Zimmerman Trial: Tired of media bias? See gun-friendly legal

[lawofselfdefense]

Hey folks,

I just wanted to drop a note to let you know I'm covering the George Zimmerman trial down in Florida for one of the internet's largest legal blogs, Legal Insurrection.

Some of you may know me as a lawyer with a practice specializing in the law of self defense, others as that guy who shoots the IDPA matches wearing a suit jacket along with his cargo pants.

In any case, if you're tired of the incredibly biased mainstream media coverage (or should I call it mis-coverage) of the Zimmerman case, consider taking a look at my coverage of the trial and analysis of the legal issues, all from the perspective of a gun guy who has CCW'd every day of his adult life.

It is, of course, all entirely free, and Legal Insurrection doesn't sell anything.

Past coverage (up through last night's daily wrap-up post) can be found here: http://bit.ly/15KXK1a

Today's live coverage will be added to that list when Court goes into session at 9AM.

Thanks for your consideration!

Andrew

[OakRidgeStars]

Thanks for the update, Andrew.

[FiremanBob]

Thanks. This will be like the Rodney King trial, the proximate cause of widespread rioting within the "community". Perhaps it is part of the regime's plan to impose some degree of martial law.

[lawofselfdefense]

Thanks for the update, Andrew.

My pleasure.

Andrew

[CDRGlock]

I get so upset at how CNN shows a picture of the young, innocent looking Trayvon when he was 11. They are trying to sway public sentiment. People are comparing him to Emmett Till.

[lawofselfdefense]

I get so upset at how CNN shows a picture of the young, innocent looking Trayvon when he was 11. They are trying to sway public sentiment. People are comparing him to Emmett Till.

It's unfortunate, but the Martin family advisors have been incredibly effective at poisoning the jury pool. Many of the prospective jurors recall Trayvon Martin as having been a "boy" or "child" at the time he was killed, rather than as the 6-foot plus, robust, 17-year-old football player he actually was. Others recall that Zimmerman "chased him down", rather than what the evidence demonstrates, which is that Martin confronted Zimmerman.

I've looked at every piece of evidence generated through discovery since the start of this trial, and there's not a shred of evidence to support the prosecution's claim that Zimmerman "profiled and pursued" Martin. (Even if Zimmerman HAD done both of those things, by the way, it would be irrelevant--neither of them is a violation of the law.)

I expect we're going to hear the defense raising a lot of objections on the basis of "Facts not in evidence, your Honor."

Just my modestly informed guess.

Andrew

[OakRidgeStars]

I bet the jury would think differently if they could view the recovered pictures and video from Trayvon's cell phone.

[lawofselfdefense]

I bet the jury would think differently if they could view the recovered pictures and video from Trayvon's cell phone.

Under Florida law such specific evidence is admissible, maybe, only if Zimmerman was aware of it at the time, such that it informed his perception that he needed to use deadly force in self defense. Obviously, he had never before met Martin, and so had no prior knowledge. That being the case, it's inadmissible.

Unless . . .

If the prosecution starts talking about Trayvon Martin as the saint the narrative machine has been making him out to be, then the defense will be (or should be, subject to reversal of any conviction) to introduce character evidence to the contrary--and that would opent he door to a lot of that otherwise inadmissible evidence.

This will greatly constrain the ability of the State to argue the "poor innocent little boy Trayvon" case that has been so prevalent in the mainstream media.

Of course, Judge Nelson COULD allow the State to make that argument AND deny the defense ability to introduce the contrary evidence.

If that occurs we can all be confident that not only is this a show trial, but nobody is really invested in actually getting a conviction that sticks, because any conviction will certainly be overturned on appeal.

Indeed, the mere fact that the Court has repeatedly refused reasonable requests by the defense for a continuance, as recently as yesterday (request made because the State had dumped new discovery including thousands of photographs on the defense only a week before), already almost assures that any conviction will be overturned on that basis alone. The defense plainly told the court that because of the State's "slow-roll" on discovery they are simply not prepared for trial. The Court said, essentially, "Too f'ing bad." That's not due process. Denial of a continuance reasonably requested is often deemed to be an abuse of a court's discretion on appeal, and warrant a reversal of conviction.

What a circus.

Andrew

[lawofselfdefense]

Hey folks,

I just posted up my summary of today's voir dire of prospective jurors for the Zimmerman trial, click the link below if you'd like to read it.

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/06/zi ... -up//#more

In brief, two events today were particularly interesting . . . or, more accurately, shocking.

First was a prospective juror, J39, who told the Court that as far as he was concerned, murder's murder, no matter what. Even if it's self defense. Self-defense doesn't make it right to kill somebody." When asked if he would be biased in this case on the issue of self-defense as murder he responded, "Yes," and that he would not be able to set his opinion aside.

Prospective juror J39 was promptly dismissed by the court.

Far more disturbing, however, was prospective juror E7, who may have attempted to perpetuate a despicable fraud upon the Court in an effort to destroy the integrity of the jury.

While being questioned by the State, E7 made all the right noises about having not yet made up his mind about the case. He said, for example, that if someones within their right to defend themselves, they shouldn't be arrested.

The entire time he was being questioned by the State, however, the defense table was scribbling like crazy. They asked to approach the bench, along with the State, and there was a hurried discussion with Judge Nelson out of everyone's hearing. After a few minutes Judge Nelson addressed E7, held up a printed Facebook page, and asked him if he had made this post on a Facebook page called "Coffee Page Progressives." He said that he had. Judge Nelson then noted for the record that the post in question had been made on March 21, 2012.

I took the liberty at looking at the Facebook postings for "Coffee Party Progressives" on that date. What I found was a hard-core Progressive site that, among other things, advocated for the violent death of George Zimmerman: "I say give the guy some skittles and an iced tea and shoot him in the head," wrote one commenter. Another commenter wrote, ". . . In Sanford . . . & I CAN tell you THIS. "Justice" . . . IS Coming! " and "The Seminole County "Justice" System needs an ENEMA . . . & they just MIGHT GET one!"

Prospective juror E7 was also promptly dismissed by the court.

To see the entire wrap-up of today's third day of voir dire, including screen caps of the "Coffee Party Progressives" posts and comments from March 21, 2012, just click here:

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/06/zi ... -up//#more

Best,

Andrew
@LawSelfDefense

[FiremanBob]

Thanks, Andrew, for the fine work.

[lawofselfdefense]

Thanks, Andrew, for the fine work.

My pleasure, more to come tomorrow.

Andrew
@LawSelfDefense

[Domino]

Thanks, Andrew, for the fine work.

I second this!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[lawofselfdefense]

Thanks, Andrew, for the fine work.

I second this!

Glad to be of service.

Andrew
@LawSelfDefense

[lawofselfdefense]

It turns out the best line to come out of the Zimmerman trial yesterday might have been delivered after the Court had recessed for the day.

Attorney Benjamin Crump, advisory to the Martin family, announced to the press that, ""The evidence shows there is no blood on Trayvon's hands."

I guess he hasn't seen this picture:



Andrew
@LawSelfDefense

[Kreutz]

[lawofselfdefense]

Just FYI, Day 4 of jury selection has just kicked into gear. Our live, all-day coverage can be found at Legal Insurrection here, if you're interested in following along.

We'll also be doing our usual end-of-day summary of events. I'll drop a brief note when that's up, for folks who are interested.

Andrew
@LawSelfDefense

[dorminWS]

I get so upset at how CNN shows a picture of the young, innocent looking Trayvon when he was 11. They are trying to sway public sentiment. People are comparing him to Emmett Till.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yup. They are pushing that "momma" button. My better half, SWMBO, who ain't no bleeding heart by any means, will cut off any discussion of this case by snapping, "he killed that CHILD!". Yeah, right, and when I shot that 400-pound Russian Boar THAT WAS TRYING HIS BEST TO GUT ME AND THEN EAT MY INNARDS, I KILLED ONE OF THE THREE LITTLE FREAKIN' PIGGIES.

[Rays197]

CNN shows a picture of the young, innocent looking Trayvon when he was 11. They are trying to sway public sentiment. People are comparing him to Emmett Till.

Same thing I thought. I hope I'm wrong but I see this as another waste of taxpayers dollars. Zimmerman will be charged because some black kid was killed and the media playing the race card. When this happened, a lot of blacks in my office were throwing out race motives and calling Zimmerman a racist white guy. As stated another Rodney King trial so the blacks won't destroy the City if a not guilty verdict comes thru.

[lawofselfdefense]

Zimmerman Jury Selection -- Day Four Wrap-Up

Hey folks,

I just posted up the wrap-up for day four of jury selection in the Zimmerman case.

There were two notable events of the day.

The first was Judge Nelson's decision to sequester the jury for the duration of the trial. This decision clearly caught some of the prospective jurors off guard, creating considerable hardship for more than a few. On the other hand, several jurors had expressed concerns about their safety if their anonymity was not preserved, one that she would feel like she had a bulls-eye on her back.

On a practical note, it's unclear to me how they truly expect to remain anonymous. From the national public, sure. But nobody can realistically disappear from family and work for a two to four weeks without explaining what's up. It would seem the fact that they were a juror would inevitably get out--but maybe not until after the burning was over.

The second notable event was the questioning of E81. She looked de la Rionda straight in the eye and said she believed that Zimmerman should just go home, and that he had acted in defense of himself. When asked if he was going to have to perform "magic" to get her to change her mind she essentially told him he'd just have to do his job--work hard to convince her otherwise. (He acknowledged that the burden of proof was, indeed, on the State.)

She knew a great deal about the case. She recalled seeing the picture from Trayvon's phone of the mairjuana, and that he had gotten into trouble a few times. She had seen video of him refereeing a street fight, for sport, and believed that he was training to be a street fighter. She thought he might have been looking for a reason to fight that evening, that Trayvon became aware that he was under observation by Martin and that Trayvon had been the aggressor in the conflict.

A firm believer in gun rights and CCW, E81 said that the more guns there were out there in the hands of law abiding people, the safer it was. SHe believed that everyone who was not a felon or mentally unsound should be allowed to carry a gun.

There's more on this wonderful young woman, but you'll have to click over to the full wrap-up report, right here at Legal Insurrection, to read the rest.

Tomorrow we do another full day of live stream, all-day coverage of day two of jury selection. Be sure to join us.

Best,

Andrew
@LawSelfDefense

[lawofselfdefense]

Hey folks,
Just FYI, Day 5 of jury selection has just kicked into gear. Our live, all-day coverage can be found at Legal Insurrection here, if you're interested in following along.

We'll also be doing our usual end-of-day summary of events. I'll drop a brief note when that's up, for folks who are interested.

Andrew
@LawSelfDefense