all over these NBPP guys. Oh… right.
Never mind.
This picture summarizes how I feel about this entire situation: http://t.qkme.me/3oh3z4.jpg
Good on ya…!!!
As a reverend himself, he’s probably mortified that people like Jackson, Farrakhan and Sharpton get away with calling themselves “rverend” and “minister.”
There are usually a few sane black voices to be heard when Jesse, Al and Louie call out their troops, but they are too few and too far between.
At any rate, the information is not supportive of their position now and any day all the race hustlers will start back-pedaling just like they did in the Duke lacrosse case. When the media stops covering the story, we’ll know they’ve stood down once again.
ABC News reported a police source quoted Zimmerman as saying the youth had tried to get his gun.
“Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin was suspended from school in October in an incident in which he was found in possession of women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that a schools security staffer described as a “burglary tool,” The Miami Herald has learned.”
A burglary here, a baggie of pot there, a school suspension over there… And sooner or later we get… a martyr?!?!? To whom?
Apparently, this punk was well on his way to build his own respectable “rap sheet” before the State of Florida, his very own street credo, at age 15… That is, until certain “white Hispanic” stopped him cold… literally.
“Hoodie martyr”, my foot!
Better luck next time.
This 21-year-old white kid was just shot and killed at Mississippi State Univ.
The suspects are three black males.
I wonder if President Obama can relate to this young man. If he had a son, he probably wouldn’t look all that much like this young man. But, really, should that matter?
http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=16252
People should show up at counter-protests to these BS “Justice for Trayvon” parties with huge signs, each sign with a large photo of a white/Hispanic or Asian killed by blacks because of his race. Present the media with a sea of faces of the dead who paid the price for political correctness in this country, in this media, and in this administration.
Curious, about a dog that isn’t barking. Is there any evidence that Mr. Zimmerman was an ineffective, troublesome, busybody neighborhood watch guy? Any letters in the files from the police telling him that they appreciate his sincere desire, but they really don’t want his help? Any thing? Anybody? He has been a neighborhood watch guy for quite awhile, and has been doing a passable job. I haven’t heard any evidence that his neighbors wanted him to find a new hobby.
Plus, this is a gated community. I’ve heard talk radio guys say ‘Gee, it isn’t a crime to walk around the neighborhood.’ True that, but this is a gated community. The expectation is that people out walking around have a tangible connection. That Mr. Martin’s dad was staying with the dad’s girlfriend, sort of makes Mr. Martin’s presence a bit tenuous. Why was the deceased missing for 3 days before the family made investigation into his whereabouts? There are loads of questions inquiring minds really want to know about.
Some seem to think that having an adult man smashing your head into the ground isn’t cause for shooting. Exactly how was he supposed to get the guy off of him? I’ve heard of thugs killing victims that way. The expression is, better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6. Was Mr. Zimmerman’s “provoking” behavior so strong that it justified repeatedly smashing his head into the ground?
If Trayvon was scared, why didn’t he call 911? Why didn’t he run? Can’t a slender, 17 yr.old athlete outrun an overweight 28 yr.old? If Zimmerman pulled a gun on Martin BEFORE Martin began beating him, he would have shot him then. But that’s not what unbiased witnesses say.
Well, you are only assuming these witnesses are unbiased.
And for all the talk today about Zimmerman being beaten so horribly, it doesn’t seem he was injured badly enough to go to the hospital or even a doctor.
One generally assumes that witnesses are unbiased except for their perspective observations. Bias is usually only assumed or treated as possible when a relationship exists between a witness and a participant.
In the rain, in the dark, with Trayvon sitting on Zimmerman’s chest, they recognized Zimmerman, think he’s great, called 911 with a phony story, and all the witnesses had that same idea to do that? Okey-doke.
Yes, he did go to the hospital.
If you noticed, there were no protests, no outrage immediately after the shooting, or when the DA announced he wouldn’t be charging Zimmerman. On Trayvon’s “real” Facebook page (Slimm), after his death all the messages are expressing sorrow, missing him, etc. Not one expressing outrage or suggesting he was “murdered” etc.
Not until a lawyer (sorry, Prof, but you know it’s true) showed up with a scheme to sue somebody and people started smelling a payday does the wailing begin. Fly to NYC to protest! Alert the media! Get the Sharpton & Jackson Circus in on it, generate some hysteria, and up the settlement demands.
Trayvon’s mom is also trying to ease her sorrow by trademarking his name and image for commercial products. Nothing like a few extra coins to dry those tears . . .
We noticed. Some of us did, anyway. For others, that may be too fine a point to have any meaning in their lofty analyses.
No 7-11 security cam footage of Trayvon buying his Skittles surface yet? Figured it would have found its way into the media’s hands by now. Course he wouldn’t be 12 in the vid, so that would pose an obvious problem.
Bin wonderin’ about that myself. When was Martin at the store in relation to when he was shot? How much time passed? Not that it really matters in the long haul.
Might matter if he never actually went to the 7-11. Then his reason for skulking around the neighborhood would be…?
Good point. Maybe he didn’t go to the store. Maybe he was just out roaming around……looking for a jewelry box perhaps to keep his ladies jewelry in since he couldn’t keep it in his locker, having been suspended for 10 days and all.
OMG JackRusselTerrier has beaten out Rags 41-37.
That is crazy man . Rags never gets beat.
Someone had to do it.
“The man who shot the black teenager in Florida may be as guilty as sin, for all I know — or he may be innocent. We pay taxes so that there can be judges and jurors who sort out the facts. We do not need Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton or the president of the United States spouting off before the trial has even begun. Have we forgotten the media’s rush to judgment in the Duke University “rape” case that blew up completely when the facts came out?”
–Thomas Sowell, quoted by Roger Kimball
http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/
Dr. Sowell is one of a very large number of people I would not expect to see when “Blacks would be rioting with glee in the streets if Trayvon had shot Zimmerman, with Trayvon controlling the narrative of what happened.”
Perhaps you each can think of several you know. A few of you seem not to be able to.
Sowell is definitely one who would not be there. Nor would Col. West, Angela McLachlan, Walter Williams, Deroy Murdock, J.C. Watts, my son-in-law, Bill Cosby, Deneen Borelli, nor any of the fine AMERICANS over at Project21.
It’s good that you could think of ONE. But the vast number of OJ and Obama supporter types, the ghetto dwellers, the HipHopWorld participants, Jesse’s gang, Al’s gang, Calypso Louie’s gang, and the parasite class, all of which make up the bulk of black America, would be well represented.
The problem is not that we cannot think of any black people who are of the mindset of Dr. Sowell in this regard. Of course we can. The major problem is that the only blacks who are getting media attention, do not share Dr. Sowells balanced approach, including the President of the United States. The President decided that this victim is more important than other victims simply because they “look” like each other. The President injected race into this tragedy and made race the issue that the black community and the media would highlight. The most powerful man in the country took a side before he knew any of the facts. Obama rushed to judgment.
Totally agree with your…not racist…position.
Obama AND Sanct-torum have rushed to judgment…along with a few other poltroons in politics on both sides of this.
You are able to think in terms of people, rather than groups. My point.
Black Americans themselves have balkanized themselves. They identify themselves as a “group.” If you don’t like that thinking or having that fact pointed out, complain to them about it, not those who notice it and recognize it as the tap root of race problems in this country.
In the future, please stop using the verb ‘rush’. I’m a NC resident and we’re not allowed to hear that word. I may be in trouble just for posting it.
There seem to be two separate “cases” here. Zimmerman will now face intense scrutiny, but his outcome will be determined by professionals. There is concern though, that national media is influencing his due process.
There other case is based in a false narrative built by whom? Media Matters, Obama’s campaign, major media whoring for viewers … ? This is the distraction from the economy and the sell out of our national defense, and Obama’s war against American energy (real energy, not green fantasy)
But the distraction, phony narrative is now a real campaign issue to be dealt with, not ignored. It has taken on a life of its own. America is on trial and we have to search our collective souls for the “crime” of being racist with intent to kill.
The battle being fought is only tenuously tied to the actual story and the real life case. Obama and a million Trayvons are accusing white America. That is the ethereal battle being fought in high places. Race has nothing to do with the actual Zimmerman/Martin case. But race IS the issue in the Obama incited war. The same force that elected Obama the first time is being applied now.
Facts regarding the real case may matter little at this point. The mob has been set in motion, chants and merchandise are in play. This is the real battle … collective white racism. Charges have been brought by the president, and he demands the collective search their soul. Major media is bringing false evidence, but there is no judge. It is mob rule.
As noble as it is to not pass early judgment on the actual case, the prosecution does not rest, and the defense of “white America” is hardly heard. Of course this is the straw man … there is no white America, only certain elements of “black America” organize based on race. But white guilt still exists. The fact that Zimmerman is Spanish speaking Hispanic shows the disconnect between the Zimmerman case and the Obama versus We the People case.
I lived in a large majority black city for 15 years. I had a dozen or so crimes against me, no one ever got in trouble for them. But in every case there was evidence of someone(s) casing, or directly seen committing. They were all black but one.
So it is quite reasonable to me, to picture a more logical narrative of Zimmerman doing exactly what he said. He probably expected his presence would be enough to deter a crime, even though “they always get away”. Trayvon was previously found in possession of jewelry (someone gave to him?) and a large screwdriver.
The actual case will matter some, but will this evoke a more honest national debate? The vocal left has already convicted strawman “white America”, and the best real America can do is plead for a mistrial.
(I’m not a lawyer, so my use of legal analogy may be faulty, but you get the idea)
I think it is useful to step back and attach to first principles at times.
1. this is not about race in reality. A narrative has been constructed by some very motivated interests…including the Mushroom Media…that required bending reality. But I can find no support for that meme.
2. the police do not seem to have been careless, stupid, or “Southern” in their investigation. The Sanford PD is, like Sanford, integrated. The captain who is acting chief of the department is black. I can find no support for the assertion that the death of anyone would be carelessly investigated, or that it was in this instance. The chief was a formed homicide detective, and he had detectives investigate this death.
3. none of us knows what happened. Press accounts are universally recognized to be erroneous, if not decidedly biased. That includes blogs. One of the things that we also know happens in instances like this one, people become MORE polarized than would normally be the case, and say things they later regret (or should) and DO take sides and become cheer-leaders.
4. having a Grand Jury inquire here has no political overtones. That is what they do. It is their function. This is normal. What is not normal is to have the state intervention, and the federal level involved. Outside of pure politics, I can see no reason for that.
5. various interests and people have been running up to…and over… the line of legality here, and even national “leaders” have stirred the pot. This could readily have the effect of denying Mr. Zimmerman due process. He most certainly has been denied the presumption of innocence by Collectivists of all races, and by not a few “conservatives”, as well.
6. the outcome of this will see people less united, less sanguine about justice, and less secure in the idea of Americans as a people. There are things we can do to lessen that, if we choose to.
Thanks for that rational consideration of the situation. But what about the 75% of the electorate that have been inspired by the soap opera version, and are not determined to drill down to such considerations? Hopefully as more facts emerge, many will reconsider their initial judgment.
The jury pool in the trial against “white racist America” has been tainted to the third degree. Still, a rational and measured response may still be most effective. But dominant forces are determined to keep the accused from getting its day in national court. (not Zimmerman … the presumed guilty average white man)
This reminds me of a famous Sheriff Harry Lee statement:
“If there are some young blacks driving a car late at night in a predominantly white neighborhood, they will be stopped. There’s a pretty good chance they’re up to no good. It’s obvious two young blacks driving a rinky-dink car in a predominantly white neighborhood—I’m not talking about on the main thoroughfare, but if they’re on one of the side streets and they’re cruising around—they’ll be stopped.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lee_%28sheriff%29#Controversies
“Casing” is done openly and takes most of the time … the crime is quick and usually unobserved. The dilemma of profiling and using good instinct versus not imposing on rights is nothing new. Observing the “caser” usually makes them go away.
“Still, a rational and measured response may still be most effective.”
Being a rationalist, I have to not just believe that, but live it.
So far, in a pretty long life, it has not let me down much at all. I can recommend it.
“They killed my son”
Funny, I thought he was killed in a one-on-one altercation. So who is this “they” she is referring to? And does she think they fly around in black helicopters? Maybe with black suits, dark sunglasses, and flashy-things to erase peoples’ memories?
In the heat of emotion, she reveals her paranoid delusions.
High drama = more settlement $jack.
[...] Trayvon Martin case heading towards the political abyss (Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion) [...]
[...] http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/03/trayvon-martin-case-heading-towards-the-political-abyss/ [...]
From FS 776, A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
Forcible felony means treason; murder; manslaughter; sexual battery; carjacking; home-invasion robbery; robbery; burglary; arson; kidnapping; aggravated assault; aggravated battery; aggravated stalking; aircraft piracy; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.
Robbing Zimmerman of his gun is a forcible felony.
Hitting his head on stationary concrete “should be” a deadly force attack. From physics, forces can be equivalent… . Hitting the head on concrete or hitting the head with concrete.
Regarding the “gold teeth” picture. I visited Trayvon’s Twitter account (@NO_LIMIT_NI**A) before it was closed down. That picture was definitely posted on his page.
The evidence it was really his page?
1) The name listed on the page was “Slimm” (his middle name)
2) Last tweet was on February 24th
3) Lots of birthday tweets from friends on February 4th and 5th (his birthday was the 5th)
The account had been active since at least 4/11/2010 (I kept scrolling down until no more tweets were shown).