A RACIST TRAIN WRECK OF A TRIAL

Neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman "profiled" black teenager Trayvon Martin, "stalked" him, and started the fight that led to his death, prosecutors asserted.

But the testimony of nearly every witness for the prosecution bolstered Mr. Zimmerman’s claim he acted in self defense, said attorney Andrew Branca, author of "The Law of Self Defense."

The prosecution’s case was so weak that Judge Debra Nelson should have granted the defense motion for a directed verdict of acquittal, said Mr. Branca, who is covering the trial for the blog Legal Insurrection.

When Mr. Zimmerman shot Mr. Martin, they were on the ground. The one on top was banging the head of the one on the bottom against the pavement.

Mr. Zimmerman was on top, the prosecution contends.  It is Mr. Martin’s voice which is heard calling for help on a 911 tape, prosecutors say.

Mr. Martin was on top, said the eyewitness called by the prosecution.  Mr. Zimmerman’s injuries were consistent with his claim of self defense, and he seemed pleased when he was told (falsely) the fight had been videotaped, said the police officers the prosecutors put on the stand.

It was their son screaming, testified Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton.  But when he played the tape for Tracy Martin, he said it wasn’t Trayvon’s voice, testified the lead detective.  The screamer was Mr. Zimmerman, said half a dozen defense witnesses.  It’s impossible to tell who was screaming, testified an FBI audio expert.

The prosecution’s star witness, Rachel Jeantel, 19, was talking with Mr. Martin on his cell phone when the fight started, but doesn’t know who threw the first punch, she acknowledged during cross examination.  She was belligerent, admitted to multiple lies, couldn’t read the letter she’d allegedly written to Trayvon’s mother.

"Rachel Jeantel was a train wreck as a witness," said defense attorney and blogger Jeralyn Merritt (TalkLeft). "Most strikingly, she made Trayvon Martin out to be the profiler of Zimmerman."

Mr. Martin described Mr. Zimmerman to her as a "creepy ass cracker," Ms. Jeantel said.

Two employees of NBC News doctored the tape of the call Mr. Zimmerman made to the Sanford Police Department to report suspicious behavior to make it appear he had a racial motive.  In fact, it wasn’t until after the dispatcher asked him if he could identify the race of the person behaving suspiciously did Mr. Zimmerman say: "he looks black."  

Since prosecutors offered no other evidence of racial bias, this appears to have been the basis for their assertion Mr. Zimmerman "profiled" Mr. Martin.

A toxicology report found traces of marijuana in Mr. Martin’s blood and urine, which could account for why Mr. Zimmerman thought he was behaving suspiciously, but prosecutors withheld this exculpatory evidence from the defense.

Mr. Zimmerman got out of his truck and followed Mr. Martin after police told him not to, prosecutors asserted.  But he never told him that, the police dispatcher testified. He did ask which way Mr. Martin was going, which Mr. Zimmerman might have interpreted as being asked to follow him, Sean Noffke said. 

"All of this evidence makes clear that Zimmerman should never have been arrested," said George Parry, a former federal prosecutor who practices law in Philadelphia.  That he was "is a sad reflection of the prosecution’s cowardice in the face of media-spawned hysteria."

The shooting of Trayvon Martin was racially motivated, said most in the "mainstream" media.  To sustain their narrative, some journalists fabricated evidence.  NBC doctored the NEN tape.  ABC and CBS doctored photos to make Mr. Zimmerman’s injuries seem less serious.  Mr. Zimmerman had uttered a racial slur, CNN claimed, when the word he had said was "cold."  CNN also broadcast his Social Security number.

Many news organizations broadcast or printed a photo of Mr. Martin when he was 12, not as he was at 17.  This caused Jeannee Nanalo, who could see only that the bigger guy was on top, to tell police initially she thought Mr. Zimmerman was the aggressor, she testified.  (Trayvon Martin was 6 feet tall and weighed 160 lbs, the police report said. Mr. Zimmerman was 5’9".  No weight was listed.  A friend said he was 5’8", 170.)

George Zimmerman’s mother is Peruvian.  A great grandfather was black.  He was raised in a mixed race household.  Black friends testified on his behalf.  

If George Zimmerman had Hispanicized his first name (as Geraldo Rivera did) and adopted his maternal last name, it’s doubtful he’d have been arrested, much less put on trial for murder, said historian Victor Davis Hanson. 

Jorge Meza would have been spared this ordeal.  George Zimmerman must hope the jury has more integrity, more respect for the law and the truth than do the prosecutors, the judge, and so many journalists.

This entire trial is a racist train wreck, not just one witness.  It is a travesty of the American judicial system.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.