Shooting of Trayvon Martin - Page 264

On July 04 2013 07:09 Infernal_dream wrote:


Well here comes the stupidity of the American Justice system, legal pros have no say. It's only the opinion of people who have never been to law school. Everyone thought OJ was guilty, everyone thought Casey Anthony was guilty, yet they are both free. I don't understand our system, I don't agree with it, but fuck logic I suppose because it's not changing anytime soon. When your entire life rides on the opinion of a stranger who has no schooling in criminal investigation you can only hope. He shouldn't be guilty but you never know.

On July 04 2013 07:12 NEOtheONE wrote:


Ah, I missed that, hopefully the jury was paying attention and took notes.

The FBI expert said that it's easier for a person with a familiarity of a voice to identify it than someone who has never heard it previously. That is especially true if the recording is of a subject screaming and the person trying to identify the voice has heard the subject under similarly stressful circumstances previously, Nakasone said.

But under cross-examination by defense attorney Don West, Nakasone said there was a risk of increased listener bias if people trying to identify a voice are listening to a sample in a group, as Martin's parents did, rather than individually.

"There might be a risk of bias included in the end results," Nakasone said.

The wannabe cop on trial for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin told Sean Hannity on Fox News last year he didn’t know about Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law.

But George Zimmerman’s college professor said that was covered in his criminal justice class, and he even gave him an A.

“You always remember the smartest student; he was probably one of the better students in class,” Alexis Carter of Seminole County State College told the court Wednesday.

Carter, a former military prosecutor, took the stand after Judge Debra Nelson ruled that Zimmerman’s thwarted ambitions to become a police officer were fair game.

While Carter’s stint on the stand went smoothly, pranksters sabotaged his colleague, Scott Pleasants, who testified via Skype from Colorado.

Pleasants, who taught an online criminal justice class that Zimmerman took, was in midtestimony when he was interrupted by the pinging of callers slamming his account with Skype calls.

“I gotta tell you, there’s now a really good chance that we’re being toyed with,” Zimmerman lawyer Mark O’Mara said.

Nelson ordered Pleasants to hang up the phone, and he completed his testimony by cellphone.

The fact that either instructor testified was a win for prosecutors, who say Zimmerman is a frustrated neighborhood watchman turned vigilante who profiled the unarmed black teenager and pursued him even after a police dispatcher told him that wasn’t a good idea.

Zimmerman’s attorneys, who say he shot Martin in self-defense, had tried to stop prosecutors from presenting his college transcripts to the jury and called it a “witch hunt.”

“He had a desire to be an actual police officer," prosecutor Richard Mantei countered. “He elected to take this specific coursework, which included classes on profiling and excelling as a witness.”

Also, Zimmerman talked about “justifiable use of force” and used “police jargon,” saying things like he “unholstered my firearm, not I pulled my gun,” Mantei said.

The Florida law in question holds that a person 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.”

Critics say it has led to an increase in unjustified shootings. And when Sanford officials cited the law as the reason they couldn’t charge Zimmerman with a crime, it caused a national uproar.

Zimmerman, 29, was arrested after Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee was ousted and replaced. He is charged with second-degree murder and faces life in prison if convicted.

Nelson also ruled that prosecutors can show the jury Zimmerman’s job application to a Virginia police department in 2009 and his application for a “ride around” with Sanford police in 2010.

Zimmerman didn’t make the cut in Virginia because he had a credit problem, not because of anything “sinister,” Operations Officer Scott Kearns of Prince William County, Va., testified.

The professors were followed on the stand by Anthony Gorgone, a DNA analyst for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He testified that none of Zimmerman’s DNA was found under Martin’s fingernails.

Zimmerman claims Martin slammed his head repeatedly on the pavement.

Also, Florida Department of Law Enforcement firearms analyst Amy Siewert testified that Zimmerman’s gun was “touching” Martin’s hoodie when he fired the fatal shot into the teen’s chest.

On July 04 2013 07:09 Infernal_dream wrote:
I don't agree with it, but fuck logic I suppose because it's not changing anytime soon. When your entire life rides on the opinion of a stranger who has no schooling in criminal investigation you can only hope. He shouldn't be guilty but you never know.

On July 04 2013 08:29 FallDownMarigold wrote:
Has anyone asked Zimmerman why he chose to press the firearm into the boy's chest rather than, say, the shoulder or kneecap?

It seems that to stop an unarmed attacker a nonlethal shot might be more ideal... It would've certainly avoided the murder trial, at the very least.

On July 04 2013 08:35 GorbadTheGreat wrote:
It's called democracy. Cartels being vested with absolute power has already been tried before. What happens is that the power gets to their head and they run amok.

It's a necessary evil, even if the all-female jury (WTF is the reason for that, incidentally?) decides to let politically correct hysterics get in the way of justice.

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried."

On July 04 2013 08:40 dAPhREAk wrote:
juries are random. stop harping on the all-female jury.

On July 04 2013 08:40 dAPhREAk wrote:

juries are random. stop harping on the all-female jury.

On July 04 2013 08:29 FallDownMarigold wrote:
Has anyone asked Zimmerman why he chose to press the firearm into the boy's chest rather than, say, the shoulder or kneecap?

It seems that to stop an unarmed attacker a nonlethal shot might be more ideal... It would've certainly avoided the murder trial, at the very least.

On July 04 2013 08:48 GorbadTheGreat wrote:
Juries aren't selected at random. There's an extensive vetting process.

Probability of getting 6 women at random in a jury is 1/64. Seems more likely to me that they were simply biased in the vetting process. I can't imagine that an all-male jury would even be contemplated.

On July 04 2013 08:50 Defacer wrote:


Why didn't Trayvon immobilize Zimmerman in a submission hold?

Fighting and shooting is hard, yo.

On July 04 2013 08:48 GorbadTheGreat wrote:
Juries aren't selected at random. There's an extensive vetting process.

Probability of getting 6 women at random in a jury is 1/64. Seems more likely to me that they were simply biased in the vetting process. I can't imagine that an all-male jury would even be contemplated.

On July 04 2013 08:53 Chylo wrote:
Ya, an all male jury would never happen.

On July 04 2013 08:55 GorbadTheGreat wrote:
Not in a case of this publicity, when they can screen the jurors.

The pressure groups would be crying about bias in the jury selection and contesting the verdict if they didn't get their way.

On July 04 2013 09:37 GreenHorizons wrote:
Pretty sure you are going to see that regardless of the outcome and the jury. Either by Second amendment groups and the like if Zimmerman is convicted, civil rights groups otherwise.

On July 04 2013 08:36 Krohm wrote:

Most likely because it's an "in the moment" type thing. Also it's a really big misconception about shooting people that hitting them in the leg or something like that isn't lethal, even in the shoulder. There are major arteries which if punctured you'll bleed out pretty quickly.

I also doubt Zimmerman actually meant to kill Martin. But that is speculative.