Jonathan Manalo Gives Details about the Zimmerman Trial

Posted on November 8, 2013 by SouthernGirl2

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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14 Responses to Jonathan Manalo Gives Details about the Zimmerman Trial

  1. jordan2222 says:
    May 1, 2014 at 9:09 pm

    Hallelujah

    Reply
  2. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 9, 2013 at 12:09 pm
    Reply
  3. Yahtc says:
    November 9, 2013 at 6:34 am

    I transcribed the first video above at the Blackbutterfly7 blog. Here it is:

    Part 1 of Joy Reid’s interview with Jonathan Manalo:

    REID: I’m here with Jonathan Manalo who is one of the key witnesses in the George Zimmerman trial. Johnathan, I know that you prefer to go by Joe, so thank you from us for being here.

    Let’s go back actually to the night of the shooting, February 26 two thousand and twelve. Tell me what you remember from that night.

    MANALO: um, I was sitting on the floor putting furniture together with my daughter. And from where the T is, where we live on the end unit of our house uh, we heard grunts. We thought it was dog’s barking.

    And, so, my wife looked out the window, and she says, “There two guys out there fighting.” I said, “Well, you know, there’s…let them figure it out. They’re grown men. And, then we started hearing some cries for help. And, around that time, I started working my way up from the floor, we heard the gunshot.

    REID: Did the cries for help continue after the gunshot?

    MANALO: No. As soon as that gunshot went off, it was silence.

    REID: Okay. And at some point you went outside?

    MANALO: Yes, um, Immediately after that, I went outside. And, George Zimmerman was already on the sidewalk walking towards me. um I had asked him, “What happened, why didn’t you call 911?

    um He goes, “No, I just got off the phone with them.” And, I said, “What happened?”

    “Well, he was beating me up so I had to defend myself.”

    I said, “Okay.” And, as he walks closer to me, he says, “Am I bleeding?” And, I said, “Oh yeah, you’re bleeding.”

    He had blood on his face. It wasn’t smeared. It was just like dripping down his face. And, um, he crouched in front of me, turned his back towards me, and I could see the blood on the back of his head.

    REID: And, when he turned around to crouch down, was he doing that because he wanted you to take pictures or why do you think he was doing that?

    MANALO: I don’t know why. He didn’t know I had a camera with me or my phone with me.

    REID: But, at some point, you did take photographs.

    MANALO: Yes. I took the photo of him the back of his head.

    REID: And, you also saw what you didn’t know at the time, but Trayvon Martin laying on the ground?

    MANALO: Right, as I came around the corner towards the scene, I noticed Trayvon Martin laying down, facedown in the grass.

    REID: And, you also photographed the body.

    MANALO: Yes. After, the police had left with George Zimmerman, I went ahead and took a couple of photos.

    REID: About how long was it before the police arrived?

    MANALO: It wasn’t very long….between 5 and 10 seconds.

    REID: Now you testified in the trial about your interaction with George Zimmerman, from the time he asked you to call his wife. um, Tell me a little about that and what you think his demeanor was at that time.

    MANALO: I was trying to explain to his wife, “Your husband has been involved in a shooting. He’s going to be held for questioning at the Sanford Police Department” and, I mean, basically, before I could even finished, he cuts me off and just says, “Just tell her I shot someone.”

    I was like “how can you explain that to someone who you just killed?” And, I didn’t know how to respond to that. Sarcastically, I went, “Well, okay, your husband just shot someone.” I just didn’t know how else to say it.

    REID: Right, and then you did that on your phone, not his phone?

    MANALO: I did it on my phone.

    REID: So you testified in the trial, um, and, for the most part the state attorney Bernie de la Rionda asked you about where you lived, about the location. Did you feel that you really got to tell the full story for what you remember for that night?

    MANALO: No. Not at all.

    REID: It was mainly yes or no questions?

    MANALO: Yes, correct.

    REID: What would you have wanted to say had you been able to testify more fully.

    MANALO: Well, seeing his walk-through interview with the Sanford Police Department. You know, um,

    REID: Which you saw later on.

    MANALO: Which I saw later on.

    George Zimmerman basically said that when I got around the corner, he said that I asked him, “Do you want me to call 911?” And, he was insistent that I didn’t need to call 911. He wanted me to help restrain him, and he had his arms out. THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN. He was already on the sidewalk. And, his arms….Trayvon Martin’s arms were already underneath his body.

    REID: So, Your saying that you were never asked to try to restrain the person that was on the ground?

    MANALO: Correct.

    REID: And, that you never saw his arms spread out?

    MANALO: Exactly.

    REID: You talked a little bit about…..when I spoke with you….about sort of your feelings about having seen all of this, or having seen Trayvon Martin there apparently not moving. um Tell me a little about that.

    MANALO: Um. It was something that I had never experienced before and seeing him laying there, and, it was basically just me and him until the first responders came along to try to revive him.

    I moved my flashlight around, and one of the things I had said to myself was, “Oh, my god, what have you done?

    I don’t see a weapon on the ground. Nothing that would justify really to that moment, self defense.

    REID: And you have some law enforcement training.

    MANALO: Yes. I went through the police academy many years ago.

    Reply
    • Yahtc says:
      November 10, 2013 at 5:17 pm

      I just finished transcribing Part 2 of the Joy Reid interview with Jonathan Manalo:

      REID: Now, let’s go back and talk about your testimony. There were some other things that didn’t come up that you have since talked about. You have written a book, we should say that.that you’ve written and is available on Amazon.

      MANALO: Yes.

      REID: And, in that, one of the stories you tell is about another interaction with a colleague of yours at UPS between him and George Zimmerman. Tell me a little about that.

      MANALO: Um. It was about November.

      REID: This is the November before the shooting? November of eleven.

      MANALO: Before the shooting…3 or 4 months before the actual shooting. He was just…one of the biggest trucks that we have…..daylight….he knocks on the door so the driver can just leave it at the door….and he walks back to his truck.

      When he turns around, George Zimmerman is just standing there with his gun in his hand, and then just says, “Oh, I didn’t know who it was.” But, clearly, there’s a big, brown truck in front of your house with a UPS logo on it…and you don’t know who it is. It kind of makes you wonder what his mind was thinking at that moment.

      REID: And, was that incident reported to your supervisor?

      MANALO: Yes, it was.

      REID: Okay. And, when did you learn about that incident?

      MANALO: I learned about it a few weeks before the trial, um, so I didn’t really get a chance to elaborate on it, but, um, it was in the back of my mind.

      REID: Now, why didn’t you mention that on the stand. I mean, you were asked at one point if you had know George Zimmerman before or had ever seen him before. At that point, why not say, “Well, I didn’t know him, but a colleague of mine at UPS had this interaction with him. That might have actually made a big impression on that jury.

      MANALO: I understand, but, you know, it’s just one of those things in court ,or yeah, in trial, it’s it’s…What they ask you is they want a direct answer. So, they didn’t exactly ask me to elaborate on anything, his demeanor, if I …you know, it really didn’t get in depth of what actually what I had experienced.

      REID: And, we should mention that the State Attorney’s Office said that they went back through your interviews with Mr. de Rionda, your interviews with police, and they say this never came up….that this incident was not reported to authorities before you actually testified.

      Do you now wish that you had told the police or told the State Attorney Office about the UPS incident?

      Manalo: Probably yeah. I mean, but like I said, there was just a few weeks before the trial happened and so much was going on that they were already pretty much busy with what they had going on with their witnesses and their depositions that I really….didn’t even dawn on me that it was something that I really should have tried to push on.

      REID: What would you say to people who watch this interview and say, “Joe, why didn’t you say this at the time of the trial when it might have made a difference to the jury?” What would you say to those people?

      MANALO: I wish I was given the opportunity to speak and elaborate on my experience from that moment instead of just being asked “Okay, was he bleeding?” or “What did you see when he (edit? you?) came around the corner?”

      It was none of that. It was just basically…from the beginning, it seemed it was more of a self-defense issue in court than it was to see what led up to it.

      REID: Do you feel that the prosecutors did all they could to convict George Zimmerman?

      MANALO: I really don’t have a comment on that…um…I think everybody did a great job from the defense to the prosecutors..um..yeah.

      REID: And, Shellie Zimmerman gave an interview recently in which she said she now doubts the verdict, that she has some doubts about whether her husband, who she is now in the process of divorcing, was guilty or innocent. What is your opinion on the guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman?

      MANALO: I think he should have been guilty. Because, from the beginning where it was just negligence as far as him carrying a firearm when it really wasn’t necessary because in an area where it’s a safe neighborhood…in your mind, if you’re thinking, “Well, I got to make 40 calls to 911 whether it’s non-emergency or an emergency over frivolous stuff” …in your mind you’re thinking, “Okay, what’s a high crime area?” In that case, it wasn’t.

      I hardly ever saw a cop in my neighborhood.

      REID: What is your sort of “take away” of what happened in this case. Do you feel that justice was done?

      MANALO: No, not at all. Not at all. It was…I think the jury should have seen more of what happened before it became self-defense. Because, before it became self-defense, there were so many issues came in where it could have been avoided.

      But, when you…when someone is so aggressive in their mind that they want to make that citizen’s arrest, then it becomes an issue where it’s like…well, now he’s going to become negligent of what he’s actually doing.

      Because, we all know you can follow someone, it’s not against the law. But, when it comes to the point where someone feels they have to defend themselves because they’re being followed, then that’s a different story.

      He….Trayvon Martin can’t speak for himself, but he has every right to defend himself. Even though he’s not able to speak for it, and George Zimmerman can, so of course, they’re going to see him as the person who was defending himself.

      REID: All right, Jonathan Manalo, thank you very much. And, we should point out that we did reach out to Mark O’Mara, the attorney George Zimmerman and his law office, and they had no comment.

      Reply
  4. 2dogsonly says:
    November 8, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    X1000

    Reply
  5. Liza says:
    November 8, 2013 at 1:05 pm

    And Angela Corey is going to personally prosecute Michael Dunning who murdered Jordan Davis. We’re supposed to think that is a good thing.

    Reply
  6. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 8, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    The Ghost of George Zimmerman Haunts a Gun Debate in Sanford, Florida

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/06/the-ghost-of-george-zimmerman-haunts-a-gun-debate-in-sanford-florida.html

    Yet the shadow of George Zimmerman, and lessons learned from his February 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, loomed large as members of the Florida community where the incident took place met with police chief Cecil E.Smith last night to help set their broken Neighborhood Watch operation back on the tracks.

    Part of an ongoing crime-fighting overhaul being led by Smith, who came to the post seven months ago after his predecessor was fired for mishandling the Zimmerman case, the revamping of Sanford’s Neighborhood Watch is heavy with symbolism even if the chief would prefer it not to be so.

    “When people hear the term ‘Neighborhood Watch captain,’ I think they just think of George Zimmerman straight away,” says Patti Parker, herself a Neighborhood Watch captain, chatting in a hallway after the meeting at Sanford City Hall. “But we need to move past that, move forward. George Zimmerman doesn’t define Neighborhood Watch.”

    Were this any other city in America, a meeting between residents and police to discuss a parochial crime-busting initiative would pass as unremarkable. “But we’ve been in the spotlight for such a long time because of this case, that it seems like someone only has to trip over a curb and bump their head in this city and it’s back on us all over again,” laments Smith, speaking prior to the meeting.

    On this initiative, the spotlight has shone all the brighter because of Smith’s decision to confront one of the most volatile issues inherent in the Trayvon Martin tragedy: the right to bear arms.

    Whereas Zimmerman carried a pistol, from which he fired a bullet through Martin’s heart during a fight that began after he wrongly deemed the black teen to be “up to no good” and followed him, Smith’s Neighborhood Watch volunteers will be encouraged to leave their firearms at home.

    The chief has backed off a plan to issue an outright ban on volunteers carrying guns, mindful of the potential legal backlash and that he would have been “essentially pissing people off.” His new instructions are carefully worded.

    Reply
  7. SouthernGirl2 says:
    November 8, 2013 at 12:38 pm

    Couple sue Spike Lee over George Zimmerman tweet

    http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-george-zimmerman-spike-lee-tweet-20131108,0,2956891.story

    A Sanford couple have sued movie director Spike Lee for a tweet he posted that falsely claimed that their address was where George Zimmerman lived.

    After Lee disseminated the tweet last year to his more than 240,000 Twitter followers, Elaine McClain said she began receiving hate mail and she and her husband, David, had to temporarily move out of their home because they were being harassed.

    Sanford Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the February 2012 killing. A jury in July found him not guilty.
    The McClains settled with Lee on March 29, 2012. Lee also tweeted an apology.

    However, the lawsuit contends that other people continued to tweet and retweet the address afterward, causing them “substantial injury.” Lee, the suit claims, negligently encouraged “a dangerous mob mentality among his Twitter followers” and the public.

    The lawsuit claims the couple still have trouble sleeping and are anxious and fearful. It also alleges that the market value of their home has dropped because of the publicity.

    They are seeking more than $15,000, the standard in cases filed Circuit Court, where the suit was filed in September. The case was transferred in October to federal court.

    The couple also reserve their right to seek punitive damages, the lawsuit states.

    Reply
  8. racerrodig says:
    November 8, 2013 at 11:45 am

    So FogenPhoole see’s the UPS delivery guy is at someone else’s place, pulls his trusty old Kel – Tek because the truck…….and maybe the driver ain’t white ??

    Reply
    • Yahtc says:
      November 8, 2013 at 12:25 pm

      racerrodig,

      I was wondering, too, if the UPS guy was Black.

      I hope the DOJ hears about this UPS incident.

      Reply
    • SouthernGirl2 says:
      November 8, 2013 at 12:29 pm

      Hi Racer!

      All of this information coming out after the trial makes me literally sick. The State deliberately threw the case. They had no intention of fully prosecuting the case. OMG! How could they? I don’t even want to look at Angela Corey or Bernie De la Rionda’s face. They didn’t give a damn about seeking justice for Trayvon.

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        November 8, 2013 at 1:02 pm

        Co-sign.

        Reply
      • SouthernGirl2 says:
        November 8, 2013 at 6:56 pm

        All who wanted to see justice for Trayvon were played. Angela Corey and Bernie saw the protests breaking out across the country and they put on a show pretending to seek justice in order to keep folks calm. The SYG law was at stake and they weren’t about to dismantle it over some black kid getting killed. I loathe Angela Corey. May God judge her for what she did.

        Reply

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