Zimmerman: Let there be thunder that makes the mountains tremble

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Good afternoon:

The defendant’s friend, Frank Taaffe, described the defendant’s state of mind the night that he stalked and killed Trayvon Martin.

He was mad as hell and he wasn’t going to take it anymore.

Given that Taaffe uttered this statement after he found out about the shooting, I believe we can reasonably assume that he believed the defendant pursued and confronted Trayvon with murder in mind.

Why did he believe that?

Why was the defendant so angry?

What was it that the defendant was not going to take anymore?

I have puzzled over Taaffe’s statement ever since I heard him say it.

Despite a lack of objective evidence that would support a belief that the gated neighborhood was besieged by burglars and thieves, the defendant appears to have believed that was actually happening, or he pushed that false narrative in hopes of creating a justification for the Homeowner’s Association to hire him to provide security.

He also appears to have believed that the burglars and thieves were Black and they always got away.

Frank Taaffe told us that the defendant was mad as hell about that and he was going to put an end to it.

The defendant said during the NEN call, “fucking coons,” and “these assholes, they always get away.”

This explains why he got out of his vehicle and hunted for Trayvon, ignoring the dispatcher’s request not to follow him.

Indeed, we can see by his actions that he was “mad as hell.” Acting as police officer, prosecutor, jury, judge and executioner the defendant decided that Trayvon was one “fucking coon,” one “asshole” who wasn’t going to get away.

A little over two minutes after the defendant ended the NEN call, after telling the dispatcher to have the officer call his cell phone when he arrived in the neighborhood, he hunted Trayvon down and shot him to death as Trayvon was telling Dee Dee about the creepy man who stalked and frightened him.

Trayvon never found out who he was or why he stalked and attacked him.

He died in the dark and cold rain begging for his life and shrieking in terror and disbelief.

Although Trayvon was a good kid, it would not have mattered if he were the Devil incarnate.

He was unarmed and he did nothing except try to escape from a creepy man who stalked him, first in a vehicle and then on foot.

The defense effort to demonize him and his family disgusts and infuriates me.

Demonizing Trayvon, even if successful, is not a defense and evidence of bad acts or character, assuming such evidence exists, is not admissible.

Defense counsel deserve harsh criticism and universal condemnation for pursuing this incredibly depraved and unnecessary course of action.

By attempting to exploit racial stereotypes and race-driven fear of Black males in a high publicity case, Mark O’Mara, Don West and everyone who supports what they do give us all a bad name.

Let there be thunder across this land that makes the mountains tremble,

Justice for Trayvon

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CNN article promotes racist description of Trayvon Martin case

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Thanks to all who participated in yesterday’s memorial to Trayvon Martin.

I write today to express disgust and dismay regarding this excuse for journalism by Steve Almasy of CNN, Zimmerman’s lawyer works to dispel racial overtones in Trayvon Martin case.

The focus of the piece is Mark O’Mara’s “struggle” to get people to pay attention to the evidence instead of racism.

Whatever the outcome of the Trayvon Martin case, it will be viewed less as a determination of the shooter’s guilt or innocence and more as a victory or loss for civil rights, George Zimmerman’s lawyer fears.

Mark O’Mara said he has been busy trying to dispel the racial overtones in the case by getting out more evidence about his client.

Thereafter, we get the usual he-said-she-said description of the case interspersed with O’Mara’s unchallenged mischaracterizations of the evidence followed up with this description of Benjamin Crump as a rabble rousing troublemaker pushing the race card.

O’Mara indicated at trial he will dissect the recording of Zimmerman’s 911 call and point to evidence of the wounds Zimmerman said he suffered that night.

“I believe, you know, again, the evidence is what it is and that’s for a jury to determine,” O’Mara said. “But a close reading or looking at that tape and all the evidence that followed, particularly George’s injuries and Trayvon’s lack of injuries but for the fatal gunshot, suggest that George did not begin the fight, did not continue the fight and actually was the victim of the attack rather than the other way around.”

But a lawyer for the Martins said the fight against “senseless gun violence” will continue.

“He went home and slept in his bed the night he killed Trayvon,” attorney Benjamin Crump said. “And that wasn’t equal justice.”

Crump then led a chant of “Hoodies up! Hoodies up!” at the vigil.

This false concoction is presented with a cherry on top in the form of the optically distorted and likely photoshopped digital photo of the defendant seated in the back seat of a patrol vehicle with a bump on his nose and blood on his mustache. CNN has no excuse for not knowing that the photo presents a false picture because the police photos taken at the station house a few hours later with a much better camera under good lighting show a barely visible injury with little or no swelling or distortion to the shape of the nose.

As all of us know, despite conceding that his client was the aggressor, O’Mara has been shoving his demonstrably false “bloody” photograph in front of every camera he can find in pursuit of his easy-to-disprove false narrative that the peaceful and nonviolent Trayvon for no apparent reason attacked and attempted to kill the defendant with his bare hands in the middle of his phone conversation with his girlfriend after successfully running away from the defendant who had been stalking him in a vehicle and then on foot contrary to a police dispatcher’s warning.

The simple truth is this defendant has no defense and the only mystery in this case is why anyone believes that the he did not hunt, confront, and murder Trayvon Martin for the heinous crime of walking while Black in the rain with his hoodie up.

I said long ago and I will repeat it today:

Anyone who believes the defendant is innocent is a racist and anyone who contributes money to his defense is a stupid racist.

Let there be no mistake: Although he claims otherwise, Mark O’Mara and his client are deliberately appealing to racial hatred and fear of young Black males to literally get away with murder.

That is what this case is all about and shame on CNN for not reporting the truth.

Trayvon Martin’s Murder Forces Us To Confront Racism

Thursday, December 27, 2012

I realized the defendant was lying when I first read his narrative about the shooting.

Why?

Because I believe it’s extremely unlikely that an unarmed person would flee from a menacing stranger following him and, after successfully getting away, voluntarily approach, engage and attempt to beat that stranger to death with his bare hands.

That story is ridiculous. It made no sense to me when I first read it and it makes no sense to me now.

With two exceptions, I never have understood why anyone would believe that ridiculous story.

As a former criminal defense attorney and law professor, I certainly understand, support and believe in the presumption of innocence. I trained myself to think that way and always searched for the weaknesses in the prosecution’s case against my clients. I had no problem exploiting those vulnerabilities for the benefit of my clients. I suspect that most of the lawyers and law professors who have publicly supported the defendant did so from the perspective of presuming that he spoke the truth.

Since I no longer practice or teach law, I believe I can evaluate this case from a more objective perspective.

I cannot and will not presume that an obvious bullshit story is the truth.

I have reviewed all of the evidence released to the public to date and I have not found any evidence that supports the defendant’s story. Instead, his multiple inconsistent and contradictory statements conflict with the physical and forensic evidence. In fact, he has admitted that he shot and killed Trayvon Martin after he had him under control with a wrist lock. He said he pulled out his gun, extended his right arm, aimed to avoid shooting his left hand, and fired the single shot that killed Trayvon Martin. The terrified, prolonged and desperate shriek protesting the depraved execution that was about to occur finally and forever was silenced by the gunshot.

No one is going to believe that the defendant uttered that inhuman shriek with a loaded gun in his hand.

I feel obliged to remind my former colleagues that the presumption of innocence does not require them to blindly accept a liar’s story and actively defend that liar by supporting his effort to demonize an innocent victim and his parents. I am offended, horrified and disgusted by the unrelenting attacks on Trayvon, his family and their supporters. I have no respect for anyone who participates in or supports those attacks, including members of the mainstream media who publicize them, and by so doing, legitimize them.

Enough is enough.

We do not need or want to hear any more lying racist Zimmermans polluting the news.

The Trayvon Martin murder case is much more than a set of hypothetical facts to be discussed in a classroom. It is a real case involving real people and I think our responses to this tragedy reveal much about ourselves as individuals and as a society.

For example, in order to believe the defendant’s story, one would have to believe that Trayvon Martin acted like a stereotypical Black Gangsta thug in a Hollywood action movie. Would any Caucasian person believe the defendant’s story, if the person he killed were Caucasian?

Is it not easier for Caucasians to believe his story because the victim is Black?

I believe we would not have heard about this case, if Trayvon Martin had been a Caucasian kid. The defendant would have been arrested and jailed that first night. He would have been charged with second degree murder and prosecuted without any of the publicity and controversy that we have seen.

The most important lesson of this case is that racism is alive and well in our nation. The defendant’s characterization of Trayvon Martin presents each one of us with a litmus test. Those who accept and believe what he said are failing the litmus test and seriously need to ask themselves why they were so willing to believe such an obvious lie.

Those who continue to believe the defendant in the face of overwhelming evidence that he is a liar may be beyond help.

We live in a racist society and nothing will change unless we admit that we do and we commit to ending racism. As always, the self is the place to start changing society.

Trayvon Martin will not have died in vain if his death becomes the rallying point for a systematic, determined and prolonged effort to once and for all eliminate racism in our society.

Unless we succeed, we will remain a racist and failed society.

Zimmerman: Malisha Cuts to the Chase Exposing O’Mara’s Pitch to Racists for Money

I am featuring Malisha today. She has a special way of piercing the veil revealing the truth behind it that makes me want to stand-up and cheer.

In this comment at 3:01 am today, she takes on Mark O’Mara’s pitch for money:

O’Mara doesn’t say, “If you believe George Zimmerman and you believe it was self-defense, send money,” he says, “If you would have done what he did.”

Why would anybody believe George if they never met him? “If you would have done what he did…”?

So, would that include:

If you would have thought Trayvon was suspicious because he was walking in the rain.

If you would have thought Trayvon was “up to no good” because he was “just lookin’ about.”

If you would have thought “somethin’ was wrong with him” because he wasn’t an athlete training hard in the rainfall. (Why should anybody walking along have to be an athlete, may I ask?)

If you would have said, “These assholes, they always get away.”

If you would have said, “Fucking punks.”

If you would have gotten out of your vehicle to give chase.

If you would have continued your pursuit after the dispatcher told you, “We don’t need you to do that, OK?”

If you would have answered, “No, man, I don’t have a problem” rather than saying, with your hands in the air to show that you weren’t threatening, “No, man, I don’t have any problem with you, just wanted to check on you because I’m with the Neighborhood Watch Group here and we check out folks we don’t recognize…are you new to this area?”

If you would have failed to take the reasonable step right then if you felt Trayvon was threatening to YOU, that is, stepped BACK three feet or so and drawn your gun, saying: I’m armed, don’t move, the police are on their way.”

If you would have made every single stupid move (or every single aggressive, threatening, thuggish move, if he was doing all this on purpose and not just stupidly) that George would have made that night, resulting in his killing an unarmed teen-ager, and:

IF YOU WOULD HAVE GONE ON HANNITY AND SAID THAT YOU DID NOT REGRET A SINGLE THING YOU DID THAT NIGHT,

Then, by all means, send money. Because if George gets convicted, you will have to live in a world where you realize, to your dismay, that YOU TOO are subject to law and order in this country, that NEITHER GEORGE NOR YOU are not free EITHER to go kill some kid you don’t like and get away with it. So send lots of money. Protect yourself from having that terrible feeling that you’re not FREE to KILL and LIE and DISRESPECT and GET AWAY WITH IT.

Thanks, Malisha for all that you do. Keep speaking out because you speak the truth and your voice is needed in these troubled times.

Pimping the Conservative Treehouse Crazies for Money is Morally and Ethically Reprehensible.

Zimmerman: Defense Motion for Prophylactic Sequestration of Witnesses Reaches a New Low

Brandi Kansas City posted this comment at 6:42 pm to my post titled, Zimmerman: Representing Him and the Inevitable Question: My God, What Have I Become?

She said,

“O’Mara filed this emergency motion can you tell me how it constitutes an emergency. If not would it be an example of him trying the case in the public?”

The motion is titled Emergency Motion for a Protective Order/Prophylactic Sequestration of Witnesses Prior to Defense Deposition.

My Answer

I believe this is an example of trying the case in the Court of Public Opinion because I have a problem with this motion and the way it was handled.

First, O’Mara is revealing the opinions of cops overseeing an investigation. Their opinions are irrelevant and inadmissible. The evidence is whatever it is and it alone constitutes probable cause to believe a crime was committed or it does not.

Second, revealing their opinions in a motion is an underhanded way of creating an excuse to publicize that they opposed charging Zimmerman with a crime.

Third, if they were genuinely concerned about a need to order witnesses to not collaborated with each other, they should have filed the motion under seal.

Fourth, it would have been in the best interest of the defense to have the witnesses collaborate with each other so that they all objected to filing criminal charges, but that sounds like what they were going to do anyway. Therefore, there was no need for the relief he sought in the order.

For all of these reasons, seems pretty obvious to me that the real purpose of the motion was to publicize what should have been kept private; namely, that the brass did not want to charge Zimmerman.

As so often happens with this case, however, the defense effort to publicize information backfires. It will backfire here because the evidence is so strong that it makes the brass look like a bunch of coconspirators plotting to let George Zimmerman get away with murder.

It becomes ever more clear to me with each passing day that the defense is desperately trying to publicize and thereby win this case in the Seminole County Court of Public Opinion, as opposed to the rest of the country or the world. The defense, in effect, appears to be trying to poison the well of prospective jurors, many of whom are extremely conservative, by publicizing irrelevant and inadmissible information that is calculated to appeal to White conservatives and their racist fear of Blacks.

In simple words, they want a jury with 6 KKK members determined to acquit George Zimmerman, regardless of the evidence and, if they can’t get 6 KKK members, they want 6 White conservatives with the same racist outlook and intention.

I do not want a gag order because I have a selfish desire to keep up with the case developments. A gag order would prevent that.

Nevertheless, I am increasingly concerned that the possibility for a fair and impartial jury is diminishing due to what the defense is doing. It needs to stop and the court needs to do something to make it stop. I think there are other things the court can do short of a gag order, possibly involving the use or threatened use of its contempt power, but enough is enough and the sooner the court acts, the better.

Finally, I was struck by the use of the term “prophylactic sequestration.” I am tempted to run with it and make fun of it, but I am going to resist the bait and simply condemn it as a theatrical trick to grab attention.

This is a really low class and undignified move that further lowers my opinion of the defense effort in this case.

Zimmerman Made Race an Issue with his False Description of Trayvon Martin

The Orlando Sentinel reports today that Mark O’Mara has filed motions in the Zimmerman case seeking,

“records from the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local law-enforcement agencies that would reveal whether investigators found that Zimmerman was motivated by race or acted to deprive Trayvon of his civil rights.”

He claims that he filed these motions because he wants to eliminate race as an issue in this case. Apparently, he believes those law enforcement agencies have no such evidence and will admit that they do not, thereby ending speculation that George Zimmerman is a racist who profiled and killed Trayvon Martin because he is Black.

“In an unusually long blog post Wednesday, O’Mara wrote that if race is a factor in this case, it’s not because of Zimmerman — it’s because Sanford police did not make an immediate arrest.

“While it can be safely argued that it is largely the question of civil rights issues that has made the George Zimmerman case a national — and international — story, there is nothing to support the contention of racism in the Zimmerman case,” O’Mara wrote.

“… race should not be a factor in the George Zimmerman case and should never have been made one,” he concluded. “The Zimmerman defense team is not arguing against civil rights. We are defending a man who claims he shot and killed an attacker in necessary self-defense.”

O’Mara’s claim is nonsense. Race is an issue in this case because George Zimmerman made it an issue when he used a negative racial stereotype to describe Trayvon Martin in an effort to justify killing him in self-defense.

Trayvon Martin had just celebrated his 17th birthday. He was a kid walking home in the rain from an errand to a 7/11 store where he purchased Skittles and a can of iced tea. He was minding his own business talking to his girlfriend when Zimmerman spotted him and started following him first in a vehicle and then on foot. Martin panicked, ran away, and attempted to hide from him, but Zimmerman hunted him down contrary to a request by the SPD NEN dispatcher’s request. Then he shot and killed Martin during a struggle by shooting him at close range in the heart, despite knowing that police were on their way. Martin was unarmed and Zimmerman has admitted to having control of Martin with a wristlock before he pulled out his gun, aimed, and fired.

To escape legal responsibility for this murder, Zimmerman reversed the actual facts claiming that Martin hunted him down, despite having successfully eluded him, sucker-punched in the nose, and jumped on top of him raining down blows MMA-style while uttering B-movie Black gangsta-speak from the late 80s and 90s, and then he grabbed his head and repeatedly slammed it against a concrete sidewalk until he nearly lost consciousness. On the verge of losing consciousness, Zimmerman suddenly remembered he had a gun, unholstered it, and shot him to death.

Zimmerman and O’Mara ask us to believe this racist stereotype despite Zimmerman’s lack of injuries that are consistent with his description of what happened and forensic evidence that refutes it. He would have us believe that, while in mid-conversation with his girlfriend, Trayvon suddenly attacked him without bothering to arm himself with a weapon.

To believe Zimmerman, one must suspend disbelief and see Trayvon Martin as some sort of super Black gangsta that only exists in dated B movies.

Sorry, but I am not buying what O’Mara is selling. Zimmerman cannot credibly claim that he is not responsible for injecting race into this case when he is the person who is attempting to escape responsibility for murder by claiming he had to kill in self-defense because Trayvon Martin was some sort of super Black gangsta that only exists in dated B movies.

BTW, no one should hold their breath expecting “the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and local law-enforcement agencies,” to fall over each other in an effort to tell everyone that they have concluded that George Zimmerman is not a racist. O’Mara will get the discovery to which he is entitled as it is released and no special accommodation will be made for this request.

Because I believe he should know this, I assume this is yet another effort to try his case in the court of public opinion instead of a courtroom and yet another sign that he is not ready for prime time.

Zimmerman Requests Martin’s School Records and Social Media Accounts

The Orlando Sentinel has reported today:

Zimmerman’s defense has asked for subpoenas for records from the teenager’s middle and high schools, as well as his Twitter and Facebook accounts. A hearing has been set for Oct. 19.

Zimmerman, 29, fatally shot the Miami Gardens 17-year-old Feb. 26 in Sanford. Authorities allege he profiled and pursued the teen.

Zimmerman says he fired in self-defense after Trayvon attacked him. Zimmerman’s defense is also asking for a continuance. In a motion, the defense team writes that “at least 50-75” witness depositions must be completed in the case before it will be ready for trial.

In a third new motion, O’Mara asked to be allowed to review the court’s copy of a recorded law-enforcement interview of a woman identified as “Witness 9.” That witness, in two interviews made public in the case already, accused Zimmerman of disliking black people and of molesting her when they were both young.

O’Mara writes in his motion that the state failed several times to provide him with a working copy of a third Witness 9 interview, and he wants to know whether Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. received a bad copy, too. Zimmerman “requests the opportunity to review, with the court, the recordings … to ascertain whether or not the Court received an accurate recording as finally disclosed by the State … or if the Court received an inaccurate or inaudible recording, as the defense has received up until” the latest evidence exchange on Sept. 19.

Global Grind reports that Benjamin Crump said the request is irrelevant.

“Trayvon’s parents maintain that his school records and Facebook page are completely irrelevant to George Zimmerman’s decision to get out of his car to profile, pursue, and shoot their son in the heart on February 26, 2012.

How does George Zimmerman’s review of Trayvon Martin’s high school and middle school records and Facebook page bear any relevance to Zimmerman’s decision to pull the trigger and kill a seventeen year old child? Is this going to be a new legal standard we are setting- for a murderer to review the school records and Facebook page of his teenage victim to determine whether or not he should have killed him?”

After Trayvon’s death, there was a small group of hateful and racist people, who attempted to destroy his legacy, reputation, and image.

These people hacked this dead youth’s social media accounts, his email account, and stooped as low as to plaster the internet with photoshopped and fake images purporting to be Trayvon.

On the advice of counsel, and with the intent to preserve Trayvon’s public reputation, Trayvon Martin’s parents deactivated all of his electronic accounts.”

I have previously written that the rules of evidence permit the defense to introduce evidence that Trayvon was an aggressive bully, assuming such evidence exists, to support Zimmerman’s claim that Trayvon was the aggressor. However, specific instances of misconduct would not be admissible. Instead, the evidence would have to be limited to stating the character trait.

I do not believe such evidence exists and I suspect O’Mara knows that. Since he appears to be determined to try the case in the court of public opinion, I fear that his real motive is to obtain the records to post them on the internet. This would further publicize the recent suspension for the trace amount of marijuana detected in his backpack and the earlier report about some jewelry and a screwdriver that were found in his backpack. No criminal charges were filed in either case and the evidence would not be admissible at trial for any purpose.

If O’Mara finds some evidence that Trayvon was an aggressive bully and he introduces it at trial, he will open the door for the prosecution to introduce similar type evidence regarding Zimmerman, which we know exists.

The hearing will be before Judge Debra Nelson on Friday, October 19, 2012.

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Thank you.

George Michael Zimmerman and the Thirteen Commandments of Criminal Defense

The First Commandment of Criminal Defense is thou canst not create a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, no matter how good you are. Some cases are dead-bang losers and you must be able to identify and dispose of them, if at all possible, without going to trial. That usually involves a plea bargain and a guilty plea.

There are two kind of plea bargains: charge bargains where charges are dropped or reduced in exchange for a guilty plea, and sentencing bargains where the prosecutor agrees to recommend a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.

You should be prepared to take a case to trial, if the prosecutor is unwilling to give your client a benefit in exchange for pleading guilty. The prosecutor must know that you are willing to do that or you will not get the best deal for your client.

The Second Commandment is thou shalt not fail to use your independent judgment and act in the best interests of your client. The relationship must be a professional one, not a codependent one. It is not a friendship of equals.

Your client hired you, or you were appointed to represent him, because you are a professional with the requisite knowledge and skill to do the job. Because of that knowledge and skill, which your client does not have, and your duty to use your independent judgment, you must be the boss in the relationship.

I can think of no better example of a difficult and self-destructive client than George Zimmerman. Four words illustrate the disaster that can happen when the lawyer permits the client to make the decisions:

The Shawn Hannity Interview.

If you cannot control your client, thou shalt withdraw from the case.

The Third Commandment is thou shalt not fail to do everything within your power to silence your client because the prosecution can use everything he says about the case against him.

If you cannot shut him up, thou shalt withdraw from the case.

The Fourth Commandment is thou shalt not fail to keep your client well informed about the facts and legal issues in the case. Just because you are the boss does not mean you are God. Keeping your client well informed and up to date is the best way to build trust and manage the attorney-client relationship.

The Fifth Commandment is thou shalt not assume that your client is telling you the truth. He might be and he might not be. Whether he is or not is not your responsibility or duty to determine. Nevertheless, consistent with your duties to keep your client informed and to be diligent and thorough, you do have a duty to inform your client about any contradictions and inconsistencies between his statement(s) and the evidence.

The Sixth Commandment is thou shalt not try your case in the court of public opinion. Nothing good can result, if you do. Two words summarize this rule beautifully:

Mark O’Mara

The Seventh Commandment is thou shalt not ask a question on cross examination unless you know the answer.

The Eighth Commandment is thou shalt never ask a question on cross examination that cannot be answered with a “yes” or a “no.”

The Ninth Commandment is thou shalt not encourage your client to testify unless it is absolutely necessary. Nothing good can come of it. Three words summarize this rule:

George Michael Zimmerman

The Tenth Commandment is thou shalt know forensic science well enough to spot issues, ask intelligent questions and choose qualified and credible expert witnesses.

The Eleventh Commandment is thou shalt not rely on the police to investigate your case. You must always work with an investigator.

The Twelfth Commandment is thou shalt always file a discovery motion requesting a prosecution witness list with a list of prior convictions of record for each witness and disclosure of any agreements with any witness to confer a benefit of any kind on the witness in exchange for the cooperation and/or testimony of the witness; all police investigation reports; witness statements; forensic reports and bench notes; your client’s statements, together with a list of all searches and seizures and an inventory of all property seized; and any exculpatory evidence, including impeachment evidence, in the possession, custody or control of the police and prosecution.

The defense has the burden of proving self-defense by a preponderance of the evidence at the immunity hearing. Therefore, it will go first.

Zimmerman’s statements to police and others are inadmissible hearsay, unless they are not offered to prove the truth of the matters asserted in the statements. Therefore, Zimmerman would have to testify to have any chance to win the immunity hearing.

If he testifies, however, the prosecution will have an opportunity to confront him with all of his prior inconsistent statements. That might take several days and could get downright ugly eliminating any chance of winning the immunity hearing. His predicament can be summarized in nine words.

Damned if you do and damned if you don’t

O’Mara might want to consider waiving the hearing, since he cannot win it and can only further damage Zimmerman’s credibility and standing in the court of public opinion, if he goes forward with it.

The burden of proof will switch back to the prosecution at the trial where it will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman did not reasonably fear imminent death or serious injury when he shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

I italicized “reasonably” because the test is objective, not subjective. That is, he must not only believe he is in imminent danger of death or serious injury, his belief must be reasonable.

Satisfying that burden should be easy since Zimmerman admitted to Serino that he had Martin under control with a wrist lock before he pulled his gun and shot him. He also admitted to the investigator who administered the voice stress test that, after he grabbed his gun, he extended his arm beyond his left hand to avoid shooting it, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Assuming for the sake of argument that he believed he was in imminent danger of suffering death or serious injury, and I do not think the evidence supports that conclusion, his own words establish that his belief was not reasonable.

Even if Martin punched him repeatedly in the head with his fists and then he gripped Zimmerman’s head and slammed it repeatedly against the cement sidewalk, Zimmerman was no longer in any danger because he had Martin under control first with the wrist lock and then at gunpoint. Although his injuries bled copiously, they were not serious and he did not have to shoot Martin, much less kill him.

Moreover, he knew the police were en route and would arrive within moments, which they did. The evincing-a-depraved-mind-indifferent-to-human-life element is established by the unreasonable and unnecessary shooting.

There is no doubt that he intended to kill Martin because, as he said, he aimed and the shot went direct from front to back exploding the right ventricle and collapsing both lungs.

In the final analysis, Zimmerman’s own words convict him and all of the hullabaloo regarding whether Martin was a Super Bad Black Gangsta From Hell or the Second Coming of Jesus was totally irrelevant.

The truth is Martin was a good kid minding his own business that night.

The evidence will establish beyond a reasonable that the only thug out and about that rainy night in February was a burly armed vigilante who fancied himself to be the Sheriff at the Retreat.

His name is George Michael Zimmerman.

I will now close this essay with the Thirteenth Commandment:

Thou shalt not play the race card or trash the character of the victim of a homicide or other violent crime, such as a rape or an assault, when the victim is a child, in order to escape responsibility for committing the crime. The best example I can think of consists of three words:

George Michael Zimmerman

So let it be written

So let it be done.

(H/T to Logi for pointing out Zimmerman’s statement to Serino admitting that he had wrist control of Martin before pulling his gun and shooting him)

Zimmerman: The Case of the Useless Press Conference

Mark O’Mara raised expectations late last week with an announcement that he would have an important announcement to make Monday morning and would follow it up with a press conference.

Having raised expectations, he effectively dashed them with a bucket of ice cold water early Monday afternoon when he announced that he was filing for a writ of prohibition in the Court of Appeals to get Judge Lester off the case.

Nothing surprising about this continuing foolishness to unseat the judge who dared not praise George Zimmerman and his partner in perjury, Shellie Zimmerman.

The motion to disqualify did not pass the straight-face test and this latest effort does not even merit a yawn.

Why did he do it?

The only reason I can think of is that he’s still trolling for dollars from anyone still willing to contribute money so that George and Shellie can continue to live in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Therefore, we had to endure yet another repetition of the absurd self-defense claim and lives-in-danger nonsense that is growing tiresome and old.

Absolute waste of time.

I said long ago that only a racist would believe that an innocent 17-year-old boy walking home in the rain talking to his girlfriend, after walking to the store to buy his little brother some Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea, would suddenly for no apparent reason go psycho, start speaking in 10-20 year-old ghetto slang and B-movie dialect, attack, and attempt to kill with his bare hands an older menacing man following him who outweighed him by more than 40 pounds and whom he had successfully eluded by running away and hiding.

I’ll say it again.

Anyone who believes George Zimmerman is a racist.

Anyone who contributes money to his continuing dog-and-pony show is a racist and stupid.

Zimmerman: A Spectacular Fail!

Watt4Bob at Firedoglake posted a comment to my article, Should Mark O’Mara Withdraw as Counsel for George Zimmerman? He asked the following question, which probably is on most everyone’s mind this morning after the Sean Hannity interview of George Zimmerman last night.

I want to ask both Hannity and O’Mara what the hell good they think they did for that pathetic man, but I realize neither of them gives a damn and GZ is oblivious.

I can answer that question with three words:

EXPLOITATION. FOR. MONEY.

I am furious.

I cannot imagine myself, or any criminal defense attorney whom I respect, ever, under any set of circumstances, short of cardiac arrest, loss of consciousness or death, sitting passively beside my client as he denies any regret for killing an unarmed teenager, or anyone else for that matter, because it was “God’s plan” for him to die.

And to follow that statement with an “apology” to the kid’s parents in which he says he’s sorry they had to bury their child because he knows what it would be like to lose one of his as yet unborn children is . . . well,

What is it?

And all of this was delivered in a soft monotonous voice without any detectable trace of emotion as though he were describing doing the laundry.

Are there words that capture the depravity and emptiness of that shell of a human being?

If any of you were concerned whether the prosecution could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin while acting with a depraved mind,, you need not worry any longer.

The prosecution must be drinkin’ the bubbly and dancin’ in the street.

I assure y’all, no client of mine would ever have said anything like that on national television with me present because I would have done something, anything, even ripped off my clothes and mooned Amerika in all my naked glory, just to shut him up.

And this appears to have been scripted.

Jesus Christ on a bicycle.

Can there be any doubt who is calling the shots for the defense?

George Zimmerman is representing himself with Mark O’Mara dancing to his tune while playing the role of his attorney.

If anyone still believes George Zimmerman is not a devious and manipulative person, please listen to this audio recording of a jailhouse telephone call when he called right-wing Pastor Terry Jones of let’s-all-of-us-sinners-party-on-the-lawn-burnin’-Korans fame to pray with him for the healing of America and ask him to cancel a pro-Zimmerman demonstration to calm people down.

Hell, listen to it anyway.

Just for the halibut.

(h/t to Crazy1946 @ my website for spotting this recorded conversation and posting a comment about it)