Shooting of Trayvon Martin - Page 254

On July 03 2013 05:47 Plansix wrote:

That is super weird. Why didn't they handle that by getting a verified copy entered into evidence some other route. It just as easy to get a print out entered as valid evidence as an electronic copy.

On July 03 2013 05:44 dAPhREAk wrote:

all non-impeachment documents are submitted prior to the case usually (either in an exhibit list, or binders of exhibits). when she said she hadn't seen them yet, it was likely that she didn't know which documents they were referring to and hadnt reviewed them yet since the issue hadnt been briefed to her pre-trial. parties really dropped the ball by not having this issue hashed out pre-trial, and forcing the judge to make the decision without relevant authority and briefing.

this case has been weird in the presentation of evidence though. lawyers using their computer to show documents to witnesses and saying they only have an electronic copy.

On July 03 2013 05:52 dAPhREAk wrote:

they barely know how to read twitter.com. you want them to be able to use the "Print Screen" button???? ;-)

On July 03 2013 05:52 dAPhREAk wrote:

they barely know how to read twitter.com. you want them to be able to use the "Print Screen" button???? ;-)

On July 03 2013 05:55 Plansix wrote:

I cannot wait until someone tries to enter a discussion on twitter into evidence. Explaining the entire process to the judge and then getting the evidence verified will be amazing. Like explaining to your grandmother how to install skype.

On July 03 2013 05:59 Dosey wrote:

Hey man, that there tweeter nonsense has only come into existence recently. The print screen function has been a part of computers for as long as they've existed.

On July 03 2013 05:59 Dosey wrote:

Hey man, that there tweeter nonsense has only come into existence recently. The print screen function has been a part of computers for as long as they've existed.

On July 03 2013 05:55 Plansix wrote:

I cannot wait until someone tries to enter a discussion on twitter into evidence. Explaining the entire process to the judge and then getting the evidence verified will be amazing. Like explaining to your grandmother how to install skype.

On July 03 2013 06:04 dAPhREAk wrote:

to be fair, i had to submit a print out of a FDA website to the Court recently and i could not figure out how to make the printout actually look like the stupid website. it always lost the formatting and pictures, and just looked like crap. none of us in the office could figure it out.

On July 03 2013 06:04 dAPhREAk wrote:

to be fair, i had to submit a print out of a FDA website to the Court recently and i could not figure out how to make the printout actually look like the stupid website. it always lost the formatting and pictures, and just looked like crap. none of us in the office could figure it out.

On July 03 2013 06:04 dAPhREAk wrote:

to be fair, i had to submit a print out of a FDA website to the Court recently and i could not figure out how to make the printout actually look like the stupid website. it always lost the formatting and pictures, and just looked like crap. none of us in the office could figure it out.

edit: if anyone knows how to do this, please PM me so i know in the future. =)

On July 03 2013 06:08 Jaded. wrote:


Seeing as the attempt to present the twitter evidence earlier in the trial was done so poorly, I'd expect it would be a lot like your grandmother trying to explain to another grandmother how to install skype

"Well you click this doohickey and then press that whatchacallit, then you need a weird contraption to take moving pictures of you..." etc

I agree though, hilarity would ensue.

On July 03 2013 06:04 dAPhREAk wrote:

to be fair, i had to submit a print out of a FDA website to the Court recently and i could not figure out how to make the printout actually look like the stupid website. it always lost the formatting and pictures, and just looked like crap. none of us in the office could figure it out.

edit: if anyone knows how to do this, please PM me so i know in the future. =)

On July 03 2013 06:18 Defacer wrote:


Take screenshots and print them, you'll lose resolution but it should be fine and very clear its documentation of something online.

Watching the George Zimmerman murder trial on TV is like being caught in a match of emotional ping pong as you try to anticipate what the jury is thinking: If the detective says Zimmerman never changed his story, does that make his claim of self-defense more believable?

If, on the night he put a bullet through Trayvon Martin’s heart, Zimmerman is heard telling a police operator, “These ... always get away,” does that demonstrate the ill will, hatred or spite required for a second-degree murder conviction?

Monday was truly a topsy-turvy day in court, as it seemed prosecution witness Sanford Police Det. Christopher Serino actually helped build the defense’s case when he said he believed that Zimmerman was being truthful when he told police he wished someone had videotaped his fatal encounter with Martin.

Certainly, if someone who had just killed another wished for that, wouldn’t that mean his version of events was true? Wouldn’t the jury understand that he really was attacked by Martin and shot the young man only because he feared for his life?

But on Tuesday, prosecutor Bernie de la Rondia pounced. With Serino still on the stand, de la Rondia noted that Zimmerman, who helped found the neighborhood watch program in the small, gated development known as Retreat at Twin Lakes, must have known that there were no video cameras in his own development.

And certainly, de la Rondia pressed as he questioned the detective, Zimmerman knew that Martin was not videotaping the fatal encounter, since Martin held no camera during the altercation.

The prosecutor dismissed Zimmerman’s claim that he wished for a videotape of the killing, telling the detective: “He was bluffing you.”

Many legal commentators wondered aloud Monday whether there was a little bit of a payback going on in that courtroom when the two members of the Sanford Police Department, whom you would expect to be the best witnesses for the state, seemed to undercut the prosecution’s case.

They recalled that after the Sanford Police Department chose not to file even a manslaughter charge against Zimmerman, sparking a national outcry, the case was taken from the local police, and given by the state attorney to a special prosecutor, who decided to file the second-degree murder charges.

Then there was the issue of profiling. Had Zimmerman racially profiled a black teenager strolling home in a hoodie?

Serino had said he did not believe Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin when he placed a “non-emergency” call to police about him, parked his car, and got out to follow Martin.

But on Tuesday, the prosecutor asked whether following Martin despite the fact that there was no evidence he was committing a crime constituted profiling the young man “as a criminal.” The detective replied, “It could be construed as such.”

Like so many things about this emotionally taxing case, we will never know exactly what happened that night.

But I know I am not alone when I say that I am plagued by the same thought over and over:

Had Zimmerman stayed in his car that night, had he not decided to follow a young man who was walking home, had he not instigated the chain of events that led to a fight on a sidewalk 70 yards from Martin’s front door, that young man would still be alive today.

Like you, I am not in the courtroom, so I don’t know what the jury is thinking. But I believe, deeply, that juries almost always get it right.

The Sanford cop who first investigated the Trayvon Martin killing said Tuesday he believed George Zimmerman continued following the teen after a police dispatcher “told him not to.”

“It is my interpretation that there was some following,” said Officer Chris Serino, who added that he also suspected Zimmerman exaggerated the extent of the beating he had received at the hands of the 17-year-old.

And Serino said that while he found no evidence that Martin was doing anything criminal before the deadly confrontation, the foul language Zimmerman used when he reported Martin to the dispatcher just before the fatal confrontation showed "ill-will and spite."

That is significant because in order to convict Zimmerman of second-degree murder the state has to prove he acted with ill-will and spite.

"It could be construed as such, yes," Serino said.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Mark O'Mara, Serino said Zimmerman didn't break any laws by tailing Martin.

Martin's grieving dad, Tracy Martin, was expected to take the stand later Tuesday and testify that screams heard on 911 calls during the fight were those of his dead son.

Prosecutors contend that Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman frustrated by a rash of break-ins at his Orlando-area development, sparked the deadly chain of events by going after the unarmed black teenager as he was walking from a store to his father's girlfriend's pad.

In their bid to portray Zimmerman as a bigoted vigilante who shot Martin because he wanted to, they played the call to the dispatcher he made after spotting the teenager.
Prosecutors show evidence from the night Trayvon Martin was shot in Seminole Circuit Court in Florida.
Pool/Getty Images
Prosecutors show evidence from the night Trayvon Martin was shot in Seminole Circuit Court in Florida.

"F------ punks," Zimmerman said. "These a--holes, they always get away."

Zimmerman, 29, insists Martin jumped him and that he shot the teenager in the chest in self-defense.

Serino testified Monday that Zimmerman seemed "very elated" when he suggested the fatal fight might have been caught on video. It wasn't.

The Sanford cop also dented the prosecution's case by testifying that he found Zimmerman's account of how he got into a fight with Martin credible.

Judge Debra Nelson agreed and told jurors to disregard the statement. "This is an improper comment," she said.

Serino had been suspicious of Zimmerman from the start and reportedly wanted to arrest him after the February 2012 shooting but was overruled by then-Police Chief Bill Lee.

The decision not to charge Zimmerman ignited an uproar and sparked a national debate over unequal justice in the U.S. and the racial profiling of black men.

Zimmerman, who is part Hispanic, faces life in prison if convicted. Weighing his fate are six female jurors, just one of whom is a minority.

On July 03 2013 06:27 dAPhREAk wrote:

i tried that, but the article was lengthy and took multiple pages in the browser so i would have to screenshot multiple pages. i wont derail any more though.