Update to the George Zimmerman case

Good day all. It’s been a while since anyone, (or myself), has looked at the travesty of justice known as the Persecution of George Zimmerman.

First a quick refresher. Last February, there was a confrontation between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. Most of the details are available on other sites. Basically, Zimmerman spotted Martin skulking around and started following him while calling the police. As he was talking to the police, he apparently lost sight of Martin and headed back to his car.

Martin apparently also lost sight of Zimmerman, then spotted him as Zimmerman was heading back to his car. Both people were on cellphones. Zimmerman was on the phone to the police and Martin was on the phone to his girlfriend. Martin came up on Zimmerman and apparently said “Why are you following me? (Recall, Zimmerman was no longer doing so at this point), Zimmerman replied by asking what Martin was doing there?

At this point Martin hit Zimmerman, knocked him down and started pummeling him. Zimmerman was licensed to carry a gun and drew it and fired at Martin, killing him. Originally, police said this was a justified shooting, but the Progressive Race hustlers got involved and demanded that Zimmerman be charged with murder. The state of Florida caved in and appointed a special prosecutor named Angela Corey. There have been questions into Ms. Corey’s professionalism ((Ron Littlepage: Angela Corey’s hissy fits, threats unprofessional)).

There has also been a problem with the release of exculpatory information to the defense team. Well another shoe dropped the other day. Here are the details from Fox News:

The attorney for George Zimmerman said he is “frustrated” that prosecutors withheld a color photo of the Florida gunman that could bolster his case that Zimmerman was being beaten when he shot Trayvon Martin.

The graphic photo of Zimmerman, taken the night of his fateful confrontation with Florida teen Trayvon Martin, shows the accused murderer with a bloody face. Zimmerman’s legal team released the photo, which was taken by police, after prosecutors substituted it in for a black and white photocopy that had been submitted earlier.

I’m not going to repost the picture. It’s on Fox and will appear all over the net soon enough. Suffice to say, Zimmerman has blood all over his face and it looks like his nose was broken. This is in addition to the head injuries that were shown in an earlier picture that the prosecutor tried to keep away from the defense.

“I get frustrated when certain evidence gets out and other evidence is withheld,” said Mark O’Mara, attorney for Zimmerman, 29, who faces murder charges in the Feb. 26 death of Martin, 17. “The photo is not a game-changer, but it is significant.

“If I had had that picture in my hand on April 11 …,” he said, referring to the date when Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder.

What Mr. O’Mara is saying, is this and other evidence, which pretty much backs up what Zimmerman has been saying all along, should have been available to him when he first had to go into court.

Florida rules governing discovery require that original photos be submitted, but O’Mara says that the discovery phase has been rife with issues.

“It just seems like it’s been pulling teeth for discovery in this case,” he said. “This case is the opposite of any I’ve normally taken. Usually,discovery is dumped on your desk, because it’s normally good for [the prosecution]. They usually try to shove it down your throat.”

I suspect the reason for this is simple. They know and have always known that this was a clear cut case of self defense and that Zimmerman was facing a good chance of being killed by Martin. Since this is a politically motivated prosecution, it’s in the interests of the prosecutors to hide as much exculpatory evidence as they can.

Zimmerman’s lawyers said the photocopy of the image was provided by the prosecutors in the first round of discovery. The high-resolution digital file was finally provided to the defense on Oct. 29, and defense attorneys have said they will make all public documents related to the case available on their website.

As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant, and the defense has to do whatever they can within the law to help their client. Since it seems that he is actually innocent of the charges, letting people see the evidence is a good thing. Of course, the Prosecutors don’t agree.

Prosecutors had asked for the gag order, claiming a website and social media used by Zimmerman’s attorney could influence potential jurors in the racially charged case.

Yes, they don’t want to put anyone on a jury who might actually understand that Martin started the fight, and was smashing Zimmerman’s face into the dirt or something.

Other experts questioned the withholding of the photo.

“This borders on prosecutorial misconduct,” David Wohl, a criminal attorney and legal analyst said Tuesday during an interview on Fox News Channel.

Gee, ya think?

Requests for comment to special prosecutor Angela Corey’s office were not immediately returned.

Now this is a surprise…NOT! Why would they want to respond? How would they respond in any case? More and more this case has taken on the appearances of an express train railroad job against Zimmerman.

I seem to recall that Florida has some law in place that if a prosecutor charges someone under their self defense laws, and it’s shown to be politically motivated, that prosecutor can be held civilly, and maybe criminally liable. (I am NOT sure about this) This would be one big reason why they are dragging their feet on providing the evidence the defense wants to see.

I’m still on the fence on whether or not this case will ever be put in front of a jury. Any honest jury, when shown the damage Zimmerman took, would have to conclude that he was in fear of his life. You also need to recall that Martin was the one to start swinging. Until that moment, it was just two men yelling at each other.

We shall see.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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