Jessica Chasmar
The Washington Times
7/11/2013
The legal watchdog Judicial Watch released an audio recording Thursday of a Department of Justice staffer urging Sanford, Fla., city officials and the minority advocacy group Dream Defenders to seek justice for Trayvon Martin, because “if a community perceives that there’s something wrong in the black community, there’s something wrong.” [emphasis CAJ]
“CRS is an arm of the department that we call the Peacemakers,” Thomas Battles, regional director of the DOJ’s Community Relations Service, said at a meeting at the Shiloh Church on April 19, 2012. “We work with communities where there is real or perceived racial tensions.”…
…The findings, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “detail the extraordinary intervention by the Justice Department in the pressure campaign leading to the prosecution of George Zimmerman. My guess is that most Americans would rightly object to taxpayers paying government employees to help organize racially-charged demonstrations.”
The complete article is at The Washington Times.
Also at the site, Judge in George Zimmerman trial storms from courtroom
Tuesday’s court proceedings in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman wrapped with a tense moment after defense attorneys tried to object to the long hours but the judge, in response, simply walked away.
Defense attorneys were left standing in midsentence, video of the exchange showed…
Related: Jury in Zimmerman trial may consider lesser charge
…Because of the judge’s ruling, the six jurors will have three options when they start deliberations as early as Friday: guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of manslaughter and not guilty.
Zimmerman attorney Don West had argued an all-or-nothing strategy, saying the only charge that should be put before the jury is second-degree murder.
“The state has charged him with second-degree murder. They should be required to prove it,” West said. “If they had wanted to charge him with manslaughter … they could do that.”
To win a second-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove Zimmerman showed ill will, hatred or spite – a burden the defense has argued the state failed to meet. To get a manslaughter conviction, prosecutors must show only that Zimmerman killed without lawful justification…
Judge Confronts Zimmerman in Testy Exchange
A hostile exchange took place in the courtroom today where George Zimmerman is on trial for second degree murder as Judge Debra Nelson questioned the defendant about his plans to testify.
Nelson reminded Zimmerman that he has the “absolute right to remain silent” if he so desires and proceeded to ask him whether he was prepared to testify. Defense attorney Don West twice objected to the question, but was overruled by Nelson, who explained, “The court is entitled to inquire if Mr. Zimmerman’s determination [sic] as to whether or not he wants to testify.”
The judge then began asking Zimmerman how much time he requires to determine whether or not he would like to testify. West again objected to the question and asked for more time to speak with his client, prompting Judge Nelson to raise her voice and exclaim, “Your objection is overruled!”
The tension escalated as another of Zimmerman’s defense attorneys, Mark O’Mara, was overheard asking under his breath, “What is going on?”…
Greta Van Susteren: Zimmerman Judge Was WAY Out of Line
…She had no business asking that particular question then — no business! She waits until the end of the defense case. Then she can have her colloquy. But doing that in the middle of a defense case is way out of line…
Meet the Police Chief Who Was Fired for Refusing to Violate George Zimmerman’s Rights
In a stunning interview with CNN, former Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee unloaded on the powers behind city government. Lee exposed the corrupt process through which George Zimmerman was arrested without probable cause.
“It was (relayed) to me that they just wanted an arrest. They didn’t care if it got dismissed later,” he said. “You don’t do that.”
When Sanford police arrived on the scene on February 26, 2012, after Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, they conducted a “sound” investigation, and the evidence provided no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman at the scene, he said.
It had nothing to do with Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, he said; from an investigative standpoint, it was purely a matter of self-defense…
Watch the interview at the link.
From March 2012, The Daily Caller obtains Trayvon Martin’s tweets
…Martin tweeted under the handle “NO_LIMIT_NIGGA,” an account that was closed shortly after his death……
…UPDATE 3/29/2012: TheDC has identified a second Twitter handle associated with Trayvon Martin. Writing under the name “T33ZY TAUGHT M3” in December, Martin tweeted: “Plzz shoot da #mf dat lied 2 u!”…
Judge Tosses Travyon’s MMA [mixed martial arts] Texts
…As his girlfriend complained, Martin was “always” fighting. He was also something of a sadist. His opponent, after all, did not bleed enough. Why might this be relevant?
Jonathan Good, the closest of the eyewitnesses to the shooting, testified last week that a there was a “black man in a black hoodie on top of either a white guy … or an Hispanic guy in a red sweater on the ground yelling out help,” and that black man on top was “throwing down blows on the guy MMA [mixed martial arts] style.”…
Zimmerman Trial is This Year’s Duke Lacrosse Case
…The only reason it’s hard to imagine the Zimmerman case with the races reversed is that it’s hard to imagine a white teenager living in a mixed-race, middle-class community, mugging a black homeowner. This is not a problem of society’s reactions, but of the facts…
Zimmerman, a morality play that failed
The George Zimmerman trial is the racial metaphor that failed.
Every day that passes makes it clear that none of the ideological baggage heaped on the case ever made any sense…
…The most poisonous interpretation of Zimmerman’s conduct — that he sought out and assassinated a black kid for being a black kid — was never plausible. Assassins generally don’t call the police before closing in and gunning down their targets. But it looks positively ridiculous in light of all the evidence suggesting that right before Zimmerman fired, Martin was beating Zimmerman, not the other way around…
State’s Closing Argument: Two Hours of Raising Doubt
Today, the State presented their closing argument to the jury in the matter of Florida v. Zimmerman. After 14 months of investigation and discovery, weeks of pre-trial hearings, weeks more of trial testimony, and the expenditure of taxpayer money on the order of a million dollars, this was it–this is where the State would close the deal and deliver their compelling narrative of guilt to the jury.
What the jury got was not a compelling narrative of guilt, however, but a rambling monologue of isolated bits of circumstantial evidence, much of which was consistent with–and even supportive of–the defense’s “self-defense” theory of the case…
CAJ note: We urge readers to visit Legal Insurrection’s pages under the tag “George Zimmerman Trial“. It is an excellent guide to this case.
Also, a Facebook friend reminded us tonight, “Zimmerman’s voter registration record lists him as Hispanic and a registered Democrat.” Mr. Zimmerman is, in fact, bi-racial.
