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<p>Nope, she’s just pretty hilarious. If you can’t laugh during a murder trial, when can you laugh?</p>
<p>“But seemingly if TM had been doing this there would be DNA evidence on his hands. And probably bruised or bleeding knuckles. But there wasn’t.”</p>
<p>Not, true. The autopsy showed that Martin had injuries to his knuckles.</p>
<p>“There is a huge difference between analyzing the facts first hand as they are presented to you in a courtroom and embellishing/guessing/assuming/filling in the blanks with imagination on an anonymous forum. Remember, different news sources report with various bias slants and like to take blips out of information to suit their bias. Be careful when using a few news sources rather than an a wide variety of news sources when using the info to support/create an opinion.”</p>
<p>Rather than listening to news sources - I have heard “experts” make false statements about this case more than once - why not go to the primary sources? All of Zimmerman’s police interviews, “stress test,” walkthough, etc., are available online. Much of the forensic data is available online. There is also a well-established timeline based on Zimmerman’s NEN calls, Trayvon’s cell phone calls, and the multiple 911 calls. Comparing Zimmerman’s stories to these timelines yields some impossibilities. </p>
<p>The state also introduced video footage from the clubhouse. Those videos have also been available online for months. Some patient souls have watched all the footage from the multiple cameras and thought they saw various things. I am not sure what the prosecution is going to use this for.</p>
<p>So it’s not necessary to rely on biased and careless news sources at all.</p>
<p>“So the witness who earlier claimed (as widely quoted by the Zimmerman defenders) that he saw Martin raining blows on Zimmerman, MMA style, now admits that he didn’t actually see Martin throw a single punch?”</p>
<p>This witness recanted his “MMA style” claims a long time ago. Now we learn that Z is the one who had been learning MMA, 9 hours a week, for 18 months.</p>
<p>“As to 7, if someone is smashing your head against concrete such that you think your head will explode and pass out as Zimmerman claims, I think you can argue you fear for your life. Zimmerman does not have to prove this. The prosecutor has to prove Zimmerman didn’t fear for his life. That’s going to be tough to do based on the evidence so far.”</p>
<p>I don’t think so. Zimmerman’s accounts of the shooting are inconsistent with forensic data, the timeline, and the laws of physics. He has already been caught and penalized heavily for lying to the court.</p>
<p>calmom: “I’d just add that it’s important to keep in mind that the jury will almost certainly be given the option to convict on the lesser charge of manslaughter. Under Florida law, with enhancements for using a gun and for the death of a minor, the penalties for manslaughter are quite severe, but the jury won’t be told what the penalties are.”</p>
<p>I’ve read that the minimum sentence for manslaughter is the same as for 2nd degree murder (25 years) because of the circumstances.</p>
<p>So are we to believe that Martin got the injuries to his knuckles from Zimmerman bashing them with his face?</p>
<p>Newhope: “nysmile - Perhaps you missed this. GZ wasn’t patrolling his neighborhood that Sunday night. He was headed out to do some shopping at Target. With a loaded gun. With a round in the chamber. We don’t know what GZ was thinking that night. But we do know he felt it appropriate to have a gun in “back alley mode” while shopping at Target. Not illegal … but pretty out there. So forgive us for wondering how much of his OTHER behavior that night was “pretty out there.” Elevating TM from “suspicious” to suspect? Exiting his vehicle to follow TM? Ignoring police instructions? Giving contradictory explanations to police after the shootings? Trying to hide assets from the Court? These are just the things we know about.”</p>
<p>Yes. And add to those these other things that we know. Zimmerman was a wannabe cop. He was 28 years old. I’m sure he’d unsuccessfully applied to some departments. He probably didn’t meet the academic requirements. Around here, at least, even for our small village police department, the minimum is an associate’s degree or military service. I happened to catch some of the testimony of one of the officers who came to the shooting scene (and tried to revive Trayvon). He had not only military service but a master’s degree in some relevant field. Zimmerman graduated a couple of places from the absolute bottom of his large HS class. He had been going to CC but failing some courses, and he did not graduate (although he went to graduation and allowed his friends to throw a party for him). He was not looking at much of a future and must have been quite frustrated.</p>
<p>He had a chance to be a hero when he chased a robber in a mall parking lot, and held him until the police came. I think he was trying to repeat this experience. Notice his conversation at the police department with the female officer. He asks her if she’d ever had to kill someone. She says no, and he says something about people probably respecting her authority. I think Trayvon did not show him the respect he thought he deserved (although he admits that he never identified himself in any way).</p>
<p>He also has an anger problem and was on a cocktail of prescription drugs. He had been arrested for assaulting a police officer. The charge was dismissed after he did an anger management course. There was a restraining order placed on him by a former girlfriend (he also put one on her). He lost his job as a bouncer when he threw a woman across the room in a fit of rage. </p>
<p>So I think that he was trying to detain Trayvon until the police got there, and shot him in anger and frustration when Trayvon did not cooperate.</p>
<p>And he referred to Trayvon as “the suspect” multiple times in his written statement about the shooting.</p>
<p>“Now we learn that Z is the one who had been learning MMA, 9 hours a week, for 18 months.”</p>
<p>Is learning MMA a crime?</p>
<p>“Not, true. The autopsy showed that Martin had injuries to his knuckles.”</p>
<p>You are wrong. There were no injuries to Trayvon’s knuckles. He had a small abrasion (1/4" x 1/8") on one finger of his non-dominant hand, NOT on the knuckle. That is the extent of his injuries except, of course, for the devastation from Zimmerman’s bullet.</p>
<p>Zimmerman’s hands were also completely uninjured. So I guess he didn’t make much of an attempt to fight back when he was being viciously beaten to within an inch of his life, except for using his gun.</p>
<p>“Is learning MMA a crime?”</p>
<p>No. Of course not. </p>
<p>It is ironic that Zimmerman was learning MMA, when (1) Trayvon was initially accused of raining blows down on Zimmerman “MMA-style” (by a witness who later recanted) and (2) a lot of effort was expended in a search for proof that Trayvon engaged in MMA-fighting. Videos were put online, that were supposed to show Trayvon fighting. The problem is that they were not of Trayvon.</p>
<p>So MMA is an issue in the case.</p>
<p>“So MMA is an issue in the case.”</p>
<p>It may be ironic that Zimmerman was learning MMA, but how is it an issue?</p>
<p>Close your hand and look at your fist. Do you think a cut on your finger could result in bloody knuckles?</p>
<p>“He also has an anger problem and was on a cocktail of prescription drugs.”</p>
<p>Martin’s autopsy showed an illegal drug in his system.</p>
<p>“So I think that he was trying to detain Trayvon until the police got there, and shot him in anger and frustration when Trayvon did not cooperate.”</p>
<p>So where’s your proof of this theory?</p>
<p>But how does this fight even start if Zimmerman either listens to the 911 dispatcher and does not get out of his car to follow Trayvon, or does not run after him when he starts to run away? How did Trayvon Martin find himself being confronted by Zimmerman? How did Zimmrrman find himself confronted by Martin, if he actually did. Given Z’s aggressive behavior, why would we think he was the one being attacked? Occam’s razor says Zimmerman instigated the confrontation. Given that he began by setting off after this young man, we know he is the one to start it all. I just can’t figure out how we are now speculating as to who started what.</p>
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<p>Under Florida law, if the person killed was under age 18, the crime is aggravated manslaughter - a second degree felony, which carries a term of imprisonment “not to exceed 15 years”. I don’t know what the minimum would be. A conviction of second degree murder carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment.</p>
<p>“Given Z’s aggressive behavior, why would we think he was the one being attacked?”</p>
<p>Perhaps one would think that Zimmerman was attacked based on these photos.</p>
<p>[Trayvon</a> Martin killer George Zimmerman has bloody lip in new photo of fateful night - NY Daily News](<a href=“National News - New York Daily News”>Trayvon Martin killer George Zimmerman has bloody lip in new photo of fateful night)</p>
<p>[New</a> photo shows George Zimmerman?s head bloodied after Trayvon Martin?s death* - NY Daily News](<a href=“National News - New York Daily News”>New photo shows George Zimmerman’s head bloodied after Trayvon Martin’s death )</p>
<p>So a bloody lip is reason to use deadly force? Honestly? I find it ridiculous that a man whose first recourse was to a gun in the middle of a fistfight he so desperately wanted, was allowed to carry a loaded weapon. I hit you for following me down the street and you shoot me?! And this is self defense? He should have just stayed in the car.</p>
<p>Zimmerman shot Martin because Martin was beating him and he feared for his life.</p>
<p>Zimmerman fully cooperated with the police, and after their investigation of the the incident, they had no probable cause to arrest him.</p>
<p>Charges were filed only after the prosecutor bowed to political pressure.</p>
<p>Really? The son of a judge was let off after one of the original investigators recommended he be charged, and you believe there was only one variety of political pressure being brought to the situation? That is wildly naive</p>
<p>The president took sides on this case from the very beginning and the media exploited this sad story using dated pictures of an angelic looking Martin and doctoring the 911 tape to make Zimmerman look like a racist.</p>