The defense in the George Zimmerman trial is expected to rest its case shortly, which leads to the question that has captured national attention for over a year now: Will Zimmerman walk? Should he walk? On radio this morning, Stu and Pat went through some of the facts in the case and, unfortunately for the prosecution, it's not looking like there's much of a legal case.
From the beginning, the media and people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have made this a racial charged incident in which a white man killed a black teenager. Even once it became known that Zimmerman was in fact Hispanic, the narrative changed only slightly. The media continued to paint Zimmerman as an over-zealous aggressor, while Trayvon Martin was seen as a saint.
“George Zimmerman is being inserted into horror movies retroactively. He's being portrayed as Satan,” Pat said. “And, you know, the opposite was true for Trayvon Martin. He was supposed to be this angelic character. The president of the United States said, ‘If he had a son, he would look like Trayvon.’ I mean we went through that whole thing where he was pure as the driven snow and George Zimmerman was this awful racist white guy, which he isn't even a white guy, just out to murder a black person for some reason. And nothing like that has seemingly been the case since the trial began.”
“The racism thing is completely dead, completely dead,” Stu continued. “You can still argue that he did the wrong thing at this time, he handled this incident improperly, he shouldn't have tried to get involved in the situation, he should have – I don't know, risked the fact that maybe he was going to go break in and just wait for the police to come or whatever. You can argue all of that. But the racism thing is completely dead.”
And based on the testimony yesterday, from renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Vincent de Mayo, it looks like the idea of Zimmerman being the aggressor that night is also being called into question.
ATTORNEY: Are you aware that Mr. Zimmerman said that Trayvon Martin was straddling him?
DR. DE MAYO: Yes, sir.
ATTORNEY: And leaning over him?
DR. DE MAYO: Yes, sir.
ATTORNEY: And that Mr.†Zimmerman had the gun in his right hand?
DR. DE MAYO: Yes, sir.
ATTORNEY: And if you would describe then what you know about that sequence of events compared with the medical, forensic, and gunshot evidence.
DR. DE MAYO: The medical evidence of the gunshot wound is consistent with his opinion, with his statement. But the fact that we know the clothing is two to four inches away is consistent with somebody leaning over the person doing the shooting and that the clothing is two to four inches away from the person.
“I mean, the way he described it, I mean, if you think about it, if you're on your back and you're the one on the losing side of this fight, your clothing, his hoodie, the famous hoodie is going to be pressed up against his body. Not only because of the fact that, you know, just gravity will do that. Also, his shirt, his hoodie was wet. So if you think of a wet sweatshirt, what's going to happen? When you're leaning backwards, it's going to be leaning up against your body, almost sticking to your body. If you're leaning over someone, because the clothing's heavier, it's going to fall away from your body. He also had an Arizona ice tea or fruit drink or something in his pocket of the hoodie, so that's going to make it lean down even further,” Stu explained. “And this, this idea that Zimmerman had executed him with the gun pressed up against his skin is completely disproved by this evidence. You know, if you think about, he's on the bottom shooting up. His clothing is four inches away from his body. And they can tell that from, you know, what happened as far as the forensics go with the bullet. So obviously Trayvon was on top. Obviously they were in an altercation. We know because of the evidence of the back of Zimmerman's head and the broken nose that he was not on the winning side of this altercation, and it seems completely justifiable that at that moment he believed his life was in danger, he was in danger of serious harm, and he used his gun and, you know, what looks like his Second Amendment right to defend himself.”
In laying out this evidence, Pat and Stu both reiterated that they do not necessarily support Zimmerman or his actions, but they do want to see the justice system work as it is intended to. In this particular case, the evidence seems to corroborate Zimmerman’s story that he acted in self-defense.
“I don't think he should have done this in the first place. I don't think he should have followed the guy. I think he should have left that up to the authorities,” Pat said. “But, you know, once he's in the situation and you're getting beaten and your head's getting smashed against the pavement and you think your life is in peril, what are you going to do? I mean, it's tragic that he went down that road but, you know, to charge him with murder is just, it's unconscionable at this point.”
Jeffy was quick to point out, however, that unless Zimmerman is completely exonerated, there is a good possibility he will still go to prison for some length of time on a lesser charge.
“I think, you know, to be honest about it, if I'm being completely honest, like, I have no vested interest in George Zimmerman other than the fact that I believe in our system and I want it to work for the best,” Stu said. “The best thing for probably all of us outside of George Zimmerman is that he does go to jail because God only knows what happens if this guy is set free after what the media has told America about this story, you know. But, you know, just because I care about the system and I care about, you know, his personal liberty, I think I want justice to be served. But the best thing for all of us probably is he goes to jail on some, I don't know, he was speeding at the time before he parked his truck. He's going to jail.”
Ultimately, Pat and Stu are both afraid that fear of violence and retribution will lead to an outcome that is not necessarily just.
“I mean, like, they did everything wrong in this case mainly because of fear from people like Al Sharpton, people who come in and incite these cases and light fires under people and blame every single piece of evidence that comes out in Zimmerman's favor on racism," he continued. “When you do that, you make people act erratically. And even if these guys in Sanford were good guys and just doing this because they felt they wanted to avoid a riot or something else, I mean, justice can't be served under those circumstances, and, you know, that's certainly been shown in this case I think so far.”
