Patterico's Pontifications

7/15/2013

Zimmerman Verdict Fallout and Notes

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:25 am



A few loosely related links and thoughts on the fallout from the Zimmerman acquittal:

Barack Obama has spoken on George Zimmerman’s acquittal:

The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.

Mr. President, George Zimmerman was acquitted. Therefore, his case has nothing to do with “the tide of gun violence.” Just like when you said that Trayvon Martin could be your son, you are stomping all over your d[vowel omitted]ck, and you need to just shut up.

You’re welcome.

DoJ has been asked to, and has, re-opened its investigation of whether to charge Zimmerman with civil rights violations. First of all, DoJ has a little conflict of interest problem, since it has now been caught encouraging protestors to demand Zimmerman be prosecuted.

The legal watchdog Judicial Watch released an audio recording Thursday of a Department of Justice staffer urging Sanford, Fla., city officials and the minority advocacy group Dream Defenders to seek justice for Trayvon Martin, because “if a community perceives that there’s something wrong in the black community, there’s something wrong.”

Second, the case doesn’t even come close to meeting DoJ guidelines for a federal prosecution. Not even close.

But Barack Obama says this is about gun violence, so I suppose there will be pressure on DoJ to mount a bogus prosecution.

But the person who really needs an investigation is Angela Corey. As John Fund explains (h/t Instapundit):

The Florida Bar’s rules state that the government’s attorneys shall “refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause . . . [and] make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense.”

Angela Corey flagrantly violated those standards. Her prosecutors waited months before giving the defense photos showing the extent of George Zimmerman’s injuries the night of the shooting. Ben Kruidbos, the information-technology director for the state attorney’s office, was shocked when he learned that prosecutors hadn’t turned over to the defense evidence of photos and text messages that Kruidbos had recovered from Martin’s cell phone. The photos included images of a pile of jewelry on a bed, underage nude females, marijuana, and a hand menacingly holding a semiautomatic weapon.

Kruidbos feared he would put his job in jeopardy if he came forward with this information, but he also was concerned about a possible miscarriage of justice, so he directed his attorneys to alert Zimmerman’s defense team about the withheld evidence. He turned over the photos in late May, and the state placed Kruidbos on administrative leave until this past Friday, the day the Zimmerman case went to the jury. That morning, according to the Florida Times-Union, he received a hand-delivered letter from Corey informing him that he was fired and that he “can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.” The treatment he received for telling the defense about government misconduct will discourage others from becoming whistleblowers.

I hope he sues the crap out of them, and I hope Corey is investigated. Mr. Kruidbos, let me know where I can send money to help fund a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman has his own lawsuit against NBC, and may go to law school:

After his acquittal on murder charges for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman may go to law school to help people wrongly accused of crimes like himself, close friends told Reuters on Sunday.

The 29-year old was found not guilty late Saturday for shooting the unarmed black teenager in a case that sparked a national debate on race and gun laws. One of his first calls was to defense witness John Donnelly and his wife Leanne Benjamin.

They got to know Zimmerman in 2004 when he and a black friend opened up an insurance office in a Florida building where Benjamin worked. They grew close and the couple spent time with him during the trial.

Over dinner with Zimmerman recently, Benjamin said he told them he would like to go to law school.”I’d like to help other people like me,” she quoted him as telling them.

Zimmerman is even talking about being a prosecutor. His lawyer Mark O’Mara says “prosecuting appropriately – not like what he got – is something he’s very interested in.” I think that’s laudable. Being a good prosecutor, in my view, does help the innocent — as it allows one to refuse to prosecute cases that are being brought because of public pressure. (Until the political system swoops in and gives it to another prosecutor . . . but that’s another matter.)

Yes, Zimmerman’s goal is a good one. But he might be better served, and serve better, being a private lawyer who sues media outlets who smear people.

“The person they are talking about is somebody completely different,” [Zimmerman friend John] Donnelly quoted Zimmerman as telling him recently. “Sometimes I have to go look at a mirror. They are talking about a totally different human being. They are talking about a racist. I’m not a racist.”

He said Zimmerman was anything but.

“He’s been mentoring young black kids for years, he launched a campaign to help a homeless black man who was beaten up by a white kid, and he still just can’t believe all the things that have been said about him in the media.”

LAPD Sgt. Stacy Koon once gave mouth to mouth resuscitation to a black transvestite, and was demonized as a racist to the point where someone came to his halfway house with a gun looking to kill him. Koon wasn’t there so the crazed gunman killed someone else. This is what Big Media does with people. It chews them up ad spits them out and immediately looks for another chew toy to torture.

I want people held accountable. Let’s start with the lawsuit against NBC News bankrupted and an investigation into Angela Corey.


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