Part 1 – The Why’s
It happened after the Columbine High School murders. It happened after the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders. It happened after the Virginia Tech massacre. Questions. In those cases, people did not get an opportunity to see the killers stand trial. No one heard the killers’ version. Why the questions? Because as responsible human beings, we want to prevent senseless death. We want to protect our citizens.
When there is a killing, and the killer lives to give their version of the when, where, how and why, it can raise many questions when their version contains actions that are humanely impossible. When the killer’s version is in disagreement with evidence, and the killer goes on trial, people have hope that the seated jury will be impartial and based on evidence, mete out justice with a proper verdict of guilty.
The Jodi Arias trial, broadcast to the nation, demonstrated the ability of a killer to claim abuse and fear leading to the use of self-defense. No matter what the jury believed about Arias’ claims of abuse, they turned their focus on how Travis Alexander was killed. Arias’ story of her actions is impossible. and what she understood to be impossible, she claimed forgetfulness to avoid explaining. The physical and forensic evidence stood as her accuser, evidenced her as a liar, and convicted her.
It was just the opposite in the George Zimmerman case.
The jury excused murder, forsaking all physical and forensic evidence on the basis that Zimmerman had been previously abused; i.e., crime in his community justified his killing an unarmed 17-year old human being who was committing no crime.
Juror B37 has given an interview to CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Four other jurors have issued a statement saying that they did their job according to the law. Please do not insult our intelligence. They did not understand the law in order to perform their duty accordingly. They submitted a question to Judge Nelson to clarify manslaughter. Judge Nelson asked them to provide a more specific question. Not one of the six jurors could do that, so they defaulted to finding a verdict of not guilty. The jury could not perform their job according to law since they failed to understand it.
Some might say that the George Zimmerman jury owes America no explanations of how it reached its decision. Some might say that if asked, a vague response, such as there was no evidence, should put questions to rest. No. Not in this case. Due to the State of Florida’s Sunshine Law, the public had availability of discovery material related to the case.
Those interested in the case went through discovery material, the first of which was Zimmerman’s video walk-through of how he came to take the life of unarmed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. Recordings of two statements that George Zimmerman gave to investigators were released, followed by his written statement and those of witnesses. It took the average person more than 16 hours to watch, listen, and read that discovery material. The Zimmerman jury would have the public believe that they went through 12 days of evidence and testimony in 16 hours and reached a just verdict.
Before we continue to questions for the jury, please allow me to ask the jurors to do us a favor. Please contact juror B37 and tell her that “Spanish” is a language and not a race. Thank you in advance.
A. The Why’s
1. Why didn’t they give Judge Nelson a more specific question so they could understand manslaughter?
2. Why ask to have manslaughter clarified if they had already decided that Zimmerman killed in self-defense?
3. Why did they ignore the DNA and blood evidence? If rain washed DNA and blood off Trayvon, why didn’t it wash blood off Zimmerman’s face and nose that was more exposed to the rain? Or, was it raining?
4. Why did they use a double standard, wanting the victim to have his hands bagged to preserve evidence, but not the killer?
5. Did they examine the weather report and crime scene photos? Jonathan did not have on a rain jacket and there were no raindrops on the lens of his cell phone. Did any of the witnesses say that they put on a jacket or got an umbrella before going outside after the shot was fired? No. Why did the jury assume it was raining and that rain discriminates, washing blood off the victim, but not the killer?
6. Who in their right mind would pay membership in a fight gym for over a year and not advance?
7. Why would the jury not consider that Zimmerman was apparently doing something more in Koppelli’s gym than just dieting, since he gained over 100 lbs after leaving that gym? If just dieting, he could have maintained his diet.
We await answers.
For B37 to say that Zimmerman has a good heart when he executed Trayvon by putting a hollow point bullet into his heart, is sick beyond belief. Did she refer to Zimmerman’s heart deliberately? Is this some sort of racist in-joke? I hope this evil woman burns in hell.
https://twitter.com/MyAfro/status/357883272933548033/photo/1
FROM LAMH:
lamh36 •
Somebody elsewhere said in response to the Martin’s inteviews this morning, that they wish the Martin family had not exposed themselves to the vultures.
My response:
I’m sorry, but the legal system failed them and the MSM has had the Zimmerman KKKlan all over the airwaves and other than lovely Rachel Jeantel, no other Trayvon supporters were out there.
This parents deserve the opportunity to fight back against the demonization of their son. It’s a defense they could not do before the trial or during.
So sorry, but I disagree mightily.
They are fighitng and the are poised and composed and unlike the Zimmerman KKKlan they are not demonizing the Zimmerman family or Hispanic or making blanket statements about ALL white people like those demonizing their son.
TELL IT, LAMH!!
The Martin family will not be SILENCED. They just have more savvy and repect for their murdered son. But they will not be silenced.
Alma98
In America a black child can be stalked and killed walking home from the store. A black child can also be put on probation for looking at police too. http://criticalmassprogress.co…
Black Folks, It’s Time To Stop Taking Care Of White People
by Tanya Steele
July 17, 2013 5:30 PM
We are, most of us, grieving Trayvon Martin’s death, again, after this absurd jury verdict. Last night, I watched Anderson Cooper’s ‘Town Hall on Race and Justice in America’. These discussions are interesting. There are, usually, a few thoughts that are heartfelt and impressionable. Charles Blow has been, particularly, moving.
A few days before, I told a friend that these discussions about ‘race’ keep black people situated in a ‘victim’ narrative. Stories of how we have to talk to our children to protect themselves when in public. Stories from high achieving black men about how they were stopped by the police, where they were taught how to place their hands on the steering wheel or to cross the street when walking on a street with a white woman. I scratched my head and thought, “we can talk about this until the cows come home. When are we going to have a ‘town hall on racism’ where white people discuss how they will speak to their children to make sure another George Zimmerman does not walk among us?”
When are we going to have a ‘town hall on racism’ that addresses how a jury of women, predominantly white women (and mothers!), don’t identify with a black child? I need to know how that happened. I need to understand that. And I want white people to explain it to me. Before someone starts railing about the laws, understand that I read the law. I watched the trial EVERY DAY. EVERY DAY, beginning with jury selection, all of it. I decided I would bear witness for Trayvon no matter how I had to restructure my day. And I did it while reading the law.
The jurors had a CHOICE. They CHOSE to believe zimmerman. There was ample evidence that he lied. They could have discounted his statements. And, for those who want to blame the prosecution, again, I watched the trial. The prosecution proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that zimmerman did not fear for his life. The only evidence that zimmerman feared for his life were his words. The medical testimony proved that his life was not in danger. Along with the fact that neighbors were watching and the police were on their way. The jury chose to believe zimmerman.
So, we can discuss the law. But, we need to discuss the filter through which these women viewed the laws. We need to change the laws, no doubt. But, I also want a discussion about who created those laws and why. Laws don’t create themselves. It is easy to attack “the laws”. It is more difficult to examine the racism that went into the construction of the laws. It is easy to excuse the jury verdict because of “the laws”. The views that created those laws were shared by, at least, one of the jurors.
The discussions can happen simultaneously. We can fight to remove the laws. But, the laws will pop up in another form if we don’t address the reasons why they were created in the first place. It feels like we, suddenly, fell back into the 1950’s. Sorry, I’m not going back. We’ve done too much work to get out of that madness. We are not going back. This is the time to move “forward without fear”.
The absurdity of racism is killing us. It’s about time we expose it. What the hell do we have to lose? Everyone is hiding in the shadows, tip-toeing, afraid to point the finger, having private conversations about racism. Feeling defeated that “they’ll never get it”. Well, how are they going to get it if we don’t call it what it is? I don’t want to live with a double-consciousness. I don’t have time for that. That takes too much energy – energy that needs to be put into my work.
Today, a white woman referred to me as “Honey” on my Facebook wall, before she went into a diatribe about what I need to do. She was not a “real” friend. So, I looked on her Facebook wall. She had a post which read, “I said to the older African American, next to me” (her words), as the verdict was read, “This is a victory.” Yes, she did. She said, to this elder, that the verdict was a victory because “now we are talking about the laws.” I had a few choice words for her and ‘honey’ was not among them.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/black-folks-its-time-to-stop-taking-care-of-white-people
EVERYBIT.OFTHIS.
When are we going to have a ‘town hall on racism’ that addresses how a jury of women, predominantly white women (and mothers!), don’t identify with a black child? I need to know how that happened. I need to understand that. And I want white people to explain it to me. Before someone starts railing about the laws, understand that I read the law. I watched the trial EVERY DAY. EVERY DAY, beginning with jury selection, all of it. I decided I would bear witness for Trayvon no matter how I had to restructure my day. And I did it while reading the law.
@DebsWorldNY
I have no doubt 31 y.o heroin user Cory Monteith was a “wonderful person”, just like I have no doubt 17 y.o. #TrayvonMartin was NOT a thug.
yepper, I’m with you on this
Fear and Consequences: George Zimmerman and the Protection of
White Womanhood
My first week of college, I had a heated debate about abortion with
two new friends—both were white, and one, Nancy, was extremely pro-life. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for having such an “adult” conversation—we disagreed, but everyone was being respectful. Then my other pro-choice friend asked Nancy what she would do with a pregnancy if she was raped. I will never forget what Nancy said: “I think it would be cute to have a little black baby.”
When we expressed outrage at her racism, Nancy shrugged. It never occurred to her a rapist would be anyone other than a black man. (DOJ statistics show that 80 to 90 percent of women who are raped are attacked by someone of their own race, unless they are Native women.) When this young woman imagined a criminal in her mind, he wasn’t a faceless bogeyman.
I hadn’t thought of this exchange in years, not until I was reading
the responses to George Zimmerman’s acquittal—particularly those about the role of white womanhood. When I first heard that the jurors were women, I naïvely hoped they would see this teenage boy shot dead in the street and think of their children. But they weren’t just any women; most were white women. Women who, like me, have been taught to fear men of color. And who—as a feminist named Valerie pointed out on Twitter—probably would see Zimmerman as their son sooner than they would Trayvon Martin.[….]
http://www.thenation.com/blog/175299/fear-and-consequences-george-zimmerman-and-protection-white-womanhood#axzz2ZPSwnVS6
@rikyrah. Zimmerman’s reason for starting NW was to protect White women. He played that up to Singelton; “my wife is a mess,” and his attorneys played it up at trial when having Beratrand (sp?) testify. Zimmerman had no intentions of protecting any property other than White women.
The ‘Sundown Town’ Mentality of Zimmerman Juror B37
By: Keith Brekhus
Jul. 17th, 2013
Anderson Cooper’s interview of juror B37, gave us a glimpse into the mind of one of the jurors who found George Zimmerman not guilty in the slaying of Trayvon Martin. While much of what she said was profoundly disturbing, perhaps the most haunting glimpse into the mindset of this middle-aged Southern white woman’s mentality was the following two sentences…
MIRANDA:
Sadly, Whitey Bulger has received more respect from the media than Travyon…they’ve romanticized Bulger who is having witnesses offed.
…………………………..
‘Whitey’ Bulger Witness Found Dead
July 18, 2013
A body found in Lincoln, Mass., is believed to be that of Stephen Rakes, a key witness in the trial of James “Whitey” Bulger, ABC News has learned.
Police and federal law-enforcement agencies were tight-lipped this morning about the stunning development even as they offered confirmations that a corpse found on Mill Road in Lincoln was likely that of Stephen “Stippo” Rakes. Lincoln Police marked with crime scene tape a swath of Mill Road where the body was found near a walking path.
“There was a body found in Lincoln,” said Stephanie Guyotte, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. “No further comment at this time.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/bulger-witness-found-dead/story?id=19698132
@metaquest
When young white boys mess up, they’re troubled. When young Black or Latino boys mess up, they’re thugs.
and men, ALSO TOO…..Just like Cory Monteith the chap from the tv show “Glee… No disrepect to the dead here. He took herion. Last time I checked, herion is not LEGAL. Yet, the media hype over his addiction and rehab are aimed at garnering sympathy.
@rikyrah.
Preach it!
Just like when White women have children out of wedlock, they’re “single mothers.” When Black and Brown women have children out of wedlock, they’re “hoes.”
http://youtu.be/la6yJvED9iU
That question; “Did the legal system fail Trayvon?”
That’s the wrong question. The right question is, “Did the defense team use the legal system to fail Trayvon?”
Two voice analysis experts excluded Zimmerman’s voice as the one in the background screaming for help. The defense spent more time proceeding through a Frye hearing to have those experts excluded, than they did the actual trial.
ok folks…
need those cooning graphics.
…………………………………………………
Larry Elder angrily berates Rachel Jeantel for having a speech impediment
By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, July 17, 2013 23:56 EDT
Conservative radio host Larry Elder lashed out at Rachel Jeantel Wednesday night on CNN because she suffers from a speech impediment.
How the young black woman talked during the trial of George Zimmerman resulted in a combination of sympathy and mockery. Elder suggested that Jeantel was unintelligent and uneducated because of the way she spoke.
However, Jeantel suffers from a structural underbite, a condition which makes it difficult to pronounce many consonants correctly because of the position of her teeth in relation to the tip of her tongue. The condition can only be corrected with surgery.
Rachel Jeantel needs to get her act together,” Elder said. “If my mother were alive, she would say, ‘How dare she speak like that.’”
CNN host Piers Morgan noted that Jeantel was trilingual — she speaks English, Spanish and Haitian Creole — and had a GPA of 3.0 in high school. She fell behind in school because of an illness, which is why she started her senior year of high school when she was 19-years-old.
“Does she sound to you like anyone you want to hire in any kind of capacity?” Elder responded.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/17/larry-elder-angrily-berates-rachel-jeantel-for-having-a-speech-impediment/
STONE COLD BUSTED
Elders, another HOUSE negro trying to assuage the feelings of da white folks, by calling on other negroes to tow the line for them. FUCK YOU, Larry Elders
https://twitter.com/Dudette9t9/status/357858787606024192/photo/1
Yepper, and the HIPSTER “Rolling Stones Magazine” has Dzhokhar on their cover.
That tweet speaks volumes!!
Miranda
Trayvon valued education. He wanted to have a career in aviation.
So much for that theory. Next.
Oh, excuse me, I missed the point. Joyner’s “education” is the one where black kids are taught how to navigate their way through Emmett Till’s 1955 America even though they are living in 2013.
I know that black parents have to deal with this because it can mean life or death. But I have questions for Joyner. We know that there are no geographical boundaries to this other world that black kids like Trayvon have to learn to live in. But what happens when a kid lets his guard down? What if the kid was watching a basketball game with a 12 year old in the early evening and decided to walk to the store to get some snacks? What if he does this and starts walking back home? How did he know he was in that other America, the one where a white, racist vigilante wanted him captured and then wanted him dead? At what point in the 73 seconds he had between his phone call ending and his life being over did he have an opportunity to apply the “education” you speak of? He spent 44 of those seconds screaming and begging his killer to spare his life.
Unfortunately, first impressions are important. If you don’t speak the King’s English and look or dress in a particular way, you are immediately dismissed. This is why Tom Joyner says education is the key.
Trayvon Martin’s Mom: Jury Should Have Blamed ‘Responsible Adult’
http://n.pr/1brDdEF
“How can you let the killer of an unarmed teen go free? What would your verdict … have been had it been your child?”
That’s what Trayvon Martin’s father said when asked by Matt Lauer to address the jury that acquitted George Zimmerman in the shooting death of their 17-year-old son.
Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, gave interviews to ABC, NBC and CBS this morning. It’s the first time we hear from them since the verdict was read.
Fulton was asked on CBS what she would say to the jury. She said she hoped they understood Trayvon better. She said her son was not a “confrontational person.”
“Instead of placing the blame on the teenager, we need to place the blame on the responsible adult,” she said. “There were two people involved. We had an adult that was chasing a kid and we had a kid who I feel was afraid.”
Tracy Martin said he will “never grasp” how the jury reached its verdict.
“Just as loving parents and God-fearing people, we just continue to pray that whatever was in their heart was what they intended to do,” Martin told ABC. “But we didn’t feel it was fair and, of course, it was devastating.”
Juror B37 stated a juror threaten to walk out of deliberations. Why? Was she bullied, intimidated? Someone needs to investigate what happened.
@trymainelee
“Is this the intent for the justice system to have for victims.Trayvon wasn’t doing anything wrong” – Sybrina Fulton http://on.msnbc.com/11ZClnt
41 shots (American skin) Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen in support of Justice4TrayvonMartin
I think it is amazing so many Stars get it but the racist do not? What is so difficult to understand that a child walking home should not be in danger? Doing something so innocent.
Father of Trayvon Martin says ‘I think that if Trayvon had been white, this never would have happened’.
the truth is the truth
We gotta start proving it. Academia needs to look carefully into this. There is no other way to challenge the “black on white crime argument” crowd. Robin D. G. Kelly on Counterpunch:
I cannot really pinpoint what is the precise reason it all went wrong, laws, prosecutions case not enough focused on the jury, the jury instructions.
this was exactly my fear and ultimate reaction to the verdict, at least when I heard to usual time it takes for a decision:
Not four versus two, which seems to have somehow stood on the deeply stupid and easy to manipulate Juror’s mind but strictly exactly one minute and 13 seconds for Trayvon to understand what was happening:
7:13:40 p.m. end of GZ’s NEN call
7:15:43 p.m. end of Rachel’s call.
7:16:56 p.m. shot.
I am female but the above quoted scenario frightened me. I surely hoped there would be a female in there that somehow saw straight through defense’s manipulation, e.g. wonder why O’Mara claimed PC problems at the point he discussed Serino. I would have looked very closely into that context.
Please forgive a foreigner this statement, jury decisions feel somehow like pseudo democratic to me. They are much too easily to manipulate and to select based on the necessary features. Hirschberg may well be the hero of this trial.
Please don’t allow that Trayvon Martin will be forgotten. I guess the only thing I can do now is support the Trayvon Martin Foundation and hope they will do the right things.
7:13:40 p.m. end of GZ’s NEN call
7:15:43 p.m. end of Rachel’s call
7:16:56 p.m. shot
The timeline of the actual murder is bonechilling. Subtract 44 seconds for Trayvon screaming and 29 seconds remain.
That’s the amount of time it took for Zimmerman to attack Trayvon, become overtaken by a homicidal rage because Trayvon fought him back, and then pull his gun.
Haunting.
One Minute or Less ….
http://youtu.be/EGY6XIv9hYg&rel=0
The timeline is chilling indeed.
It’s funny that all of the cockroaches are scurrying out of the corners attempting to defend the verdict.
Yeah I hope their consciences eat them alive and they see Trayvon every waking moment of their pathetic, racist lives.
yep
Look at these fools, 3CP! They want a riot so bad.
White racists in Wichita attempt to incite a riot at a peaceful protest
Heads up, everyone! Don’t be provoked by the ignoramus ass clowns trying to make you lose your temper at rallies for Trayvon. Stay focused!
HA! Pudgy guy ran when big brother stepped up to him.
Funny, but sad. Those 2 men could have extended an olive branch rather than embarrassing themselves.
Don’t be fooled by the loosk of these racists with the beer guts and beards. They do the dirty ground work. The KKK racists in the Brooks Brothers suits (CORPORATION) and cop uniforms are the ring leaders of this DOMESTIC terrorist organization.
These two men are grotesque. Looking at them triggers a whole chain of thoughts that I really shouldn’t put in writing.
gn
−
Just to note: Don West knew in advance that Rachel has a dental issue which affects her speech. His “do you understand English” questions and “I’m talking to an idiot” demeanor were meant to capitalize from that. He’s a scumbag. Every defendant deserves vigorous representation. That doesn’t excuse tossing ethics aside and behaving like a dirtbag.
@ArrogantDemon
@adept2u she has an overbite that needs surgery to fix
eta: it’s actually an underbite—here are Rachel’s exact words from last night’s Piers Morgan interview:
JEANTEL: The way I speak? People — a lot of people have the same issue I have right now. OK, how I can say this? I have this situation since kindergarten to figure out how to speak. I have an underbite. For me —
MORGAN: Which is a dental condition for your teeth?
JEANTEL: No, a bone.
MORGAN: A bone.
JEANTEL: They got to push back. And —
MORGAN: You had to have surgery for it?
JEANTEL: Yes, I had to have surgery to push it back, and right now I don’t want to do it, because it will take a year to heal. And a lot of people have that situation. Words I can say, it can’t come out right. But —
thanks for this
Rachel Jeantel is on Politics Nation with Rev, Al.
I’m watching Rev. Sharpton now. Am very proud of Rachel Jeantel.
Jeantel: “They couldn’t BREAK me.”
She is a very courageous young woman.
Prosecute Zimmerman for committing a federal hate crime
http://frederickleatherman.com/2013/07/16/prosecute-zimmerman-for-committing-a-federal-hate-crime/
I hope the United States Department of Justice prosecutes GZ for violating the federal hate crime statute.
18 USC 249 provides in pertinent part:
Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person—
(B) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if—
(i) death results from the offense.
Please note that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not prohibit a federal prosecution against GZ. The Double Jeopardy Clause only prohibits a prosecution by the same sovereign entity that prosecuted him. That is the State of Florida. The United States is a different sovereign.
I think the problem with the verdict in this case was the de-emphasis on race and the presence of stealth jurors on the jury who were influenced by O’Mara’s year-long campaign, aided and abetted by the media, to acquit his client in the court of public opinion.
I believe B-37, and possibly two others, lied their way onto that jury determined to vote NG, regardless of the evidence. If I’m right, they should be prosecuted for perjury.
Whatever the reason or reasons, the State of Florida failed to git ‘r done and an unrepentant racist child killer is free to kill again.
Enough!
Why Did They Let Her on the Zimmerman Jury?
The strange, strange case of juror B37
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/07/zimmerman_trial_juror_b37_why_did_prosecutors_let_her_on_the_trayvon_martin.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_chunky
Less than two days after a Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the death of Trayvon Martin, juror B37, one of the six members of the anonymous panel, signed with a literary agent to shop her book about the trial.
The news comes with a bonus video: juror B37’s entire voir dire captured on film and promoted Monday by Gawker. The process by which counsel on each side of the case interviews prospective jurors is revealing in all kinds of ways and a useful lesson in the strengths and weaknesses of the jury system. In the case of B37, it is also a master class on how to not know anything about something everyone else knows about.
Start with the general observations already raised in Gawker: B37 consumes no media beyond the Today show—no radio, no Internet news, and no newspapers used for anything but lining her parrot’s cage. Perhaps because she does not consume any media, she was under the false belief that there were “riots” after the Martin shooting. She also described the Martin killing as “an unfortunate incident that happened.”
But the tape raises another question that should be debated in every trial advocacy class in America: What were the lawyers, especially the prosecutors, thinking when they seated her? Why didn’t prosecutors use one of their peremptory challenges to nix her? She’s contrarian, she raised serious ontological doubts about the nature of truth-seeking, and she was only ever truly animated on the subject of rescue birds. Both lawyers were visibly cowed by her. I asked several prosecutors, former prosecutors, and public defenders to watch the video and report on the red flags it raised for them.
Almost all of them start with the same caveat: Jury selection is not jury selection. “It’s de-selection” explains Howard Lidsky, a board-certified criminal-law attorney in Florida. “It’s impossible to make a judgment about jury selection unless you’re seated in the room,” he says. “You have 18 people in the box and just six strikes. You may dislike a juror, but you might like the person sitting next to him even less.” Ken White is a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney at Brown White and Newhouse in Los Angeles. He blogs at Popehat.com. He makes the same point: “Even if one prospective juror seems bad, you have a limited number of peremptories, and they may have judged the others as even worse. What was the alternative?”
Robert Weisberg teaches criminal law at Stanford Law School, and he immediately wonders what it meant when juror B37 asserted that “You never get all the information. How do you form an opinion if you don’t have all the information?” Weisberg sums up his lawyerly concerns in one sentence: “She thinks the world is one big reasonable doubt.”
Gail Brashers-Krug, a former federal prosecutor and law professor, is currently a criminal defense attorney in Iowa. She also jumped back when B37 said, ”You never get all the information.“ “That’s exactly what a defense attorney loves to hear,” says Brashers-Krug. “That’s reasonable doubt, right there. If I were a prosecutor, that would make me extremely nervous about her.” She adds that B37’s devotion to animals might raise flags for her as well. “The animal thing is weird. She doesn’t know how many animals she has, and she mentions her animals far, far more than her two daughters. She strikes me as eccentric and unpredictable. I never, ever want eccentric, unpredictable people on a jury.”
George Zimmerman Asks Defense Lawyers ‘Where’s The Marijuana?’
I need to take a break for few minutes so that I can understand what the jurors definition of serious thought is. Could someone please explain to me how serious thought is defined living it up at the Taxpayer’s expense? So, Trayvon’s life, a dead Black child life meant no more to them than living recreation. Be back later, I gotta find my vaseline and tennis shoes.
No wonder those heffas voted not guilty. They spent their time in sequester going to the gym to workout, dining, going to movies, watching TV, and going to museums. In other words, they spent their time living it up and enjoying themselves. How’s that for giving the verdict serious thought?
They were stressed out alright. Yeah right! Lying azz heffas. I knew juror B37 was crying because her conscience was bothering her. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!
More on Spooner, the trial actually has two phases.
Milwaukee man found guilty in fatal shooting of 13-year-old neighbor whom he accused of theft
By Associated Press, Published: July 16 | Updated: Wednesday, July 17, 12:43 PM
…
A jury deliberated for about an hour before finding John Henry Spooner guilty of first-degree intentional homicide. Surveillance video from Spooner’s own security cameras showed him confronting Darius Simmons in May 2012, pointing a gun at him from about 6 feet away and shooting him in the chest.
Spooner had entered two pleas to the homicide charge: not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. That set up the trial to be conducted in two phases: the first to determine whether he was guilty of the homicide, and if so, a second to determine whether he was mentally competent at the time.
Spooner’s defense attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, said he has an expert who will testify that Spooner was suffering from mental disease that prevented him from knowing right from wrong.
Gimbel conceded from the outset that his client shot Darius. However, he argued that Spooner did not intend for the gunshot to be fatal.
“There was no mental investment in what he was doing,” Gimbel said.
The second phase of the trial operates under slightly different rules. The burden of proof shifts to the defense, which only has to prove “clear and convincing evidence,” instead of the stricter standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In addition, a verdict requires agreement from only 10 jurors, not unanimity from all 12.
Read more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/surveillance-video-shows-milwaukee-man-76-shooting-neighbor-boy-13-in-the-chest/2013/07/16/fbb97d24-ee76-11e2-bb32-725c8351a69e_story.html
Did anyone see the original reports that indicated Spooner and Darius had a history of conflict? My question is – if the family had only moved there the month before, how much “history or conflict” can you actually have?? B.S. Oh and Spooner had a relationship with someone in office and complained about the timing of the response of the police to his claims.. I’m sorry, let’s abuse power we think we have
. However, it was argued that Spooner did not intend for the gunshot to be fatal.
“There was no mental investment in what he was doing,” Gimbel said.
Right.. shoot someone in the chest and shoot again after they turned to run away from you.
Dyson was on Bashir’s show…he was on point.
Dyson – Trayvon’s ‘uniform’ was his skin color
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Trayvon Martin’s Unpunished Shooting Death Among 100+ Extrajudicial Killings of Unarmed Blacks
According to a recent study, the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer is not unique. In “Operation Ghetto Storm,” the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) found at least 136 unarmed African Americans were killed by police, security guards and self-appointed vigilantes in 2012. Overall, one black person was killed in an extrajudicial shooting every 28 hours. We speak with Kali Akuno, a longtime MXGM organizer and author of “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: A Handbook on Organizing New Afrikan and Oppressed Communities.” “This speaks to the mindset of criminalizing blackness,” Akuno says. “We see it systematically throughout this country and really we have to get at the heart of it and have a much deeper conversation. I think the mass movement which is taking place in response [to the Trayvon Martin case] is an opening shot to have that conversation.”
Read or watch the full interview…
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/17/trayvon_martins_unpunished_shooting_death_among
Okay, I’m back. My wireless has shutdown, so had to get on desktop. It’s slow as a turtle.
Now, let me see where was I. B37 said that Trayvon should have walked home. He was walking home, but Zimmerman a wannabee cop obstructed his path and killed him. Do you get it now, dummy? Furthermore, she said that Trayvon got mad and attacked Zimmerman and that he brought his murder on himself. B37 do you always blame the victim for their death? Zimmerman was a grown man, Trayvon was a kid. A grown man is suppose to be more responsible than a kid, but I guess not according to you. No wonder our justice system is effed up.
I nearly fell over dead when she said “Trayvon played a huge roll in his death” wtf? smdh
This is what O’Mara implied with Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon’s mother when she took the witness stand. Sybrina gave him the WTF look.These folks are INSANE.
[caption id="attachment_47192" align="alignnone" width="500"]
Sybrina and Jordan Davis’ Mother[/caption]
Memo to MEDIA: We don’t need or want to RIOT. We want the GEORGE ZIMMERMANS off our STREETS.
@Ametia.
Right on — and White Supremacists off America’s juries.
AMEN!
Just a thought. If the prosecution had brought up the fact that mass shootings and killings are carried out by white boys/men.
WHY AREN’T THEY PROFILED?
Adam Lanza, Jared Loughner, Wade Michael Page, James Holmes
Still waiting for answers:
“7. Why would the jury not consider that Zimmerman was apparently doing something more in Koppelli’s gym than just dieting, since he gained over 100 lbs after leaving that gym? If just dieting, he could have maintained his diet.”
I just think it is about race. They can spew their shit about it’s the way the law reads. No it is about common sense. When we took our 4 sons camping at a National Park I came back more beat up than Fogen. ( I will also point out I did not kill any of them for the abuse I took on that trip and at some points I felt my life was in danger.) As mothers they should have known those injuries were not life threatening. As far as the threat about Trayvon going for the gun, well that was disputed in court. So imo it came down to whose skin is lighter. Keep in mind I have been living in ignorance for a long time but that is my best guess as to what went on in their minds.
Racial profiling is risky. 2011 FBI bank robbery statistics. If we go by this, then White men and women entering banks should be profiled as “suspicious.” http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/bank-crime-statistics-2011/bank-crime-statistics-2011
One of the problems with protecting America from Jihad terrorists is because it’s impossible to profile them by the color of their skin.
Xena I am going to the bank tomorrow, now I am going to worry they will think i am suspicious. :)
@disappointed.
Oh -oh . I’m sorry. :-)
The juror who won’t shut up is getting on my last nerve. I don’t care when or why she decided to write a book. I want to know when the rules changed for our children. No I never had to give my boys the talk about the police, keeping hands out of their pockets and so forth BUT I did give them the stranger danger talk. So now she wants little or teen boys/girls to change the rules of engagement when it comes to strangers approaching them. What just stop and carry on a conversation and hope they are not trying to kidnap our child? Rape our child? I guess this bitch has raised her children and has no grand children yet? Anyone with children/grand children would laugh in her face.
It is time to pack the racist up put them in one of our border states. Kick that State out of our country and name it the Country of Racist and be done with them. Who in their right mind blames the victim for their own DEATH when said Victim ran from the child molester, robber, racist or stupid fucking neighborhood watch with a small penis?
I would love for the silent Juror to come forward and say she felt bullied into her vote, I have hope there is just one juror who does not blame the victim. B37 is all over the place, it’s the law we had to follow, George went to far, they should have walked away from each other SOMEONE needs to change the law so we would not have to vote this way….. I never realized how racist this country still is and I had no idea how ignorant people really are. You would think after the Anthony verdict people would think twice about voting not guilty when it comes to the death of a child. Apparently not.
Sorry my rant is all over the place. I just do not understand anymore today than I did Saturday. I guess in my head I new this verdict was possible but in my heart I just knew Trayvon {the kid} would win out because well he is a child. I thought everyone had more love and respect for our minor children than a grown man with a gun. smdh and it hurts from shaking this damn much! It also hurts because for the last 17 months I have followed a case that made me realize I am ignorant. I am ignorant to racist views still being alive and strong. It kind of sucks to think 50 years later not much has changed.
I can not apologize enough for the injustice my friends here -deal with on a daily basis -because I never knew the extent of the vile you and your children deal with. I guess at almost 60 years old it is time to pull my head out of the sand. I am so sorry, if you ever want to move to the midwest, I would love to have you as my neighbor. You all do not scare me, you are humans too! I will not assume you are on drugs, or suspicious or up to no good. I will assume you are just living your daily life like me. xxx to all of my friends.
disappointed, I’ve lived in the southwest, east coast, west coast, and now in the midwest, and Canada. Racism is EVERYWHERE. There’s nowhere to run or hide from it. Folks need to own their shit. We just keep calling it what is is when we see and hear it.
My neighborhood is so diverse and I think this case has confused us all. I do not know all of my neighbors family so if someone comes to visit I do not go on high alert. We have block parties, we watch all the children at the bus stops, we watch each others children. We all get along, if we need something we knock on each others doors. It is nice, I think a lot of people should try it.
I’m back, I missed my appointment. *sigh* Now, where was I? Oh yeah. B37 was running the show and now it has hit her that she made the wrong decision based on her biases belief that all black males are dangerous thugs. Narrow-minded heffa! Now, she wants to pray for those with influence to make the laws. What about prayers for the Martin family, they’re the ones that loss a child because of a wannabe cop? Puleeeeeeeeeeze spare me from your B.S. excuses.
Granny<—–playing the violin.
@Granny. Juror B37 reminds me of folks who said they disagreed with slavery, classifying them as property, whipping, beating, and selling them apart from their family, but then saying “It’s the law.” Her problem is that the law says that a claim of self-defense is not allowed for the initial aggressor.
Now we see what O’Mara’s plot was when he waived the pre-trial immunity hearing and said that he wanted a jury to decide Zimmerman’s fate. At the pre-trial immunity hearing, the judge is the trier of fact and the judge knows the law. That proceeding could be raised during trial and that would have educated the jury. O’Mara is a snake in the grass who cheated to have Zimmerman acquitted. A verdict obtained by deception and trickery is not a win. It is using evil to overcome good.
The defense didn’t want an educated jury, and betcha by golly wow! this trial didn’t get one either
Lets get busy 3ChicsPolitico. Email your feedback. Now Is The Time!
Justice Dept. collecting public feedback on Zimmerman case
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/07/17/justice-dept-seeks-public-feedback-on-zimmerman-case/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost
In an unusual move, the Justice Department announced Wednesday that it is collecting feedback from Americans for its investigation into whether to file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman.
Justice officials said the move comes “because of interest in this matter.” People can e-mail Sanford.Florida@usdoj.gov if they have thoughts on how the department should proceed.
It’s not clear how much bearing the feedback will have on the decision, which Justice officials have said will be made by “experienced federal prosecutors.”
So teh JD wants it in writing, instead of all that massive PROTESTING, huh.
We’ll give to them both ways…
Straight up
NRA Fires Back At Holder’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Comments: Self-Defense Is ‘Fundamental Human Right’
http://bit.ly/15H1no9
The NRA, which had been relatively silent throughout the George Zimmerman murder trial, responded to Attorney General Eric Holder‘s recent criticism of “Stand Your Ground” laws with a strongly-worded statement of their own. NRA Institute for Legislative Action executive director Chris Cox called Holder’s statements “unconscionable” and labeled self-defense laws a “fundamental human right.”
*********************
Eric Holder to the NRA..
[wpvideo 8sbaSVvr]
Michael Moore’s cartoon from “Bowling for Columbine” on the history of guns in America due to White fear.
http://youtu.be/lGYFRzf2Xww&rel=0
There you have it all laid out!
Love it in cartoon form. Cheers to Michael Moore.
Just think of Teddy Roosevelt’s book and title: “The Winning of the West”.
Honestly would have required a book entitled “The Conquering and Genocide of the Native Population of America.”
At least the Spaniards were honest in labeling themselves “conquistadors” instead of using the word “pioneers” as did the Europeans in our country.
NRA-SYG laws=$$$$$$
Guess they forgot to add unless you are Trayvon Martin? Do they think he had the right to Stand His Ground?
Lone Zimmerman Trial Juror Remains Silent
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/07/lone_zimmerman_trial_juror_speaks_remains_silent.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
From the article:
Hopefully, juror B29 will come forth and tell how juror B37 hoodwinked them into believing they were too stupid to understand the law so had to vote not guilty.
Come forward, Juror B29. Tell your story of what happened.
Yes; come forward and answers the questions, B29.
VIDEO: THEGRIO INTERVIEWED RACHEL JEANTEL
theGrio’s Managing Editor Joy-Ann Reid sat down with Jeantel yesterday, and she shared her thoughts on those who had negative things to say about her.
She also had a few choice words for athlete Lolo Jones, who ridiculed her online.
“She’s a hater,” Jeantel said.
http://thegrio.com/2013/07/17/rachel-jeantel-responds-to-lolo-jones-shes-a-hater/
@linnyitssn
Juror B37 cancelled book deal once she heard reactions to the #Zimmerman verdict, thereby admitting the deal was made b4 the trial was over!
FROM Miranda:
She’s lying on all fronts.
The problem with the book wasn’t the reaction to the verdict, it was the reaction to her. Enough white folks passively agreed with the “well not enough evidence, uhh, well maybe” bs over the verdict…It was when her ass went on Anderson Cooper that half those same white people were taken aback and came to grips with the fact that “oh shit, this bitch really just told us what we can’t ignore.” If she had never gone on Anderson Cooper and displayed for all the world to see that the verdict was as shady as we thought it was, her book deal would still be set.
Of course the book deal, the verdict, they were all PREMEDITATED.
Boycotting Fla. Would Cost NABJ $1 Million
Even though some members of the National Association of Black Journalists are so upset by the not-guilty verdict delivered George Zimmerman that they urged NABJ to pull out of Florida for the convention scheduled in two weeks, such a pullout would cost the association more than $1 million, NABJ President Gregory H. Lee Jr. told Journal-isms on Monday.
In an emailed message to members, Lee wrote, “NABJ’s convention team anticipated a verdict would be reached before the convention. The team had already extended an invitation to the [Trayvon] Martin family to participate in a panel. The team also extended an invitation to journalists covering the trial as well as political commentators and community leaders. We also plan to extend an invitation to the Zimmerman family as well. We as black journalists have a role here; we must examine this story and the ramifications of the tragedy of Trayvon Martin’s death, as well as the ramifications of the verdict in the Zimmerman trial, from all sides. . . .”
http://mije.org/richardprince/boycotting-fla-would-cost-nabj-1-million
These DUMB MOTHERFUCKAS, right here. We’ve ALREADY heard Zimmerman’s side of the story. HE STALKED AN UNARMED TEENAGER, SHOT & MURDERED TRAYVON , HE LIED, NOT GUILTY.
The fucking END!
@jasiri_x
The judge & defense lawyer, in the trial where a 76 yr old white man killed a 13 yr old Black boy, are in-laws http://bit.ly/10Z8qZT
If you watch this video, brace yourself.
Video shows Spooner shooting Darius Simmons
By Tom Murray and The Associated Press
CREATED Jul. 16, 2013 – UPDATED: Jul. 17, 2013 | 6:38 AM
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/215737741.html
saw it once…cannot do it again
@wstafrican
Thank goodness. // Jury: Spooner guilty of intentional homicide | Milwaukee County – WISN Home http://www.wisn.com/news/south… … via @WISN12News
Hallelujah!
Lord have mercy, 13 years old. The crackas are EVIL
That didn’t take long for the jury to decide what is obviously the right verdict. I’m betting that the old boy will soon be in prison hospice. I remember reading awhile back that when he murdered Darius Simmons he already knew he had cancer. Spooner looks bad, one foot in the grave.
@Liza. So “Spooker” thought he’d off a nigga boy before he croaked.
Spent some time reading about this. What bothers me is that the murderer had no concern about what he did. That seems to be the overall attitude now — that any innocent Black male teen can be murdered, and the murder justified on the allegation that the killer was frustrated with crime committed by someone else.
So, why aren’t the folks in Colorado going out shooting every young White college boy who looks like a nerd because of the theater killings? (SMH) This country is becoming like Hitler’s Germany when he blamed Jews for all the problems, and killing even Jewish children was justifiable on that basis.
Straight up, Xena.
WHY AREN’T THEY PROFILED?
Newtown, Ct shooting ,Sik Temple, WI shooting, Aurora, Co shooting AZ shooting
Adam Lanza, Jared Loughner, Wade Michael Page, James Holmes
And this is why we love Joy-Ann – because she tells it.
Joy Reid @TheReidReport13h
@toddey I think this juror got onto the jury with the goal of getting to an acquittal, and then profiting by writing a book.
Joy Reid @TheReidReport
What I deal with –> “@Hawaii1987: @TheReidReport Shut the fuck up nigger bitch! Ugly ass racist hoe!”
Joy tells it SUCCINCTLY too. She’s skilled at presenting facts. A must for panel commentary. Bullshiters who like to suck up all the air, basically, talking LOUD & saying NOTHING, can’t get away with Joy’s comeback. She’s just that good.
Go Ms. Reid!
The National Association of Black Journalists have invited the Zimmermans to their convention to present “all sides” of the story.
HUH?
Yeah, you read that right. SMH!
♥★One Of A Kind★♥ @LilMissTraci
Trayvon Martin rally tonight in Columbus Ohio at the statehouse (high and broad street) meeting at 5 everything starts at 5:30
From David Simon – Creator of The Wire
Trayvon
13Jul
You can stand your ground if you’re white, and you can use a gun to do it. But if you stand your ground with your fists and you’re black, you’re dead.
In the state of Florida, the season on African-Americans now runs year round. Come one, come all. And bring a handgun. The legislators are fine with this blood on their hands. The governor, too. One man accosted another and when it became a fist fight, one man — and one man only — had a firearm. The rest is racial rationalization and dishonorable commentary.
If I were a person of color in Florida, I would pick up a brick and start walking toward that courthouse in Sanford. Those that do not, those that hold the pain and betrayal inside and somehow manage to resist violence — these citizens are testament to a stoic tolerance that is more than the rest of us deserve. I confess, their patience and patriotism is well beyond my own.
Behold, the lewd, pornographic embrace of two great American pathologies: Race and guns, both of which have conspired not only to take the life of a teenager, but to make that killing entirely permissible. I can’t look an African-American parent in the eye for thinking about what they must tell their sons about what can happen to them on the streets of their country. Tonight, anyone who truly understands what justice is and what it requires of a society is ashamed to call himself an American
http://davidsimon.com/trayvon/
I’m not ashamed to call myself an American, David Simon. It’s the utterly SHAMEFUL, racist behavior of folks who claim they’re an American.
“The Zimmerman jury would have the public believe that they went through 12 days of evidence and testimony in 16 hours and reached a just verdict.”
How’d y’all do that? Did some of Trayvon’s super negro powers take hold of ya?
I gotta make a run and take care of some business. Be back later.
We’ll look for you, Granny!
TCB; Granny. We’ll hold it down until you return.
Frederick Leatherman: Notice something missing?
Judge Nelson did not instruct the jury that an aggressor cannot claim self-defense and that a person who aggressively follows another person is an aggressor. That was the heart of the prosecution case.
http://frederickleatherman.com/
I told you it was a conspiracy. Judge Nelson, the prosecution, the defense and the jury.
PHACK all of them to the deepest parts of hell!!!
I cosign.
DOUBLE CO-SIGN! And the WSJ’s got negroes running around blaming black folks for their own oppression and killings by institutionalized racism.
Lord, give us strength.
http://live.wsj.com/video/opinion-why-are-black-leaders-exploiting-trayvon-martin/A884CEA7-F97C-4E2A-80FF-566B9FFB3BB4.html#!A884CEA7-F97C-4E2A-80FF-566B9FFB3BB4
B37, fyi, Trayvon was walking home, until George Michael Zimmerman killed him. Now, do you get it?
But. but, but… George has a kind heart, Granny.
Kind heart my foot! Kind heart people do not sexually molest their cousins or murder children.
Kind hearts don’t refer to strangers as ‘f-punks’ are ‘those who got away’.
It is what it is. Juror B37 knows she done messed up and trying cover up her bias. We see you B37 and through you. B37 could you answer the questions?
It’s much too late for B-37 to throw the white robe and hood back on. And she’s certainly not the only one to answer for that atrocious verdict.
Like Zimmerman, the jurors are cowards. If they really feel they made the right decision, they shouldn’t be ashamed to show their faces and explain why they came to this decision.
6. Who in their right mind would pay membership in a fight gym for over a year and not advance?
Can’t think of ANYONE off the top of my head, but according to Pollock that’s what GZ supposedly did, and the jury didn’t use any logic or reasoning with this LIE.
Before we continue to questions for the jury, please allow me to ask the jurors to do us a favor. Please contact juror B37 and tell her that “Spanish” is a language and not a race. Thank you in advance.
**************************
And she called Rachael dumn.
Racism will make you stupid!!!
And not not proofing before you post will make you look stupid.
This question right here shows the enormity of the GZ witnesses & these jurors DENIAL. Just MIND-NUMBING…
3. Why did they ignore the DNA and blood evidence? If rain washed DNA and blood off Trayvon, why didn’t it wash blood off Zimmerman’s face and nose that was more exposed to the rain? Or, was it raining?
Come on with it now, Pricness Warrior. Thank YOU!
LMBAO@
“Please contact juror B37 and tell her that “Spanish” is a language and not a race. Thank you in advance.”
Talmbout unedumacated!
Now let me review those questions.