Shooting of Trayvon Martin - Page 308

On July 09 2013 07:15 GreenHorizons wrote:


Well kid, having a bit of a troubled past and having associates that went through the justice system themselves I have personally seen PD's call their client by the wrong name multiple times to the same person in court. I've seen them be more friendly and attentive to prosecutors than their clients, I've seen them actually digging through the wrong case for 20 minutes looking for documents that weren't going to be there because that case wasn't even the one they had that day. And personally point it out that the court date on the documents was for a week from that day.

Maybe your experience was different maybe you want to validate your own, while dismissing mine, I don't really care one way or the other. Whatever rationalizations transpire to validate in those offices how they are able to say what happens serves the ABA's 10 principles is between them and the people of the related jurisdictions. However it is clear that many PD's think it is a significant problem and systematically prohibiting them from doing what they would otherwise do to best defend their clients.

On July 09 2013 07:18 Taf the Ghost wrote:
Back to the Toxicology report:

Doesn't the defense now have a pretty good path for the Jury to not "blame" Martin for what happened? If they run with a "he had come down off pot a bit before" line of reasoning, it could explain part of the reason Zimmerman thought him suspicious (i.e. he was dozing off a little while walking, which in the weather isn't very different from casing a house) and could explain why Martin seemed to distance himself but then turn around and get into melee combat with Zimmerman.

It's pretty much a "blame the pot" line of reasoning for the Jury not to be left condemning Martin, at least too much. Regardless of your feelings on Pot, this is a moral cover for the Jury.

On July 09 2013 07:34 dAPhREAk wrote:
"Your Honor, I am not prepared to do anything. Please let me delay everything."

On July 09 2013 07:24 dAPhREAk wrote:

you are correct that PDs are overworked and have huge caseloads, and frequently have less time than they would like to prepare cases for trials. that tends to be on the lower ends of crimes though (misdemeanors, non-prison time felonies). if you had left it at that, you would have been fine. why choose to malign them by questioning their ethics and saying they are selling out their clients. that is not true, and most PDs choose to do the work because they want to help others. in california, if you arent the top of your class, you wont get a job as a PD in a decent county (even a less than decent county). people want to do this kind of work and are dedicated to it.

also, your point that you would be better off with a private attorney than a PD is true to some extent. if you are talking about a $400/hr attorney, then yes. if you are just saying generic, private attorneys, then no. some of those attorneys are shittier than shit, which is shitty.

to your primary point, that zimmerman would not have received the best defense possible with a PD, i would say maybe. this is a high, high, high, high (kind of like trayvon, ;-) ), profile case. the absolute best public defender would have been appointed to defend trayvon because, well, lawyers like to wave their dicks around and they would all want to be the one in the spotlight. so, even if he had gone the PD route, he probably would have received amazing defense. this shit is career building. if the PD wins the case, they are forever known and doors open to them.

The father of Trayvon Martin told a jury Monday that he believes a 911 tape contains "my son's last cry for help" on the night he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman.

Defense attorneys called Tracy Martin to testify about the 911 call and his exchange with Sanford police officers. Martin said he never told officers he didn't recognize Trayvon's voice, despite an investigator's previous testimony that Tracy Martin told him he didn't think he could hear his son on the tape.

Tracy Martin claimed to the jury on Monday that he was simply unsure and told officials, "I can't tell."

The testimony by Tracy Martin and other witnesses who heard the 911 call could be crucial as Zimmerman's lawyers try to show that Trayvon was the aggressor and that Zimmerman shot him in self-defense.

Tracy Martin said he listened to the 911 call at least 20 times at the Sanford mayor's office. After that, he said he was convinced the voice screaming was Trayvon.

"I was listening to my son's last cry for help," Tracy Martin said. "I was listening to his life being taken."

Police Officer Christopher Serino, the lead investigator in the shooting death, testified earlier in the day that Trayvon's father had listened to the 911 calls placed during the confrontation and had said it was not Trayvon heard screaming for help in the background.

Friends and former co-workers of Zimmerman also testified, saying it was Zimmerman's voice screaming for help on a key 911 call.

"I have no doubt in mind that's his voice," said Geri Russo, a former co-worker of Zimmerman, echoing testimony of several other defense witnesses.

Former Sanford police chief Bill Lee testified that he recommended the 911 recording be played for family members of Trayvon Martin individually rather than in a group to avoid any improper influences.

Sanford's city manager, Norton Bonaparte, however, didn't heed his recommendations and instead gathered the family members in a room and played the tape for all of them, Lee said.

The former police chief added that he had offered to be in the room when the 911 recording was played but Bonaparte declined to have him or other law enforcement officials there. Lee added that it was rare for the mayor and city manager to become involved in police investigations.

Bonaparte later fired Lee for the way the police department handled the investigation into Trayvon's death.

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson ruled Monday afternoon that the jury will learn about a toxicology reporting showing Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system at the time of his death. State attorneys had tried to keep the information out of trial arguing that the amount of marijuana was minimal and would prejudice the jury.

However, Zimmerman's attorneys succeeded in arguing that the report was important and would give the jury insight into the night of the shooting.

"It's absolutely admissible," Zimmerman's attorney, Don West, said. "It supports our claim of self defense."

West added that Trayvon may have ingested the marijuana within hours of his death.

Nelson, in siding with defense lawyers, said not allowing the jury to learn about the marijuana use would be an error.

Shiping Bao, the medical examiner who did the autopsy of Trayvon, said he believes the marijuana may have had some effect on the teen. He initially thought the amount of drugs didn't have an impact but later changed his opinion and now believes the drugs had an effect. Now, Bao, who testified for the state last week, may be called to testify for the defense.

Another witness, Adam Pollock, owner of Kokopelli's Gym, said Zimmerman trained at his facility for about a year doing boxing and grappling classes. The business man described grappling as a form of mixed martial arts that involves choking, and arm and leg locks.

Pollock described Zimmerman as "soft" and said that Zimmerman lost between 50 to 80 pounds while training but never became a strong athlete. Pollock says Zimmerman trained two or three times a week in two-hour sessions at the gym, which markets itself as, "The most complete fight gym in the world."

Still, a year into training, Zimmerman was nowhere near fighting material and was largely a "beginner," Pollock said.

"He's still learning how to punch," said Pollock who explaining that Zimmerman never made it off training on a punching bag.

He added that he saw Zimmerman after the shooting. "He looked emotionally traumatized."

Later Monday, Trayvon's family issued a statement saying that Zimmerman, just day after the shooting, told Serino it was not his voice crying for help on the 911 recording.

The defense case has taken center stage in the trial of former neighborhood watch member Zimmerman, accused of second-degree murder in the February 2012 shooting of Trayvon, 17.

The defense case represents the second part of a trial in which for two weeks prosecutors cast Zimmerman, now 29, as an aggressor who profiled and murdered Trayvon. The jury will weigh the prosecution version of events against the defense story of a man who, while trying to be a good neighbor, was attacked by the teen and shot him in self-defense.

"There's enormous evidence that my client acted in self-defense,'' Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney, said last week. "There is no other reasonable hypothesis."

The defense case drew controversy almost before it began. Assistant State Attorney Richard Mantei asked Circuit Judge Debra Nelson for a hearing about one defense witness, not identified in the legal motion, who Mantei says plans to present a "computer animated 're-enactment'" of the shooting.

The defense witness revealed in a July 2 deposition that he or she had created the animation and showed prosecutors still frames of the creation. The animation does not "represent a complete or accurate record of the evidence," Mantei wrote, adding that the state thinks the animation is "speculative and irrelevant."

Mantei said the animation doesn't accurately depict the lighting on the night of the shooting, "deliberately fails to show or even symbolize the murder weapon," and relies on Zimmerman's version of events for the positioning of bodies during the struggle.

Mantei also said the animation was completed by Zimmerman's defense team using employees wearing "motion capture suits." The animation includes audio from 911 calls, assumed positions of witnesses, and fails to include witnesses who contradict Zimmerman's story, Mantei said.

The state prosecutor argues the animation, if admitted, would be "prejudicial and confusing to the jury." It has not been announced whether the animation would be allowed in court.

O'Mara said Friday that he didn't know whether his client would take the stand.

"I said I would have to convince myself first that the state has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt before I decide exactly how to handle that," O'Mara said. "I'm still considering that. We are going to start presenting our witnesses and we'll see if that includes George."

The defense began Friday with Zimmerman's mother, Gladys Zimmerman, briefly testifying that it was her son screaming for help in a 911 call that recorded the fatal shot. "That's George's voice,'' she said.

She said Zimmerman was terrified before shooting Trayvon. "The way he is screaming describes anguish, fear," she said.

George Zimmerman's uncle, Jorge Meza, also testified that the voice screaming belonged to George Zimmerman.

Meza knew his nephew had been involved in a shooting, he testified, but he said he knew nothing about a 911 call until he heard it on TV at home and immediately recognized Zimmerman's voice.

"It was George Zimmerman screaming for his life," Meza said. "I felt it inside of my heart that it is George."

Earlier, Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, and his brother, Jahvaris Fulton, testified that the voice heard screaming belonged to Trayvon.

Defense lawyers will be permitted to show that Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system when he and George Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in a gated community in Florida last year, the judge in Zimmerman's murder trial ruled Monday.

Judge Debra Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin's system from the jury, paving the way for Zimmerman's lawyers to argue the drug may have influenced the teen's behavior. Defense attorney Don West noted that in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the Sanford, Fla., community was “on drugs.”

Nelson's ruling came after the jury was dismissed following a day of conflicting testimony about whose voice could be heard screaming on a subsequent 911 tape. A parade of Zimmerman's friends said they recognized the neighborhood watch volunteer's voice, but Martin's father, who police said initially told them he did not recognize the voice, said he came to realize it was his son after hearing the tape some 20 times.

The testimony, in week three of Zimmerman's murder trial, came after the mothers of both Zimmerman and Martin testified Friday it was their son doing the screaming in the Feb. 26, 2012, 911 call made to Sanford, Fla., police. The issue is critical because Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, says he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense as he was being beaten.

Sanford Police Det. Christopher Serino and Police Officer Doris Singleton both recalled playing the 911 tape for Tracy Martin days after his son was killed, and both said the elder Martin did not recognize his son's voice on the tape. But later, Tracy Martin, curiously called to the stand by lead defense attorney Mark O'Mara, took the stand to say that he did recognize his son's voice on the tape later, after hearing it several more times when played at the Sanford Mayor Jeff Triplett's office.

"After listening to the tape for, maybe 20 times, I said I knew that it was Trayvon's voice," the elder Martin said under questioning by O'Mara. Martin called his son his "best friend in life," and said the boy's death turned his world "upside down."

Earlier, close friends and former co-workers of Zimmerman testified that they recognized Zimmerman's voice on the the 911 tape that captured his confrontation with Martin. Sondra Osterman, wife of Zimmerman’s best friend Mark Osterman, told jurors that the shrieking voice on the tape was “definitely” that of Zimmerman.

“Yes, definitely, it’s Georgie,” Osterman said. “I hear it, I hear him screaming.”

“Yes, definitely, it’s Georgie. I hear it, I hear him screaming.”

- Sondra Osterman

Osterman told jurors she has known Zimmerman since 2006, when they worked at a mortgage company. Osterman’s husband has written a book about the fatal shooting — "Defending our Friend: The Most Hated Man in America" — and Sondra Osterman told jurors that would not affect her testimony in the case.

“I wouldn’t lie for him or for anybody,” Sondra Osterman said of Zimmerman; she said she was unsure how many copies her husband's book has sold.

Osterman testified she did not think Zimmerman's use of an expletive on the 911 call indicated any ill-will or hatred on his behalf.

"I don't think he was angry," she told jurors.

Mark Osterman, a federal air marshal, told jurors he discussed gun safety with Zimmerman and took him to a gun range. Osterman testified that Zimmerman was “very safe all the time” with his Kel Tec 9-mm. handgun, which does not have an external safety and is difficult to fire accidentally.

“It’s a reliable firearm,” said Mark Osterman, who recommended to Zimmerman that he keep a round chambered in the weapon.

Mark Osterman also testified that he heard Zimmerman screaming on the 911 call.

“It sounded like George,” he told jurors.

During cross-examination by prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda, Osterman said he was unsure how many copies his book has sold, but confirmed that all proceeds were destined for Zimmerman.

Geri Russo, a friend who previously worked with Zimmerman, testified that the yelling heard on the 911 tape is Zimmerman.

“I recognize his voice, I’ve heard him speak many times,” Russo told jurors. “I have no doubt in my mind that’s his voice.”

Leanne Benjamin, who owns a real estate company and formerly worked with Zimmerman, also identified Zimmerman as the screaming voice on the 911 call.

“I know his voice,” Benjamin told jurors. “I know what his voice sounds like when he gets excited or loud.”

Benjamin and her husband, John Donnelly, contributed $2,500 to Zimmerman's defense fund and Donnelly purchased suits for Zimmerman to wear during his trial, she testified.

Donnelly, who said he thought of Zimmerman as a son, later testified he found it “distressing” to listen to the 911 tape, which he recently heard twice online and again on Monday in court. Donnelly said he also recognized Zimmerman’s voice as the shrieking individual on the 911 tape, becoming the seventh witness since the defense began its case Friday to testify that the former neighborhood watch volunteer is screaming for help on the 911 call.

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that is George Zimmerman and I wish to God I didn’t have the ability to understand that,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly testified he also donated an additional $500 to Zimmerman for his website and purchased $1,700 in suits for the former neighborhood watch volunteer.

Further bolstering the defense contention that Martin was getting the better of the fight when Zimmerman shot him was Adam Pollock, owner of a kickboxing gym where Zimmerman trained prior to the incident. Pollock said Zimmerman was "grossly obese," and not atheltic at all.

"He came to the gym to lose weight and get in shape," Pollock said.

When O'Mara asked him to rate Zimmerman's athletic ability on a scale of one to 10 when he began training, Pollock replied, "Point-five."

Also on Monday, prosecutors asked Judge Debra Nelson to prevent Zimmerman's defense attorneys from showing jurors a computer-animated depiction of his confrontation with Martin. A motion made public Monday requests that the animation not be mentioned or played at Zimmerman's trial.

Prosecutors — who believe the animation would only confuse jurors — say the animation doesn't depict a murder weapon and only approximates positions based on witness accounts.

Zimmerman's attorneys called their first two witnesses Friday after prosecutors rested their case and Nelson denied a request for acquittal. Some of the witnesses called by the defense could be the same neighbors and investigators called by prosecutors. Defense attorney Mark O'Mara told reporters Friday he expects his case to last a few days and may recall some of the prosecution's witnesses.

The mothers of both Zimmerman and Martin testified on Friday that it was their own son's voice calling for help on a taped 911 call minutes before Zimmerman fatally shot the teen on Feb. 26, 2012. The screams are considered to be crucial pieces of evidence because they could determine who was the aggressor in the confrontation. An FBI expert testified earlier in the week that a person familiar with a voice is in the best position to identify it.

Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming self-defense. It remains unclear whether Zimmerman will testify, although jurors already have heard his account through videotaped police interviews played in court.

Zimmerman faces life in prison if convicted. The state argued during its opening statement that the neighborhood watchman profiled and followed Martin in his truck and called a police dispatch number before he and the teen got into a fight.

On July 09 2013 09:12 Rho_ wrote:
As I've been following this, I've become convinced that a murder conviction is unlikely, even though I personally think Zimmerman did wrong and is culpable to some degree in this case. However, it seems that the verdict must be all or nothing due to Florida law.

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-272324/

If it's all or nothing and I were on the jury, I think I would vote to acquit. It would be incredibly hard to convict someone of 2nd degree murder on this thin evidence.

Trayvon Martin’s father on Monday denied that he told police the person screaming in the background of a 911 call was not his son – contradicting the testimony of two officers who took the stand in the George Zimmerman trial.

Tracy Martin was called to the stand by the defense, which is hoping to convince jurors that Zimmerman is the one who was yelling for help, bolstering its assertion that he fired his gun because he was being attacked by the teen.

The dad said that two days after the fatal confrontation, he went to the Sanford, Fla., police department for an update and investigator Chris Serino played him the tape – which contained the crack of the fatal gunshot.

“As best as I recall, after he played the tape, he basically just said, ‘Do you recognize the voice?’” Martin said.

“My response was… I didn’t tell him, ‘No, that wasn’t Trayvon,’” the father added.

“The chairs had wheels on them and I kind of pushed away from the table and just kind of shook my head and said, ‘I can’t tell.’

“I never said that ‘No that wasn’t my son’s voice.’”

He said he heard the tape again weeks later in the Sanford, Fla., mayor’s office and after replaying it perhaps 20 times, “I said that I knew that it was Trayvon’s voice.”

Earlier, Serino and a second officer testified that Tracy Martin told them the person yelling for help was not his son.

“There is no doubt he was telling us that -- that didn’t sound like his son to him,” Officer Doris Singleton told the court.

Serino said that when he asked if the voice was his son’s, the father’s response was “verbal and non-verbal.”

“He looked away and under his breath, as I interpreted it, said, ‘No.’”

The voice identification is important because both sides are expected to argue that the person pleading for help is the one being assaulted during the Feb. 26, 2012, clash between Zimmerman, 29, and Martin, 17.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and says that he shot Martin after being attacked. Prosecutors contend Zimmerman profiled and followed the unarmed Martin before shooting him dead.

Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty Images

LeAnne Benjamin, a friend of George Zimmerman, smiles while identifying him in court July 8.

The judge has ruled that audio experts cannot testify during the trial about who they think is screaming on the call because the voice-recognition technology they used is not reliable enough -- but that people who personally knew Zimmerman or Martin could weigh in.

The defense has put Zimmerman’s mother and uncle and five friends of the former neighborhood watch volunteer on the stand to testify that they recognize the voice.

Prosecutors last week had called Trayvon Martin’s mother and brother, who said they were sure the teen was yelling, but the state did not call Tracy Martin.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda hammered home the idea that the father was distraught after listening to the tape.

“He was hearing for the first time — right — the death of his son?” de la Rionda asked Serino.

Neither Serino nor Singleton wavered from the idea that the father did not recognize the screaming as his son’s.

“He was telling Chris it was not his son’s voice,” Singleton said, adding that she choked up herself while watching Tracy Martin listen to the gunshot that killed his son.

“I have children myself,” she said.

“I remember feeling so awful for him that he would have to hear that.”

The father said his emotions were swirling after he heard the tape.

“I was listening to my son’s last cry for help. I was listening to his life being taken. And I was trying to come to grips that Trayvon was here no more,” he said.

Beyond the 911 call, the 10th day of testimony included several other developments:

Judge Debra Nelson ruled that evidence about the amount of THC – the main ingredient in marijuana – in Trayvon Martin’s blood when he was killed can be admitted, along with expert testimony. Experts disagree on what the levels mean, with respect to when Martin might have last smoked marijuana and what effect it might have had on him when he encountered Zimmerman.
Friend Mark Osterman, an air marshal, said he had given Zimmerman advice on buying a gun and had told him the Keltec 9mm – the one used to killed Martin – was a good choice for self-defense and that he should keep one bullet in the chamber.
Adam Pollock, who owned the gym where Zimmerman took classes, said he instructed him in grappling, the goal of which is to “make the guy say, ‘Uncle.’” He said Zimmerman was unathletic and “soft” when he started and lost between 50 and 80 pounds but never got good enough to box in the ring.

On July 09 2013 09:23 dAPhREAk wrote:

my understanding of specific florida law is slim, but i question that article's conclusion that its all or nothing. normally, lesser included offenses are included in the higher degree. for example, if you are charged with murder, you can be acquitted of that, but convicted of a lesser included offense (e.g., manslaughter or battery). i think, but have not researched florida law, that if the jury rejects the self defense claim because they find it was a subjectively (but not objectively) reasonable use of force then they could acquit on murder 2 (if it was subjectively reasonable there is no requisite scienter (ill will, malice, etc.)), but can still find that the defendant committed manslaughter, which does not require scienter, it just requires an unjustified killing basically. so, i do not think it is an all or nothing offense. indeed, the prosecutor has argued in this case specifically that the court can throw out the murder 2 charge and the case could go forward on manslaughter (this was in response to the motion to acquit).

juries love to split babies. probably why the prosecutor went for the ridiculous murder charge.

On July 09 2013 08:29 dAPhREAk wrote:
Judge rules defense can show Trayvon Martin died with marijuana in his system


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/08/zimmerman-defense-to-continue-presentation-monday/#ixzz2YV2NQJ00

On July 09 2013 11:57 Millitron wrote:

I can't believe how much the mayor is getting involved. Why was he playing the recording for Tracy Martin? Why would he even have access to it in the first place? This just reeks of corruption to me.

On July 09 2013 12:05 xDaunt wrote:

Yeah, I was totally unaware of how involved the politicians got in this case early on. Total bullshit. I'm just glad that the jury gets to hear all about it.

On July 09 2013 09:23 dAPhREAk wrote:

my understanding of specific florida law is slim, but i question that article's conclusion that its all or nothing. normally, lesser included offenses are included in the higher degree. for example, if you are charged with murder, you can be acquitted of that, but convicted of a lesser included offense (e.g., manslaughter or battery). i think, but have not researched florida law, that if the jury rejects the self defense claim because they find it was a subjectively (but not objectively) reasonable use of force then they could acquit on murder 2 (if it was subjectively reasonable there is no requisite scienter (ill will, malice, etc.)), but can still find that the defendant committed manslaughter, which does not require scienter, it just requires an unjustified killing basically. so, i do not think it is an all or nothing offense. indeed, the prosecutor has argued in this case specifically that the court can throw out the murder 2 charge and the case could go forward on manslaughter (this was in response to the motion to acquit).

juries love to split babies. probably why the prosecutor went for the ridiculous murder charge.

But many legal experts said this week that the state had overreached and that it should have filed manslaughter charges. The jury can still find Mr. Zimmerman guilty of manslaughter, but it would fall to the prosecutors to argue for that result without appearing to concede a weakness in their case.

On July 09 2013 12:15 dAPhREAk wrote:

im surprised they havent played the politician angle (i.e., outside influences affected the decision to prosecute). it makes the prosecution look bad. on the other hand, you would have to call in politicians as witnesses, and we already have enough liars taking the stand. ;-)