Trayvon Martin, unarmed teen killed in own neighborhood

[agalisgv]

Cyn--I didn't see your post before mine. I have the unfortunate habit of starting a post, then getting distracted and not finishing it till later. By that time, sometimes others have explained it better than I

But yeah to all you said

[reckless]

In the initial 911 call Zimmerman made, in which he claims that Martin appears to be on drugs (I guess he had more than twice the legal level of Skittles and/or Arizona Iced Tea in his bloodstream). The irony is that Zimmerman himself, sounds like he's the one who isn't sober (I'd be interested if anyone else reached that same conclusion).

Considering that FL law requires that a person who has shot someone be tested for being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, it seems mighty hinky that the Sanford PD never even attempted to do this with Zimmerman (in addition to the other SOP measures they conveniently overlooked or outright chose not to do WRT Zimmerman.

...Thoughts?

It's interesting that you noticed that. I had not seen the possibility of Zimmerman being intoxicated until I came across this article, which quoted a law enforcement expert on the same issue:

But law enforcement expert Rod Wheeler who listened to the tapes tells ABC News that Zimmerman, not Martin, sounded intoxicated in the police recordings of the 911 calls.

"When I listened to the 911 tape the first thing that came to my mind is this guy sounds intoxicated. Notice how he's slurring his words. We as trained law enforcement officers, we know how to listen for that right away and I think that's going to be an important element of this entire investigation," Wheeler said.

But Zimmerman was not tested.

[Cyn]

Cyn--I didn't see your post before mine. I have the unfortunate habit of starting a post, then getting distracted and not finishing it till later. By that time, sometimes others have explained it better than I

But yeah to all you said

Likewise .

Sometimes things take place (unfortunately the majority of them are tragic) in which political leanings, personal and/or religious beliefs, etc., take a backseat and are completely irrelevant. One of the things that leaves me are the attempts to use something like this as a conduit to prop one "side" up and demonize the "other." This is not the time to climb aboard a soapbox and preach stentorian from the mount - it is time to get to the truth behind what happened, make sure that the person's death was not in vain, and most importantly, work to make sure this doesn't happen again.

[IceAlisa]

If he was intoxicated--and this is going to be hard to prove now--that could explain the behavior. Are drunk/otherwise under the influence people allowed to carry and fire guns? You'd think they wouldn't.

[Anita18]

Hard to imagine a situation in which Zimmerman had reason to believe that his life was in danger.

Martin was unarmed and looks to weigh 100 lbs less than Zimmerman. IF Martin had attacked him (which doesn't look to be the case from the phone records), Zimmerman could have easily throw him off and gotten away.

[agalisgv]

reckless (or anyone else in the know)--if the feds did bring charges, what could they charge Zimmerman with?

Sometimes things take place (unfortunately the majority of them are tragic) in which political leanings, personal and/or religious beliefs, etc., take a backseat are are completely irrelevant.

ICAM

[IceAlisa]

Just heard on CBS radio that the only way the Feds could charge him is if they show there was a hate crime.

Martin was unarmed and looks to weigh 100 lbs less than Zimmerman. IF Martin had attacked him (which doesn't look to be the case from the phone records), Zimmerman could have easily throw him off and gotten away.

Right, that's what I read and why I said what I said. Hard to imagine.

[Cyn]

The only media that's been ignoring this story (as much as they can) is Fox News. CNN and others have covered it extensively.

Not to burst your bubble as I realize it's en vogue here to mock and denigrate Fox News, but I did a bit of digging, and your assertion that they've ignored this story is false.

The Fox News website's first article about this case was on March 8th, with additional follow-ups, articles, and updates, at the time of this post, there is an article with the latest information about the Federal probe and the information provided by his girlriend on their Home page.

While shows like The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity , and On the Record with Greta have focused almost exclusively on the 2012 election, Justice with Judge Jeanine will be covering this the Trayvon Martin case.

CNN's first article, OTOH, was posted on its website on March 12th. the main difference as far as coverage goes, is that CNN has several blog entries about the case.

[Vash01]

MSNBC article (case going to grand jury on April10):

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...rney-announces

On MSNBC, Lawrence O'donnell played a tape of the 911 call made by Zimmerman. He said there was an f-word followed by a racist epithet. I could not figure out what was said, or what word followed the f-word. Did anyone catch it? Now the attorneys for Trayvon's family are saying that proves it was a hate crime.

What bothers me the most was the police did not investigate Zimmerman at all; they took all he said at face value.

Not to sound like a racist, but Zimmerman (from his picture on TV) looks like a minority, but not black. Any idea what his race is? If he was a minority, how could he hate another minority? I hope there will be full investigation and justice will be served. I can't imagine what Trayvon's family must be going through. I read that his girl friend was so traumatized that she had to be hospitalized. Poor thing! She is just 16. What terrible thing to witness!

[orientalplane]

This story was on BBC news yesterday. I'm glad it is making waves around the world. It is truly shocking.

[DORISPULASKI]

Zimmerman is reported to be Hispanic.

In Florida, Hispanics are often Cuban and skew conservative Republican, as a group (think Sen. Marco Rubio). However, Herman Cain won the primary in FL. Well to do African American men are well regarded in FL in Republican circles, clearly.

However, if there's a crime in the neighborhood I'm visiting here, it is always assumed that the ******S did it. The young and African American and male are assumed to be criminals, lacking proof to the contrary.

I heard that the word Zimmerman said, following the word F****** was reported on TV as "coon", but it's unclear. Since it looks like the only way he might be convicted of murder is if it can be shown to be a hate crime, a lot may hang on voice analysis of that word.

The more I hear about Zimmerman, the more it sounds like he is paranoid about everyone though. He might be able to defend himself on the grounds that he is vicious to everyone, and therefore it is not a hate crime.

The more I learn about this case, the wrong-er it sounds.

A guy, upon proving he is a danger to everyone and not just a danger to African Americans, might not go to jail for a murder because he said it was self defense and the dead child cannot disprove it.

I feel sick.

[CassAgain]

Here's a chart that shows the disparity of coverage between the three cable news outlets from February 26 to March 19.

[NeilJLeonard]

Here's a chart that shows the disparity of coverage between the three cable news outlets from February 26 to March 19.

The comments I read are even more damning than the article....... Keep in mind that any site named "thinkprogress dot org" may well have it's own ax to grind regarding Fox.


NJL

[agalisgv]

Here's a chart that shows the disparity of coverage between the three cable news outlets from February 26 to March 19.

I had seen that. To be fair, though, the original claim was about Fox News--not cable shows. And Fox News has covered this on the front page of their website. As cyn said, Fox cable shows have been rather focused on the GOP primaries as up until yesterday, there has been quite a battle brewing. Since Romney won by such large margins in IL last night, I would expect Fox cable shows to switch more to general election coverage, and also some other current event topics like this one.

Neil, I had read some of the comments under this story posted on a conservative website, and it was vomit-inducing. But since commenting on online news sites seems to bring out the crazies (with a few exceptions), I don't know that I would put a lot of stock in that.

Back on the topic of Zimmerman, one interesting thing I read was that in Zimmerman's many calls to the police department, he wouldn't reveal his name or address in his calls. Also, he would call the non-emergency number rather than 911. I wonder if he thought that way the calls wouldn't be recorded or traced.

Anyhow, when the officers he spoke to asked for identification, Zimmerman would say he lives in the complex, and he needed to protect his anonymity from others there so they wouldn't know he was the one calling. To me that seemed odd because if you really believe you are helping out the community by reporting on crime, why would you be afraid of others knowing about that?

In the six previous calls Zimmerman made, he called to report suspicious looking behavior, and all the people he reported on were black. So it doesn't appear Zimmerman was targeting everyone equally.

Finally, apparently they are doing voice recognition analysis of the 911 tapes where they can hear screaming. Zimmerman claimed he was the one screaming for help, but no one came. The witnesses said it was Martin screaming. I think a lot will hinge on that as well.

[Anita18]

Not to sound like a racist, but Zimmerman (from his picture on TV) looks like a minority, but not black. Any idea what his race is? If he was a minority, how could he hate another minority? I hope there will be full investigation and justice will be served. I can't imagine what Trayvon's family must be going through. I read that his girl friend was so traumatized that she had to be hospitalized. Poor thing! She is just 16. What terrible thing to witness!

Really? A minority cannot hate another minority? I'm Asian and my parents are really quite liberal in our circles...but even they would blow a gasket if my sister or I ever dated a black man.

I really hope that they can get Zimmerman with something. If not a hate crime, then being a paranoid nutso who was carrying around a gun and looking for trouble.

[skatesindreams]

A man armed with a gun would not usually be the one who would need to "scream for help".

[PDilemma]

Here's a chart that shows the disparity of coverage between the three cable news outlets from February 26 to March 19.

Who cares who covered it when or where? Clearly the matter has been covered in the press or we wouldn't be discussing it here.

This is just to stir up partisan sniping about media which isn't going to do anything to help the family or achieve justice.

[Anita18]

A man armed with a gun would not usually be the one who would need to "scream for help".

He was gonna be knocked in the head with a can of iced tea, for heaven's sake!

[Rex]

Zimmerman is reported to be Hispanic.

In Florida, Hispanics are often Cuban and skew conservative Republican, as a group (think Sen. Marco Rubio). However, Herman Cain won the primary in FL. Well to do African American men are well regarded in FL in Republican circles, clearly.

However, if there's a crime in the neighborhood I'm visiting here, it is always assumed that the ******S did it. The young and African American and male are assumed to be criminals, lacking proof to the contrary.

I heard that the word Zimmerman said, following the word F****** was reported on TV as "coon", but it's unclear. Since it looks like the only way he might be convicted of murder is if it can be shown to be a hate crime, a lot may hang on voice analysis of that word.

The more I hear about Zimmerman, the more it sounds like he is paranoid about everyone though. He might be able to defend himself on the grounds that he is vicious to everyone, and therefore it is not a hate crime.

The more I learn about this case, the wrong-er it sounds.

A guy, upon proving he is a danger to everyone and not just a danger to African Americans, might not go to jail for a murder because he said it was self defense and the dead child cannot disprove it.

I feel sick.

He'd better hide if he doesn't go to jail...I expect retribution of some sort.

[hydro]

The more I learn about this case, the wrong-er it sounds.

A guy, upon proving he is a danger to everyone and not just a danger to African Americans, might not go to jail for a murder because he said it was self defense and the dead child cannot disprove it.

I feel sick.

It is really sickening that in FL you can shoot someone point blank and not have to answer for it. I really don't understand the legalities of it, but there is something seriously wrong and disturbing about that.