I'm borrowing this from the Treehouse, because it expresses my feelings to a T.


"This is frightening. Few realize the import of what we are seeing here…"

IMO, GZ has already been convicted.

Think of it like an election campaign. Propaganda, imprinting, mass hysteria, gullible masses.

One side:
Had a huge organisation already in place BGI and above.

They have ALL LSMedia, many blog sites etc already in the can (as they are generally Politically)

The other side:
Just a few amateurs..sites like CTH and other blogs. Not even the traditional "Right Wing" media were committed to this case


If OBAMA can win elections, with no experience and no talent.. using propaganda and a political machine.. then anything is possible.

So it's David V Goliath

But..... that match turned out ok.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I've played the Devil's Advocate in an effort to better understand what the best strategy may be the state will play, which had John join in and share a good and rather detailed post on the topic ....followed by Chip putting up a pretty good counter response.

In my mind, the most convincing single piece of evidence that the prosecution has is George reaching for ____ (cell phone), which a juror might believe was when Trayvon saw the gun, assumed George was reaching for it, and attacked in self-defense.

If jurors overlook the evidence that Trayvon circled back from the safe location of being next to Brandi's home, and that he came back to confront George, Bernie may succeed in defending Trayvon from the jury finding him guilty of a felony attack ...though I'm still lost on how Bernie can get that evidence in if he is worried about the defense pointing out witnesses he does not call to the stand.

IOW, with what we've seen the state has, their case is looking more like it will be an effort to build reasonable doubt in defending Trayvon. And they're going to have a hard time selecting which witnesses to call that they can keep from telling their fairy tale with and avoid opening doors to character details.

I'm about 90% convinced that Bernie's objective is to work hard at showing evidence which will leave the record that eliminates a showing of malicious prosecution, while also providing the Sheme Team the criminal trial necessary for them to move on to a civil case.

Question for Rumpole:

The daily threads (hearings, jury selection...) are closed at the end of the event. Is this the thread for comments on the topics after they are closed?

Yes

For Jury selection I left thread open yesterday,.. and continuing there today... but I think it should be limited to discusion about what happens in court.. and of course wider issues of jury selection.


I have been at forums where general discussion soon flows after a hearing.. naturally... but you end up with SAME discussion in two places... That is why once a specific hearing is over I close it..but dont want to stop discussion.. just keep it in one place.

Jury selection will be ongoing for several days though.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Thanks! I do not have the time nor patience necessary to follow everything, especially the CTH thread of comments. Knowing there will be some good information shared there (and if there is >100 comments the site goes into slow motion), I just paste the page to a doc and search out select words and user names after the commenting dies down. This sometimes leads to topics for comments here, and it also makes it easier not to get lost in the 90% of conversation only comments, to focus on the bigger picture that day.

Reaching for one's pocket simply does not constitute imminent use of unlawful force. Thus, regardless of what Martin thought regarding such action, the belief that Zimmerman was reaching for a gun would not be a reasonable fear.

The great irony there is that for BDLR to attempt such an argument would concede Zimmerman's self-defense claim by default, since there is no logical way to claim that reaching for one's pocket constitutes imminent use of unlawful force, while simultaneously claiming that Zimmerman did not have reasonable fear of imminent risk of life or great bodily harm at the time he used deadly force.

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"That the attacker sustained a mortal wound is a matter that should have been considered by the deceased before he committed himself to the task he undertook." - 5th DCA, Stinson v. State (Fl)

I have to add to this that no one--neither George nor W8--has indicated that any verbal threats were made in the exchange just prior to George reaching for his cell phone, which makes Martin's supposed fear even less reasonable. George has even said that he told Martin that he (George) didn't have a problem with him.


Excellent point. That State strategy also means that they admit that Martin struck first.

Zimmerman reaching for cell phone perceived as gun justifies physical assault.

OK, then how about Trayvon reaching for waist band? And what about Trayvon reaching for holstered gun?

The fact that Martin did not just continue on home especially if he was afraid, which obviously he wasn't, will be the hardest part to get by the jury for the State.

GZ lost sight of him and Trayvon knew that. The State has no witnesses or proof GZ chased Trayvon down and attacked him.

Just getting back on line...I haven't a clue what has taken place this morning, although I hear via Jean C., 41 potentials have been dismissed. I'm not aware of what the intellictual caliper of the candidates this morning, but I really don't believe those who have settled in the Sanford area are MIT graduates, or Mensa material. Sorry if that sounds harsh. I picture those living in the area are hard scrabble trying to forge a living, getting by, and just don't get what this case is really about.

I had a lot of respect for Mark Eiglash, who said on Dr. Drew last night that *George is lying about something in those 7 minutes*, I was truly sorry to hear him say that, as I really thought he had gotten what's going on here.

Frankly, I'm sick of hearing Trayvon was a child, teen, young, what ever. Someone on the Fox blog yesterday asked if he was on the honor roll and college bound. Really?

Interesting info that may have already been seen : http://adai.uw.edu/marijuana/factsheets/aggression.htm

And not just physical assault, but assault with potentially deadly force. That raises the bar considerably as to how serious the injuries were that Martin had to have reasonably feared.

Coming up on FOX - Bill O'Reilly - Will George get a fair trial or have people convicted him already?

Pay attention to jury pool demographics.

Yes, John I have been reading your info and discussion at CTH

But... you can't fight City Hall. The fix is in.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

You've given 2 important reasons. For me, a third reason difficult to get past is that George told them about the screams before knowing they were recorded on the various 911 calls by the tenants.

Wowzer! O'Reilly said that the media has not been fair to George and that he will be monitoring during the trial.

Thanks, Bill.

So glad you gave us the update - I was so curious but didn't have time to watch. Love it when BOR decides to focus on a case!

Finally someone who's not afraid of the truth.