So how is it possible that they could justify letting Zimmerman go free without charging him with any crime whatsoever? That is the ultimate question of the day.
Newly released information by the Florida state attorney, who is charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the killing Trayvon Martin, shows that Sanford police had a hard time believing Zimmerman’s claims that he thought his life was in danger.
“His actions are inconsistent with those of a person who has stated he was in fear of another subject,” an investigator wrote in an early report on the Feb. 26 shooting. “Investigative findings show that George Michael Zimmerman had at least two opportunities to speak with Trayvon Benjamin Martin in order to defuse the circumstances,” and Zimmerman twice “failed to identify himself as a concerned resident or a neighborhood watch member.”
This newest revelation comes in light of the fact that Zimmerman had his bond revoked and his wife was arrested after the courts learned that the husband and wife lied about not having money to pay for a defense and that the two colluded to move more than $100,000. Their cryptic conversations were recorded and deciphered by federal investigators at the behest of Attorney General Eric Holder.
The report also said that Martin’s and Zimmerman’s respective physical dimensions did not place Zimmerman at a disadvantage worthy of lethal force, according to the Associated Press.
“Investigative findings show the physical injuries displayed by [Zimmerman] are marginally consistent with a life-threatening violent episode described by him, during which neither a deadly weapon nor deadly force was deployed by Trayvon Martin,” the report said.
The evidence released this afternoon includes a one-hour video recording of an interview between lead investigator Christopher Serino and Zimmerman at the Sanford, Fla., police headquarters, a pair of audio recordings between Serino and Zimmerman, and 29 pages of police reports and notes, including a handwritten narrative by Zimmerman recounting the events on the night of Feb. 26.
Hours after the release of the new evidence, Serino, who had expressed doubts over Zimmerman’s story and suggested that charges be filed, requested to be reassigned to patrol duties, the AP reports.
Zimmerman, on the night he killed Martin, said he was on the way to the grocery store when he saw a male “casually walking in the rain looking into homes.”
He said that he pulled his car over, called 911 and told the operator what he’d witnessed. At that point, he said, the male fled to a dark area, and then, he said, “as the dispatcher was asking me for an exact location the suspect emerged from the darkness & circled by vehicle.”
The “suspect,” Zimmerman wrote, next disappeared between some houses.
Zimmerman gave the dispatcher his location, and as he stepped out of his vehicle to take note of the exact address, he wrote, Martin emerged again from the darkness and asked, “You got a problem?” Zimmerman reported that he said no and that “the suspect” said, “You do now.”
According to Zimmerman, when he reached for his cellphone to call 911 again, Martin punched him in the face. He said that he fell backward to the ground and that Martin hopped on top of him and began to slam his head into the sidewalk. Zimmerman wrote that he yelled for help. Then, he wrote, Martin reached for the 9 mm handgun that Zimmerman had tucked in his waistband and said, “Your [sic] gonna die tonight Mother Fucker.”
Moments later, Zimmerman said, he pulled the gun and fired a single shot into Martin’s torso.
Martin said, “You got me,” according to Zimmerman. Then he straddled Martin, he said, pressing the backs of the boy’s hands to the ground. A short time later, officers arrived and found Martin dead, face down in the grass.
Investigators, who noticed several inconsistencies in Zimmerman’s story and indicated in the released reports that there was enough evidence to charge Zimmerman with “homicide-negligent manslaughter” in the shooting.
The investigator noted that Zimmerman said he was afraid of Martin, but still followed him. “His actions are inconsistent,” wrote the investigator.
But the investigator was mysteriously overruled despite the evidence stating the contrary. Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee and State Attorney Norman Wolfinger both claimed there wasn’t enough evidence and that Zimmerman had a right to defend himself. Zimmerman was a free man the next morning.
— terry shropshire
