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Friday, July 05, 2013

Zimmerman Trial; Martin Family Members Contradict Each Other In Biased Testimony



The longer this goes on, the more this takes on the characteristics of a lynching.

This morning, Trayvon Martin's mother testified that the voice screaming for help in the background of a 911 call was her son:

Sybrina Fulton, 47, told jurors that she "instantly" recognized her late son’s voice on a February 26, 2012 call placed by a woman who reported that a fight was underway in her Sanford, Florida gated community.

Asked by a prosecutor to identify who was yelling for help, Fulton answered “Trayvon Benjamin Martin.” When she was earlier asked to identify her two children, Fulton named her late son, adding “he’s in heaven.”


Trayvon's half brother,Jahvaris Fulton was called to the stand by the prosecution next, and likewise testified that it was Trayvon Martin screaming for help.

That's when the fun started, in cross examination:



Here’s a link to the original CBS television interview being referenced by Mark O’Mara (Jahvaris statements about the 911 call start at 11:10).

But wait, there's more. In a March 2012 police report referencing the screams heard on the 911 calls, Sanford Police Department Detective Christopher Serino noted that, “this voice was determined to be that of George Zimmerman, who was apparently yelling for help as he was being battered by Trayvon Martin.”

And in a meeting at the Sanford Police Department headquarters, Trayvon Martin's father Tracy Martin was played the 911 calls “in order to provide a better understanding to Mr. Martin as to why the individual who shot his son was not arrested and charged with homicide,” according to a police report.

After the recordings were played, Serino asked Martin if that was his son’s voice screaming for help. “Mr. Martin, clearly emotionally impacted by the recording, quietly responded ‘No,’” Serino noted in his report.

Let's look at some other aspects of this. Aside from the fact that we already have testimony from the only eyewitness that there was little reason for  Trayvon Martin to be screaming for help because he was the one on top pounding George Zimmerman's head into the pavement ( and Zimmerman's injuries reflect that) the judge had already disallowed testimony before the jury on IDing voices on the 911 tapes because the defense effectively provided expert witnesses including a top rated  FBI expert that there was no way even an expert could determine whose voice was yelling for help on the tape. Yet she allowed Trayvon's mother and brother, who are hardly experts, to do that very thing, in front of the jury!

Another  point. George Zimmerman's mother and father have been prohibited from attending the trial because the prosecution named them as witnesses whom might be called to the stand, and witnesses, quite properly are not allowed to hear the testimony of others. Yet Trayvon's mother, who was called to the stand as a witness for the prosecution has been in attendance every day of the trial.

It is an obvious ploy to elicit sympathy from the jury and prejudice their verdict by putting her on the stand, even though I understand why Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney chose not to contest it.

This is the same judge who had testimony from Sanford Detective Christopher Serino, an experienced detective and interrogator who was the most aggressive in wanting Zimmermen charged with man slaughter stricken from the record after he testified that he had changed his mind after interrogating Zimmerman and that he believed Zimmerman's story.

As I said, an attempted lynching. We'll see if they get away with it.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:48 PM

    The longer this goes on, the more this takes on the characteristics of a lynching.

    The facts aside, maybe you could use a word other than 'lynching' when describing a trial about the death of a black teenager. As a preamble, it puts you in a pretty poor light.

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  2. The last time I checked, the definition of 'lynching' didn't have a color line.

    Of course, to someone who sees absolutely everything through the prism of race, the light's always bad except for the narrow spectrum they can see through.

    Such people would be screaming 'racism' at the top of their lungs if George Zimmerman were black and being treated in this fashion. And you know what? They'd be right, and I'd be writing about this mockery of a trial from a totally different perspective.

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