I don't know exactly what happened. There are some verifiable facts though.
Zimmerman stopped his pursuit of Martin and was heading back to his vehicle to meet the police.
Either Zimmerman or Martin reestablished contact between them. See my point above.
Zimmerman was assaulted and had injuries to face and back of his head. We know this from the police report.
Martin, according to the mortician was virtually uninjured except for the fatal bullet wound.
The police report stated Zimmerans back was wet and grass stained.
Zimmerman stated to police that he was calling for help. This was while still at the scene, not in response to media stories.
All of these verifiable facts are consistent with Zimmerman's story and the one witness who actually saw the fight.
So far I have read 5 different witness accounts,1 has Martin on top, 2 have Zimmerman on top, and 2 are unsure who was on top.
I have to assume that the two you refer to that have Zimmerman on top are the two who only heard it from their kitchen. I've already discussed the fact that they are making assumptions that they have no knowledge of. Please provide links if you want to refute this. It's done like this...
Mary Cutcher was in her kitchen making coffee that night with her roommate, Selma Mora Lamilla. The window was open, she said.
“We heard a whining. Not like a crying, boohoo, but like a whining, someone in distress, and then the gunshot,” she said.
They looked out the window but saw nothing. It was dark.
They ran out the sliding glass door, and within seconds, they saw Zimmerman.
“Zimmerman was standing over the body with — basically straddling the body with his hands on Trayvon”s back,” Cutcher said. “And it didn”t seem to me that he was trying to help him in any way. I didn”t hear any struggle prior to the gunshot.
“And I feel like it was Trayvon Martin that was crying out, because the minute that the gunshot went off, the whining stopped.”
The two women said they could not see whether Zimmerman was bruised or hurt. It was too dark.
Note that the ONLY thing that contradicts Zimmermans story is what she "FEELS" happened, not what she heard or saw.
This is what a witness actually SAW...
quote:
Another resident who identified himself as John contradicted Cutcher”s account. He remembered Martin being on top of Zimmerman.
He told the Orlando TV station WOFL that a guy wearing red yelled to him, “Help! Help!”
“I told him to stop and I was calling 911,” he said. “And then when I got upstairs and looked down, the person that was on top beating up the other guy was the one laying in the grass. I believe he was dead at that point.”
We do have Martin's girl friend's story...
quote:
Benjamin Crump, the Martin family lawyer, says Martin”s girlfriend”s account of what happened connects the dots and destroys Zimmerman”s claims of self-defense.
The girl, who did not want to be identified, said she was on the phone with the teen before the shooting.
When Zimmerman got closer to Martin, she told her boyfriend to run, but Martin told her that he was not going to run, she said.
“What are you stopping me for?” Martin asked Zimmerman, according to the girl.
“What are you doing around here?” Zimmerman asked in response.
The girl said she then got the impression that an altercation was taking place and that someone had pushed Martin, because the headset fell out of his ear, and the phone shut off.
The part I highlighted in red is key to her story making Zimmerman out to be the aggressor. The problem is that it is in direct contradiction to the 911 call made by Zimmerman where it is easy to establish that Martin did run and Zimmerman turned around to me the police back at his vehicle.
Seriously, is it hard to understand what happened that night with the verifiable facts we know to be true and the witness stories that are aligned with known facts up to what two of them "feel" happened?
George Zimmerman handed out fliers at black Sanford churches a year ago, outraged that a white police lieutenant's son, captured on video sucker-punching a homeless black man, was not arrested on the spot, family members said.
I had no idea these bigots were as violently racist and communist as the following excerpts from their recent teleconference recording shows. Truly shocking.
Would promoting violence (bloodshed), racism, and hatred not generate a visit from the hate-crime police?
The transcript (boldface indicates vocal emphasis by speaker):
Transcript of Excerpts from New Black Panther Party (NBPP) teleconference call on April 7th, 2012 with speakers Michelle Williams, the NBPP Tampa chapter Chief of Staff and Chawn Kweli, the National Spokesman of the NBPP.
Michelle Williams: Black power brother Shawn. This is sister Michelle, Chief of Staff for Tampa Bay/Petersburg chapter of the New Black Panther Party.
Chawn Kweli: Black power comrade.
Michelle Williams: Black power. I just want to say to all the listeners on this phone call, if you are having any doubts about getting suited, booted, and armed up for this race war that we in, that has never ended, let me tell you something. The thing that's about to happen to these honkies, these crackers, these pigs, these pig people, these m___er f____king [?turtle?] people, it has been long overdue. ...
Chawn Kweli: Yeah, what she said was right. We got to suit-up and boot-up. We got to suit-up and boot-up, and get prepared for da war dat we're in ... for this stuff got to boil over, and all your greats talked about there havin' to be bloodshed involved in revolution. True revolution means some bloodshed, so there's blood bein' spilled, because there's a new life that is beyond this bloodshed. There's a new reality that is built upon your original African principles and spiritualities and values and norms, and it's beyond this bloodshed. But we gotta go do it. And as the scriptures say, you got a crossing... we're gonna have to cross the red sea. You gonna have to cross the red sea. I know y'all thought it was talkin' about some sea in some middle-eastern part of the world. Hell no. We're talkin' about some blood. You're gonna have to cross some blood, and go through some blood, and some battles. And there are those who with they could stand in this hour to see the destruction of the devil's world and the devil's society, and I ain't talkin' about no dude underneath the ground with a pitchfork and panty hose. I'm talkin' about that blonde-haired, blue eyed, sometime brown-eyed Caucasian walkin' around with a mindset, a demonistic mind-set and a nature to do evil and brutality. ...
Michelle Williams: I say to everyone that is on this call right now, I'm comin' outa the gates, like that greyhound on that rabbit's ass, and his prize, my prize right now this evening is gonna be the bounty, the arrest dead or alive for George Zimmerman. You feel me? To every brother, to every female, I am for violence, if nonviolence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence. You feel me? It's time to wake up, I don't know how else... it's in me to fight, it's in me to raise up soldiers, it's in me that every time my feet touch the ground the [unintelligible] cracker [unintelligible]. I'm telling you right now, I'm kind of pissed off right now that the state of Florida ain't on fire. This could not have happened in LA, because some brothers up there are not scared to riot. This could not have happened in Saint Petersburg Florida where the black man over there ain't scared to kill a cracker. ...
Chawn Kweli: This is real. If we're attacked anywhere in the world, we will defend ourselves by any means necessary. We have proposing... we are pushing forward with a national strike and walkout on this cracker and on this [?peace?] and all these bastards. We are proposing and pushing to all our people that you hit 'em in the pocket where it hurts. You starve capitalism. Since this racism that's bein' perpetuated, and this brutality that's bein' perpetuated, and this murder that's bein' perpetuated is built on the table legs of capitalism. You got to starve capitalism. ...
What you saying is real, an act of war has been declared on us. We, we don't have no choice but to fight. But I want to say, that we have to be train how to fight. See the whole purpose of the maneuvers that's happenin' in Sanford is to train in self-defense, because many of us think we're prepared for a battle, just like many of us think we're prepared for a fight. But if you are not training, if you are not stockin' up water, if you're not stockin' up food, if your not stockin' up weapons and artillery and survival books and gas masks and flash lights and canteens and uh ready-to-eat meals and all that, if you're not stocking that up, I don't know how serious we are right now. ...
Absolutely we want the complete removal of capitalism. Why? Because capitalism sets up a class structure, and a class society as I said in the beginning of the have's and have-nots, that it's the pivotal point is racism. It is racism that keeps and perpetuates a capitalistic motion. And so yes, we want capitalism completely eradicated, especially from the minds and hearts and dealings of black people.
I'm surprised it hasn't been flagged as inappropriate for YouTube. I would think that calling for killing crackers would violate their use agreements on multiple levels. See what happens I guess.
I see that Zimmerman's family is formally asking Eric Holder isn't going after the New Black Panther party leaders who are clearly engaging in hate speech while putting a dead or alive bounty on Zimmerman's head. I wonder what the Black Panthers would do if he was brought in alive?
It will be interesting to see if Holder even acknowledges this. I'd like to hear what he has to say about it all.
I fear that race wars may be on the horizon. I also fear that the federal government may wind up doing some very stupid things as a result.
wait,.... was that Tulsa crime a REVENGE crime against the guy that WALKED from killing his father and a few others ?.... That is pure REVENGE - not racism.
I have read most of the last few post, The only racist I can see is a few black leaders who are getting rich off the backs of the poor blacks who are misinformed.(the Black leaders are the most racist in America)
It wasn't AGAINST the guy that killed his father and got 6 years for it, it was against seemingly random people who had the audacity to be black. That's a hate crime my friend. Or maybe just really really bad aim.
as they say on the farm. Never stick your pecker into a hornets nest to see if they are home. .... They will whip this into a ferver that ain't been since the Rodney King Riots
It sure looks like the state of Florida has laided down and whimped out, even after the black panthers has called for blood and the death of white people.
It stinks. And to make it worse, he is UNLIKELY to get a fair trial from any department Eric Holder runs (a horrible thing for me to type, and I wish to God I didn't believe it, but I do). His best chance at a fair trial may be a state trial.
But jurys can be psycho.
If he is telling the truth (and I have seen no credible evidence he isn't), I really feel bad for him.
I sort of wonder if the charges are bending to public pressure. Sort of going 'through the motions', at which point he is acquitted or found not guilty. Assuming he doesn't post bail, this could protect him as well as extinguish the flames for the time being.
I don't see second degree murder requisites being met. They have to prove that the story didn't go as he said and 'dead men tell no tales'.
He is in a terrible situation, which I suppose ought not to be a suprise.
I'm going for my concealed carry license class this weekend. I've thought a lot about it. If I ever do choose to carry, my assumption will be if that gun is ever pulled from the holster, I have at least a years worth of legal headaches in front of me, and probably more, no matter what the circumstances are or no matter how well or badly things go.
It's going to be a challenge getting a fair and skilled jury.
What's the difference between someone who volunteers to do a "neighborhood watch" and somebody who is a paid "community organizer"?
What's the difference between someone who volunteers to do a "neighborhood watch" and somebody who is a paid "community organizer"?
The watchman is a servant ( volunteer ) Paid organizer, is not
I wonder if Thump has it right, I caught a blip that has been removed that said Martins mother said "its been a terrible mistake"
I am not sure that they can make the murder2 charge stick from what I have read so far, so a lengthy trial and an acquittal would help diffuse the situ, E.Holder has some splainin' to do about guns and mexico IMO he needs to stay home and mind his biz....}
It's going to be a challenge getting a fair and skilled jury.
A jury is always a scary thing. Keep in mind that on any given jury, it is likely that 4 of the 12 think 9-11 was an inside job. That really makes me wonder about a jury being able to reach a correct conclusion based on evidence before them.
I sort of wonder if the charges are bending to public pressure.
There is no wondering necessary. It was due to public pressure that the case was reopened. It's not like new evidence pointing to the guilt of Zimmerman came up. It's nothing but simple appeasement of those threatening, and in some cases already, carrying out violence. This is not justice.
I sort of wonder if the charges are bending to public pressure. Sort of going 'through the motions', at which point he is acquitted or found not guilty.
Once the ball is in motion, it becomes very difficult to stop. The jury will ultimately be responsible for doing the right thing in this case. Please see above.
This trial is likely to be a public dog and pony show. I know I would not feel safe delivering a not-guilty verdict in this case if I were a juror. Then there's the pressure of being responsible for any potential riots that may come from a not-guilty verdict. I just don't see the possibility of a fair trial in this case at this point.
The best case at this point is that Zimmerman will have his life put on hold and turned upside down/inside out for the next couple of years, and will likely end up with a hung jury. Zimmerman at that point will have had his former life destroyed and will likely have legal fees that are astronomical. Keep in mind that if this can be done to Zimmerman, it can be done to ANY of us. Who remembers what happened with the people in the Hutaree militia case in Michigan? The spent the better part of two years in jail as the trumped up charges against them fell apart.
I have to ask one more time... Why did opinion on this case divide along politically ideological lines? I think it's safe to say that the reason for that demonstrates quite well that this isn't about justice.
If I were vetting a jury, I would ask whether they believe the moon landings were faked, and whether they believe 9/11 was an inside job. I would strike all those who answered in the affirmative.