Looks like Travon Martin’s past will NOT be allowed in court!
Lawyers for George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, will be barred from mentioning Mr. Martin’s marijuana use, history of fights or high school suspension during opening statements in Mr. Zimmerman’s trial, which begins June 10.
At a hearing Tuesday in a Seminole County court, Circuit Judge Debra Steinberg Nelson denied a string of defense motions concerning evidence that was intended to portray Mr. Martin as a troubled teenager with a propensity for fighting and an interest in guns. Prosecutors argued that such evidence had nothing to do with Mr. Martin’s death.
Because why would ANY of that be relevant. I mean just because somebody is a habitual drug user with a past history of violence, theft, and juvenile delinquency, that doesn’t have anything to do with claims that Mr. Zimmerman was assaulted and was fighting for his life against a teen who he suspected was casing homes to rob.
I’m also sure Zimmerman will get the same treatment, and the prosecution will not mention the messy breakup with his fiancee, or the dropped criminal charges for assaulting an undercover officer who failed to identify himself.
They’re just fixin’ for a lynching!
That’s not what this was about. This was a high tech method of poisoning the jury pool. No one can possibly say they don’t know who and what Treyvon was. They don’t have to hear it at trial, they will arrive already knowing.
I disagree. Even here in the Orlando area, many people know little about the case, and what they DO know is incorrect. All most folks will tell you is that a white guy that was a wannabe cop shot and killed an unarmed black child who was only walking around with candy and iced tea.
The prosecution is pulling every dirty trick they can: withholding evidence, juggling judicial calendars, and others. This case will be a sham, and even then I think that Zimmerman has a fair chance of walking out. At that point, they will try him on Federal charges of violating Martin’s civil rights. No matter what, Zimmerman’s life is ruined.
The lesson to be learned here is this: Mind your own business and protect only yourself and your interests, because when the fecal matter strikes the oscillating device, the neighbors you were assisting will hang you out to dry.
Saw some commentary on this by a Florida criminal attorney.
Florida’s law on this sort of thing is similar to most states. There are two kinds of past behavior evidence that are admissable. The first is evidence of a specific pattern of similar behavior that would show the jury that Martin regularly assaulted innocent people with intent to do great bodily harm. That is not what we are talking about here — we have a pattern of prior bad acts, but not specific enough to indicate Martin was prone to this particular conduct.
This kind of evidence is considered evidence of Martin’s reputation, which would only be relevant if Zimmerman was already aware of it at the time of the shooting — because it would indicate his “reasonable fear” that a known thug was assaulting him, and that accordingly, this known thug was likely trying to do great bodily harm to him. Since Zimmerman did not know Martin or his reputation beforehand, this stuff can only come in to impeach and rebut any prosecutorial claims that Martin was a choir boy who never would have done anything like this.
Therefor, the judge is not permitting the defense to initiate the introduction of Martin’s past behavior — if the prosecution (or prosecution witnesses) tries to claim Martin was a perfect angel, that is the prosecution introducing Martin’s past behavior into play. Which can then be rebutted and iompeached by the defense by replying with this evidence. . .
In other words, even with this decision, the prosecution is on notice not to try painting Martin as a Boy Scout who wouldn’t harm a fly and never did anything criminal or violent before. And if they try, and the judge declines to let this evidence in at that point, it’s a reversable error.