Regular readers will find the most recent revelation—a color digital picture of George Zimmerman shortly after being assaulted by Trayvon Martin—to be illustrative of truths they have known, but surely no surprise. From the early days of my coverage of this case, there has been no doubt that Zimmerman suffered head and facial injuries, including a broken nose. These injuries have been documented by the EMTs that treated Zimmerman, Sanford police officers, and Zimmerman’s physician the day following the incident. They have also been ignored, explained away or minimized by the media, the prosecution, and other supporters of the narrative.
Most people familiar with the case have seen the black and white image—obviously produced by a copier—of Zimmerman’s facial injuries, however, only recently has the defense been able to obtain and disseminate the digital color original which makes the seriousness and extent of Zimmerman’s facial injuries far more obvious. Zimmerman’s nose was clearly badly broken and a very short time after the incident, badly swollen.
In addition, a much clearer color image of the fresh and still-bleeding injuries on the back of Zimmerman’s head has been made available. As I’ve noted in past updates, the prosecution can be expected to slow-roll discovery, even to withhold exculpatory information from the defense; that observation appears to have been accurate. Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney, told Fox News:
“That’s really one of my frustrations. They originally submitted a black and white photo so we asked for a color copy. They then submitted a color photo copy that was drab’…
‘We kept asking for a digital copy and then we had to file a motion [in court] to have it submitted.’
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.”
A recent motion filed by O’Mara also illustrates the issue. O’Mara wrote that during his deposition, Sanford Police Captain Robert O’Connor testified he spoke with Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda in early November, 2012. O’Connor told de la Rionda that he spoke with Sanford Police Investigator William Erwin in early October, 2012. Erwin told O’Connor that he had been present at the Sanford PD when then-lead investigator Christopher Serino (since “transferred” to patrol—Update 13) played for Tracy Martin (Trayvon’s father) the 911 tape in which screams for help were audible. Erwin, with Serino, heard Mr. Martin say that the screams were not those of Trayvon Martin. O’Mara’s motion continued:
“Investigator Erwin heard this acknowledgement by Mr. Martin, and is therefore a significant witness to corroborate the statement of Mr. Martin that those screams he heard were not those of his son, Trayvon Martin.”
This is, obviously, a significant issue in the case. If the person screaming is not Trayvon Martin, there is only one other possibility: it’s George Zimmerman, as Zimmerman has always maintained. Equally obviously, independently establishing this through Martin’s father would strengthen Zimmerman’s self-defense claim. The prosecution surely understands this, and as with the color photos, they have withheld this information from the defense. O’Mara continued:
“To date, the State Attorney’s Office has failed to disclose this exculpatory information to the defense, even though Mr. de la Rionda was aware of it no less than two weeks before the deposition of Captain O’Connor…But for the straightforwardness with which Captain O’Connor answered the questions, this information may still exist undisclosed to the defense.”
Bryan Preston, Austin editor of PJ Media (full disclosure: I am a PJ Media contributor) posted a related article on 12-04-12. Preston’s concern revolves around the impressions transmitted by the poor quality black and white copy of the original digital color photograph of Zimmerman’s face as opposed to the color original. Regarding the black and white image he writes:
“Can you tell how old George Zimmerman is? To me, he looks like he could be any age from 20 to more than 50. But the graininess and lack of visible hair on the top of his head suggest that he is an older man.
The lack of color in the photo obscures Zimmerman’s race as well. As a friend of mine pointed out to me, the man in that photo is brighter in complexion than the man is in reality. The black and white photo renders Zimmerman a pale white. The whites of his eyes and his facial skin are nearly the same tone. The contrast makes his face emerge harshly from the shadows behind him.
The man in the photo above looks somewhat menacing. The misshapen nose suggests a history of brawls, the color having been drained away, taking with it the reds and purples indicating a fresh wound from a very recent attack. The vacant look in his eyes suggests no remorse for the killing of a young man, which the man in the photo had done moments before the photo was taken.
‘This man might be a thug.’ That’s the nonverbal message of the photo above.”
Regarding the color original, Preston writes:
“Seen in color, the ‘thug’ who might be, becomes a wounded young man. Shock and fear ring his eyes. There may be small wounds or acne on his forehead. Blood drips from his nose and his lip appears to be busted open. His nose appears to be freshly broken. Instead of being a white ghoul emerging from shadows, he is a wounded man sitting in a car after a life changing, possibly life destroying, event has happened. The ghoul has flesh and blood after all. He bleeds.”
Preston’s assertion is that someone manufactured the black and white image for the express purpose of manipulating the case, and if the color image had been available from the beginning, much might have been different:
“Had the color photo been available in the days after Martin’s unfortunate death, there might never have been a backlash against the Sanford police. There might never have been a national movement to arrest and prosecute Zimmerman. President Obama might never have taken sides with the New Black Panthers, who put a bounty on Zimmerman’s head, and with the usual tragedy trolls who always seek to convert corpses into political talking points. The NBC News edit that made Zimmerman sound racist could have been countered with a color photo showing Zimmerman’s wounds, corroborating his explanation of what happened that night. But someone chose to hide the color photo and manufacture the black and white, so that that photo would tell a different story.”
Preston is essentially correct. Let’s examine the relevant issues of police procedure and criminal justice practice.
POLICE PHOTOGRAPHY AND EVIDENCE PROCEDURES:
I was an active-duty police officer in the days when digital photography was in its infancy. The highest quality, most expensive digital cameras featured less than a single megapixel of resolution and image processing software was rudimentary by contemporary standards. Even this weak technology was available only in my final days as a police officer. Digital photography was not yet accepted by the criminal justice system which is often slow to adopt new technologies, in part because cops aren’t generally fond of change, because of the expense, but also because such adoption often requires changes in law, and in practice by the courts and the rest of the criminal justice system.
Being a crime scene photographer was among my many police assignments. In those ancient days, all photographs were made on 35mm color film, and copies for discovery or any other reason were made from the original negatives, which were kept and treated as evidence. For the initial round of discovery, Xerox copies would be made of any color photographs, and copies from the negatives would be provided later as a matter of normal procedure. Such copies usually took at least a week or more so I could get the new copies from the photo lab, handle all necessary evidentiary procedures, and ensure the defense received all of the photos, omitting nothing.
With digital photography, everything changed. There was no longer a chain of evidence involving negatives or actual prints, and if the police chose, discovery of photos could entail nothing more complex than sending the involved jpeg images via e-mail. “Prints” were displayed on a computer monitor first, and only later—if ever–printed on plain or photo paper, included in a Power Point presentation, or merely projected on a wall. The chain of evidence consisted of the officer that took the photographs testifying that he took them, swearing that they had not been altered in any way, and affirming they fairly and accurately represented what he originally photographed.
THE TRIAL IN DUEL VENUES:
As I’ve previously noted, this case is being simultaneously tried in two domains or venues: in the court of criminal justice and in the court of public opinion. To date, it is the latter court that has been far more important and which has had the greatest influence. Prosecutor Angela Corey has shamelessly played to that court while repeatedly misrepresenting and/or omitting fact and law and even threatening those who have dared point out her carelessness with legal practice and ethics. As I pointed out in Update 9.4, Corey unsuccessfully attempted to harm Professor Alan Dershowitz’s employment with Harvard because of his criticism of her actions.
It is in dealing with these issues that Bryan Preston is absolutely right, yet slightly off the evidentiary trail. President and Mrs. Obama’s shameless racial pandering in this case, the involvement of a wide variety of race baiters, the grotesquely false and biased pronouncements of CNN, NBC and a variety of other media outlets, to name a few, have all been designed to play to the court of public opinion while simultaneously having an effect on the real courts, and the power of these efforts—their potential to warp justice to socio-political ends—should never be underestimated.
However, I suspect the initial production only of the black and white facial image of Zimmerman is somewhat less sinister than Preston supposes. Conversely, as time passed, the prejudicial effect of withholding the original color images is fully as ugly, cruel, even potentially criminal, as Preston charges.
Let’s return to Fox News for a bit of background information:
“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.”
Unfortunately, we don’t know if this means the local prosecutor’s office or Angela Corey, who took over the case only later. In either event, what likely happened–at least initially–is neither sinister nor mysterious.
The Sanford prosecutor’s office would have received all of its materials directly from those that produced them: the Sanford Police. Normally, the detectives involved would instruct the Sanford Police records division to make copies of all relevant case files—which would include photographs—and forward them to the prosecutor. In this case, the original case file would probably include color prints of relevant digital photos, which would simply have been reproduced on the copy machine available. If that machine were like most copiers I’ve seen in police agencies, the quality of copies it made would account for the poor quality of the black and white image of Zimmerman’s face. No additional manipulation would have been necessary to produce that image. A single run through the copier would have done the trick. It is therefore unlikely anyone at the Sanford Police Department produced that photo as a means of harming George Zimmerman as the case had not yet been the subject of national hysteria.
It is after the case was turned over to Angela Corey that things became interesting, interesting as in the ancient Chinese curse that intones: “May you live in interesting times.” All Sanford Police case files, including colored images—print and digital (jpegs)–and all related documents from the local prosecutors office, would have been turned over to Ms. Corey, whose unprofessional hostility toward George Zimmerman and whose questionable legal ethics have been repeatedly laid bare through her actions and those of her office.
As Mr. O’Mara has asserted, and as I expected, Ms. Corey’s office appears to have actually and knowingly withheld exculpatory evidence, but at the least, they seem to have made obtaining any evidence favorable to Zimmerman a slow and difficult process. Having had possession of all of the evidence in the case for many months, any ethical and legal failures can be reasonably laid at Ms. Corey’s feet.
As Mr. O’Mara has made clear, he has, for many months, asked for original color photographs, and received them only through court order. In normal cases, the involvement of al judge is not necessary. The prosecution knows they must give the defense everything they have, and do so without being ordered by a judge. They do this willingly because if they have a valid and provable case—and ethical prosecutors will not proceed without one—there is nothing to be gained by delay and obfuscation. In fact, the evidence should help to convince the defense that their case is—if not hopeless—surely an uphill slog. Such prosecutors generally say little or nothing to the press about any case, saving their words for the courtroom.
Contrast this with what we know about the conduct of Ms. Corey’s office in this case. As Bryan Preston concluded:
“I keep using that word — manufacture — deliberately, because that is what was done here. Someone took the high resolution digital original and printed it out, then ran it through a copy machine several times to introduce noise, and remove the color and reduce the quality. They may have also taken it into Photoshop to manipulate its contrast and add additional noise. That is manufacturing.
In doing all of this, they deliberately stripped George Zimmerman of his humanity.
Who did this? For what purpose?
Did someone in a position of authority take a look at George Zimmerman’s name, which suggests an older white male rather than a younger Hispanic, then take a look at this young, black victim, and decide to scapegoat Zimmerman deliberately because of the narrative that his name and Trayvon Martin’s racial background provided?”
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Was the original black and white facial image “manufactured” in the manner suggested by Preston? It’s possible, but more likely it was simply the result of an old, tired copier not designed to accurately reproduce photographic images in the first place.
Indeed, the effect was to make Zimmerman look much older, to obscure his racial identity—which made it plausible for the media to invent a new race and to call Zimmerman a “white-Hispanic”—to portray him as much older, and to make him appear thuggish, all of which beautifully fit the media narrative of the much older, much heavier, much larger white man murdering a slight, smiling, cherubic, Skittles-eating black child.
This surely was not lost on Ms. Corey and Mr. de la Rionda and they have obviously done all they can to ensure this fiction has been maintained. The purpose? To maintain the viability of the narrative in the court of public opinion for as long as possible and to ensure the maximum spillover effect on the real courts and any potential jury pool.
Was Zimmerman scapegoated? Of course. In contemporary identity politics, a black victim trumps a Hispanic victim with a white-sounding name any day of the week.
Despite the correct and just decision of the local prosecutor not to lodge charges against Zimmerman, a higher level of politics, fueled in part by the President of the United States and abetted by the Federal Department of Justice, took over, making Zimmerman’s arrest a foregone conclusion. The fact that the FBI’s investigation found no real evidence of racial animus in Zimmerman’s background—quite the opposite—should not be taken as absolute evidence that no federal charges will be brought against Zimmerman. In fact, should Zimmerman’s self-defense claim prevail in the Florida courts (as I believe it must), I would be surprised indeed if the Holder DOJ simply let the case drop. After all, Trayvon Martin was one of the AG’s “people,” and there will surely still be some racial hay to be made for the benefit of our “post-racial president” and his supporters.
As for George and Shellie Zimmerman, at least they’re still alive. By the time all of their legal troubles are resolved, even that will likely be cold comfort.
Stately McDaniel Manor 
Wow! Trayvon’s hand’s must have been a Bloody mess!
Right? Guys…? Oh.
BTW, here is what he looks like a short time later:
i48.servimg.com/u/f48/17/88/75/26/zimmer11.jpg
“BTW, here is what he looks like a short time later”
The photo on the right was taken at the SPD station four hours later.
“Trayvon’s hand’s must have been a Bloody mess!”
Do you have any evidence that Martin’s hands were absent of Zimmerman’s blood/DNA? There is no such evidence in the released discovery. The only part of Martin’s body tested for blood/DNA evidence were his fingernail clippings. His right hand clippings tested positive for traces of his own blood. His left hand clipping had no trace of blood, despite reports of his hands being underneath his body after being shot, possibly clutching his bleeding wound.
Right. Four hours. A short time.
“There is no such evidence in the released discovery.” — by which you mean do I have evidence of something not being present. You are asking me to prove a negative. Again, let me voice my initial concern: “Trayvon’s hands must have been a bloody mess!”. Strangely absent is evidence of Zimmerman’s blood on said hands, despite the narrative provided by mister Zimmerman, and the above photo.
Strangely absent is YOUR PROOF that there was none of Zimmerman’s blood on said hands, despite the narrative you are trying to sell.
“Strangely absent is YOUR PROOF that there was none of Zimmerman’s blood on said hands, despite the narrative you are trying to sell.” — yeah, like I said, you want me to prove a negative.
Here, let me try it another way: There is no evidence of Zimmerman’s blood on Martin’s hands.
Does that work better?
Likewise, there is no evidence of Martin’s hands being clean. One of the officers stated Martin was laying face down with his hands under his body after being shot.
Trayvon’s hand’s and sleeves must have been a Bloody mess!
There is no evidence of Trayvon’s own blood on his hands or his hoodie sweatshirt sleeves, only traces of blood from his right hand fingernail clippings. Is this proof he was not shot and bleeding from his wound? Of course not.
“There is no evidence of Trayvon’s own blood on his hands …. only traces of blood from his right hand fingernail clippings” —- there is no blood except for there is his blood. -.- I never smoke except for those few times I do, so I don’t smoke. Right?
Until such time as Zimmerman’s DNA is found on Martin’s hands, his story, as he explains it, doesn’t have full credibility. Dude says he was smashed in the bill, sure, looks that way. Dude said he was smothered after having a bloody nose, had his head smashed into the concrete (and got a bloody head from it), and dude says Trayvon was hitting him further. The slam dunk would be to look at Martin’s hands for DNA. I mean, if we are checking up on what Zimmerman says, that literally catches Trayvon red handed. So… why was it not done? Why is the corroborating evidence of Zimmerman’s story absent?
Until you can tell me who of the police department broke Zimmerman’s nose, gave him multiple wounds on the back of his head, bloodied his lips, whether this was done in the squad car or at the department itself, until you can tell me who of those who ran outside and witnessed Zimmerman beating himself in the face and pounding his head on the sidewalk, then the most likely answer is the simplest, least complicated one: the somebody who beat Zimmerman was the somebody that Zimmerman shot–Occam’s razor. And RuleofOrder is once again shown to be what he is
First, find a witness that saw a punch being thrown. I can wait.
Second, Zimm gets hit in the face by Trayvon (never argued that point, btw), falls back, cuts his head. On the topic of Occam’s razor…
Zimmerman says it was happening. Groovy. His blood should be on Martin’s hands. It hasn’t been found there. Occam’s Razor, maybe it didn’t happen as Zimmerman said. Lord knows there is a LOT of after incidents that seem to keep cropping up with Mr. Zimmerman’s story.
Dear RuleofOrder:
Unlike what many people assume, in many crimes, including assaults, the blood of victims simply does not transfer to the clothing, skin or hands of assailants. The same is true of DNA. The certainty of fictional CSI units has done a great disservice for the public in this regard.
When I investigated car burglaries, victims often demanded I search for fingerprints, so I often busied myself with spreading a bit of print powder here and there and “lifting” what appeared to be prints. The reality was such crimes were never solved that way. Fingerprints do not readily adhere to most surfaces in vehicles, and even those that do are usually so smudged as to be utterly useless. But my little bit of theater made victims happy.
In the Martin case, remember that it was raining during and after the assault, and before the police arrived. Considering that, and Zimmerman’s statement, it is entirely possible that little or no blood would be found on Martin’s hands or under his fingernails. Sorry, but that’s not going to be an issue that decides this case.
Dear RuleofOder”: “First, find a witness that saw a punch being thrown. I can wait.”
Sorry to keep you waiting: “Witness 6 lived close to where the incident occurred. On the night of the shooting, he told investigators that Martin was on top, “just throwing down blows on the guy, MMA-style,. . ” information drawn from the initial police report.
“Sorry to keep you waiting: “Witness 6 lived close to where the incident occurred. On the night of the shooting, he told investigators that Martin was on top, “just throwing down blows on the guy, MMA-style,. . ” information drawn from the initial police report.
Ya sure? your right, the initial report said that, and the same witness later said… articles.nydailynews.com/2012-05-23/news/31816941_1_zimmerman-evidence-medical-report
“In the Martin case, remember that it was raining during and after the assault, and before the police arrived. Considering that, and Zimmerman’s statement, it is entirely possible that little or no blood would be found on Martin’s hands or under his fingernails. Sorry, but that’s not going to be an issue that decides this case.” — So Martin bled through 2 layers of clothing such that his own blood could be found under nis nails, but again, Zimmerman’s various open wounds, which he said Martin had his hands on, and no corroborrating blood can be found. This rain is REAL selective, my man. Such to the fact that it didn’t wash Zim’s DNA/Prints off his gun that was tossed in the grass as well.
Yes, isn’t it amazing what a little public intimidation can do to eye-witness testimony?
“Yes, isn’t it amazing what a little public intimidation can do to eye-witness testimony” —- d’aw, ya went there. Great, so lets leave every witness out, including Dee Dee, the ones that heard the argument (that Zimmerman never mentions), etc. That would leave Zimmerman’s own words, then the additional window dressing he wrote down on his report.
That still leaves us with a dude whom follows a kid across an apartment complex by vehicle and foot, admits teh kid ran from him, called him Martin) an explicative, knew that NEO had advised him not to follow the kid (his written words on the police statement), but still -amazingly- finds Martin 3 minutes after that advisement that he said he heeded. And, again, Zimmerman’s blood not found on his hands despite the actions Zimmer said he took. Connecting the dots, this should have been over when Martin ran.
Follows a “kid” looking into apartment windows and who had been expelled for numerous offenses from school, one of which was the possession of lock-picking tools. The “kid” existed only in the the photograph taken when he was 14 and disseminated for propaganda purposes. Unfortunately for your story, the 911 tape exists.
I still wonder how Zimmerman received multiple wounds on his scalp. Did that one blow from Martin that you allow hit him so hard that his head bounced three times against the concrete? Or did Zimmerman, quick thinker that he is, anticipate and pound his head a few more times to make it look good? Maybe he took Occam’s razor and administered the cuts himself.
And duh, isn’t it odd that what a person sees first hand becomes clearer three weeks later? No room for public intimidation from morons in our country.
“And duh, isn’t it odd that what a person sees first hand becomes clearer three weeks later? No room for public intimidation from morons in our country” — d’aw, you are still going there.
” possession of lock-picking tools.” that being a screwdriver. Sort of like saying a hammer is a locking picking tool.
“Follows a “kid” looking into apartment windows and who had been expelled (my edit/correction– suspended) for numerous offenses from school,” — did you know that Zimmerman states he was looking in apartment windows, and casually walking at the same time? I wonder how that would work, in practice. Or is he Zimmerman stating that looking anywhere, road and sky excluded would have been lookin in apartments? Were this the case, one would have thought Zimmerman might have said that out right on the NEN call. Sort of like how he says he thinks Trayvon was on drugs or something, but then leaves that part out on his written. Also, this is tough for me to reconcile, how can you say “Yeah, he looks like he is on drugs, looking at all the homes/walking about/staring” and then boil all that down into “casually walking looking into apartments”. You don’t see a disconnect there?
“I still wonder how Zimmerman received multiple wounds on his scalp” — I thought I mentioned that, my mistake. After the initial strike, Mr. Zimmerman fell. Upon landing, his head hits -insert object here-. Sprinkler head. Rock. Sidewalk. Heck, he might have even drug Trayvon down with him, the weight of the two doing the same.
Doesn’t this all sounds self fufilling, though?
I see watch some one, that some one looks at me. I drive along after them, they see me doing so. I continue to watch said, finally he runs. I run after (???). I am told not to follow, but I do anways. I finally find them (or he finds me if you really prefer it), and not surprisingly, the person I drove after, ran after, and hunted for is worried/anxious/angry/confused/startled, whatever, and a fight ensues. At the end of it all, I am left standing, cause I shot the person I watched, drove after, ran after, and hunted for (common vernacular). But, it was self defense because the person I watched, drove after, ran after, and hunted for swung on me. Shouldn’t there have been a very large “STOP” some where in that chain of events?
BTW, I don’t know how much of my previous posts you read, but 2nd degree indeed was an over charge. Man Slaughter, culpable negligence, something along those lines are the charges I think should have been filed. But, in true Casey Anthony state fashion, swung for the fences baby! ::table flip::
Multiple wounds on the back of the head indicates most simply repeated blows and accord with statements made at the scene. You grasp at straws to explain otherwise.
Public intimidation is what this case is all about, from the threats of the DOJ to intervene to community activists who get into the face of those they wish to intimidate. This is the America that we live in.
“Dude” is a dismissive code word, that you use, for white guy, which is what the narrative was supposed to be, just like Martin was supposed to be a “kid.” Both of these terms have been shown to be false.
“Public intimidation is what this case is all about, from the threats of the DOJ to intervene to community activists who get into the face of those they wish to intimidate. This is the America that we live in.” — d’aw. Man, you aren’t leaving there. Okay, stay there.
“You grasp at straws to explain otherwise.” — I guess that’s one way of putting it. I find it no more grasping at straws than insinuation of intimidation of witnesses. Its it possible? Sure. Probable? Perhaps. Does it fit? Sure.
““Dude” is a dismissive code word, that you use, for white guy, which is what the narrative was supposed to be, just like Martin was supposed to be a “kid.” Both of these terms have been shown to be false.” — no, dude is me using a more common lexicon. A lot of people do that. You would be surprised. Kid, as in under 18. A minor. Dude as in a guy, some times used as “random person”, sometimes used as “fellow” or “gentleman”, or at its most general “male person”. Just out of curiosity, did you believe that part as you typed it? I mean that I am genuinely gonna make up code words for random things? Thats just as rich as the screw driver/burglary tool substitution.
RuleofOrder: Narrative change/update: Zimmerman not a white guy, Martin not innocent kid. Don’t mention multiple wounds on back of Zimmerman’s head. Logic too strained even for us. Kos
What’s your point exactly? Was the first photo with the swelling and blood faked? Is that what you’re saying? In the second photo, although the swelling had gone down and the blood had been cleaned up, the injuries were still evident on Zimmerman’s face.
If Martin had assaulted Zimmerman, Zimmerman had every right to defend himself. Unless you’re saying that the injuries weren’t real (which is clearly inaccurate, based on the photos you linked), then your argument is moot.
If your point is that Zimmerman’s injuries weren’t bad enough to justify lethal force, your point is also moot. Your interpretation of the severity of the injuries is irrelevant. The self defense law requires one to have a rational belief that they will suffer death or severe bodily injury if they do not defend themselves. There is nothing requiring one to wait until such death or severe bodily injury actually occurs before employing lethal force…that would kind of be self-defeating.
The idea of self defense is to PREVENT such death or severe injury, not to retaliate for it.
Therefore, all Zimmerman has to prove to be afforded a finding of justifiable homicide, is that he was being attacked by Martin and that he had a legitimate fear of death or severe bodily injury. Although the images don’t indicate who initiated any attack (other evidence…such as the 911 call and witness statements…will have to be used for that), BOTH of the images support the premise that Zimmerman suffered injuries and therefore are potentially exculpatory, regardless of the severity of the injuries depicted.
+1. You nailed it. This is the crux of the case. Everything else we’re debating may be interesting but in the end it is meaningless as to whether GZ deserves to be in prison or not.
NO_LIMIT_GANGSTA was up to no good.
Excellent article Mike.
“Wow! Trayvon’s hand’s must have been a Bloody mess!” I’m guessing that you have never been in a fist fight. You might cut your hand on your victims teeth or your hands can become swollen from punches to the head and eventually bleed. I seriously doubt that your hands would be a bloody mess after a 2 minute fight unless a knuckle hit a tooth which it doesn’t appear happened. It is also possible that TM (an MMA fan) used his elbows or the heel of his hand to strike GZ. Unfortunately by the time the police got around to testing Martin’s hoodie any evidence they might have obtained had been degraded. FWIW, the autopsy report did state that TM had an abrasion on his knuckle.
Zimmerman obviously suffered injuries to his nose, lip and head. Please tell me you are not one of those loons that think these injuries were self inflicted or were the result of gun recoil or the ejected shell casing.
Zimmerman states that he was smothered by hand over his mouth, had his head banged into the concrete by means of having his head grabbed, and stuck in the face multiple times.
There is no evidence of Zimmerman’s DNA found on Martin’s hands.
Look at the above photo, and explain how Martin’s own DNA is found on his hands via blood, but Zimmerman’s isn’t. Doesn’t that strike you as odd, given what Zimmerman said happened to him? His story is that he was being manhandled by this kid. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that might show then on Martin’s hands, assuming it were true?
“It is also possible that TM (an MMA fan) used his elbows or the heel of his hand to strike GZ. ” — and then use his elbows to grab Zimmerman’s head, and bang it into the concrete, as Zimmerman describes?
“Although the images don’t indicate who initiated any attack “—- I am gonna go with the guy whom was chasing another as the one escalating the situation, not the run reported to be running away.
“You might cut your hand on your victims teeth or your hands can become swollen from punches to the head and eventually bleed. ” — surprisingly, such injuries as this were not found on Martin. Nor on Zimmerman.
Trayvonityes sound like they have never been in a fight either, they think that your shirt will stay in one place for the duration of a fight (even a MMA fight, they expect that your shirt wont move an inch during a roll on the ground MMA style confrontation).
Rule of Order, the assumption that you are making is in error.
You are assuming that George’s nose must have bled immediately on contact. What I am saying is that this is where you are in error. The contact would have been fleeting but the result of that contact is the broken nose and the bleeding that commenced after the contact. In other words your assumption is wrong.
Let me give you an example here: take a person who has a fall such that the tailbone comes into contact with concrete, and it is broken. In such an instance you will not see any bleeding or blood due to the location of the tailbone. Now, say that the person sees a doctor within an hour of receiving that injury – the doctor has nothing to go on because there is not even evidence of bruising under the skin… but the next day… oh my!!
There are some parts of the body that begin to bleed easier than other parts of the body, sometimes it takes a little bit of time before the blood accumulates and then starts flowing. This is very possible, and in this instance, there is no guarantee that there would have been any of Zimmerman’s blood on Trayvon Martin because the king hit was the only hit. If Trayvon Martin had hit Zimmerman in the nose more than once, then you could expect blood on his hands, but not otherwise!!
What you missed however, is that there were circles forming around GZ’s eyes that indicated that he also had 2 shiners.
1) Trayvon’s hands were never tested for DNA (no real investigation into trayvon had ever been done even though this is standard procedure).
2) the miscreant persecutors havent even got the phone logs yet (they have NOT proven trayvon was on the phone with their witless witness)!
3) If your nose is broken and you are on your back, do you expect the blood to drain down your face or into your throat (this is not a question for the trayvonites who think Trayvon had all the rights and NONE of the responsibilities as well as thinking that George had all the respponsibilities and Trayvon and his parents had ZERO responsibilities)?
Hey Mike,
How long has it been since the SPD used black and white photography?
20 years or 30 years? The media wanted us to believe that the cops in sanford use black and white photographic equipment in the 21st century
Zimmerman is never going to go to trial. The prosecutor is going to do everything they can to delay it, running up the costs/stress/inconvenience on Zimmerman until he’s bankrupt or emotionally exhausted and takes some kind of plea. The DA will use that as vindication of their efforts. The have the full resources of the government with fully paid staff. Zimmerman’s lawyers at some point are either going to have to work pro-bono or quit since Zimmerman will be run out of funds. And they can’t work pro-bono forever, time they spend on Z’s case is time they can’t bring in income to pay their own bills. A plea will be legally extorted from him to end this.
there will be no plea. OMara and West will not talk any plea bargain.
As it stands the persecution has very little in the way of ammunition. Now that it has been revealed that the girl claiming to be DeeDee was 18, the persecution has almost no leg to stand on.
Now that the Beasley firm is involved, there is money available to do more research and investigation.
As it stands the paperwork has been filed in a lawsuit against NBC and more is to follow.
On top of the digitial photograph there is the expose about DeeDee and evidence of witness tampering.
The fun has only just begun, and the popcorn is already popping in the machine, because this case is crumbling.
1) Witness tampering by crump and the persecutors.
2) Black racist cops threatening fellow cops.
3) Evidence tampering has been done by the family and their attorneys chump et al.
4) The persecutors refusing to turn over exclupatory evidence.
5) The media’s culpability in creating and swallowing whole a false narrative just to sell widgets and riots.
6) The federal Government’s hands off approach that fed the riot mentality on the part of AA communnity is partly foamed up when our President suggests that only kids with his complexion will get the sympathy AND protection of the Federal government.
7) The cowardice demonstarted on the part of the Dept of Justice was to be expected I guess since we have known for years Eric Holder is a coward too scared to address black racism (if he is not a major supporter of black racism). Back in 2009, Holder insulted all the white men and women who died in the Civil War and all the whites who worked in the Civil Rights Movement to ensure the end fo slavery and equal rights for all when he said whites were cowards with respect to race (despite the FACT that this was the first nation in the history of the world to END slavery-the African rulers bitched like little girls when we tried ot end the slave trade).
8) Al Sharptongue and Jesse ‘Just Me’ Jackson would go all apaplectic if racism ended (they have their careers and their fortunes all banked on racism-they thrive oin black racism and they would lose their jobs in a heartbeat if racism were thought to be on the way out)
Great post but I’ll quibble with the issue of the photographs.
Even if hard copies were part of the file and subsequently reproduced on a copier as part of the discovery; wouldn’t the original electronic file also be part of that discovery?
Many records are now being stored electronically — such as surveillance camera footage; so shouldn’t police departments be used to dealing with discovery requests for electronic media.
Dear 3boxesofbs:
Thanks, and welcome to SMM. You raise an interesting issue. Much depends on technology, procedure, available funding and circumstance. Most police agencies have some degree of computerization of their files, but few have complete computerization that includes digital imagery. In all agencies, the contents of the “official” file of a given case depend on many factors. All police reports/cases are assigned a unique sequential number, usually with the year as a prefix/identifier. Some agencies still maintain some paper files, others are more or less completely computerized. But in general, you’d be amazed at how behind the times much police records software is.
Detectives commonly handle photographs during their investigations, “filing” them only when they are done, and many detectives take their time and/or are a bit lazy. While agencies are used to dealing with requests, often, there is no single source they must use to fulfill those requests. Some parts of the case file are kept in one database, photos in another, audio and video somewhere else, etc. And if they have to print a very large case file–as I’m sure the Martin file is–they will not tend to print photos in color unless it’s absolutely necessary because of the cost of toner and/or ink and photo paper. With a case like this, when the agency knows it will have to produce multiple copies, they tend to print one original and use a copy machine for all other copies–it’s much cheaper.
With this in mind, it’s not at all hard to see how a poor quality copy machine image printed on plain paper was initially disseminated. As I noted, the problem occurs when Ms. Corey had the color original and refused to release it until ordered by the court.
Thanks again!
Mike, the images should have been downloaded from a camera to the computer. From there the image could have been placed on a thumb drive, or printed by one of the very cheap printers that happen to do digital pictures. Also there are plenty of places that will print the pictures.
I am not complaining about the police procedures here because Sanford apparently printed up this photo but it was given to Corey’s office.
As far as I can see, everyone should cool it where the police and its equipment was concerned and they should focus instead on what took place in Corey’s office, especially with the production of a photocopy (like who makes a photocopy these days when colour printers are so cheap?)that was black and white and grainy. This was deliberate manipulation of the photo.
The digital image clearly shows that Zimmerman had a broken nose. It also shows that he had a couple of shiners on the way around his eyes. It showed that there had been a small amount of bleeding from his nose.
Dear Aussie:
Quite so. Thanks!
Digital cameras are so cheap now most KIDS have them, but the cops can pretend they dont (Mike, i dont buy it, not for a second).
.
that B & W pic looked like they put it on the copier a few times untli it looked like GZ was at a ski resport with snow falling everwhere, not in the back of a patrol car)
Mike, is that we it took 3 MONTHS for the persecutors to even provide the grainy black and white photo?
PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT (and it would sure be nice to KNOW why those three racist cops were fired from the Sanford PD-was it witness tampering? witness intimidation? fellow cop intimidation? I just wanna know……..
MIKE….Thanks for your postings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…..I may not respond to them all, but I do read most of them
3boxesofbs,
I was thinking we should have a fund raiser for the SPD so we can buy them some 21st century tech gear (looks like they were still using one of those civil war cameras rather than the digital photgraphy they wrere actually using).
If you go back to the original document dump by the prosecutors, I believe it was officer Smith, one of the first to arrive on the scene, who stated that there were no other cameras on the scene at that time, so he used his cell phone to take pictures of Martin, and of George when he was sitting in the back of the police car. I don’t believe there were any other pictures taken of George at the scene by the police. When George arrived at the police station, according to another of the police reports, a female officer took pictures of GZ, of his face, the back of his head, and full body pictures. Serino was there at the time that those pictures were taken as stated in one of the police reports. Yet, a few weeks later, someone emailed Smith and asked if he would please provide Serino with the pictures taken with his cell phone. Smith forwarded more copies of the photos. If I am not mistaken, the state has never released the police station photos of GZ in any of their document dumps, but I could have missed them.
I do not hold the police responsible for the black and white, and very grainy picture of GZ sent to the defense. It was clearly the prosecution who refused to release real, true and clear evidence of the extent of GZ’s injuries. A clear, colored photo of just how severely GZ’s nose was injured, released to the public in the document dumps, would have caused many to question the state’s insistence that he did not act in self defense, or that his injuries were not bad enough to warrant shooting someone over. Even though GZ did not have to sustain any injuries to warrant his actions, he only needed to believe he was in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death, the idiots who have no time to study the law, or those that want to deceive, would not have had their purposes served with the clear colored photo that no one can doubt was a beat down. The full frontal face photo is much more convincing than even the original bloody head photos released showing the cuts on the back of his head. This was a deliberate move by the prosecution to gain sympathy for poor little TM, and to deny GZ any credibility in his claims of self defense.
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