DudeMan2766 wrote:Zimmerman is under no legal obligation to stop even if the dispatch ordered him too. They can't use that argument.
They most certainly can use it to establish frame of mind and to paint GZ as a rouge. They can't charge with a specific crime for Failing to Adhere To The Wishes Of A Phone Operator, but it absolutely can be used as character evidence to support other charges.
ExPatriatePen wrote:tifosi77 wrote:... I tend to think GZ was deceitful in his retelling of events with just enough detail ...
tif, can you provide examples of what you're referring too?
Thanks.
One witness testified that GZ was a pretty good student in the criminology class where they talked about self defense law and whatnot, that he had a pretty savvy understanding of the rules of the road, so to speak. And reading Zimmerman's written statement (which I believe was provided the night of the shooting) and watching the video of GZ telling the story of the incident to police investigators (which I believe was a day or two later, I forget exactly), there are a few nuggets that stand out as if.... tweaked slightly.
At not point during the minutes spent following TM from the car or after exiting does GZ make an effort to identify himself as a neighborhood watchman. (Something the police investigators noted, who believed the evidence supported a charge of manslaughter.)
GZ says in the written statement that TM circled his car once, but that nugget isn't in the video statement, nor does he mention that to the police operator.
GZ initially claimed he was struck 20 or 30 times. Which, considering the head wounds were mended with Band-aids seems.... incredulous.
He claims he got out of his car to check for a street sign... there are precisely three streets in this neighborhood, where he has lived for several years and been the 'neighborhood watch' officer, but he doesn't remember the street names? And the record of his prior 911 calls indicate that he had no problem at all remembering the street names on those occasions. Further, there are apparently no street signs anywhere near where GZ parked his truck to get on foot or where he walked (which is where the confrontation ultimately happened).
Following that last point, on the phone call GZ notes "Sh|t, he's running." Then the operator asks if he's following TM, to which he replies "Yeah". So the record shows the reason he got out of the car was to follow TM, not to look for a street sign.
The gap between the end of the phone call and the altercation, based on other 911 calls reporting the shooting, was probably a good minute and a half or so. Both GZ statements lead one to the inference that GZ hung up the phone, turned around, and there was TM asking if he had a problem.
The ME report indicated that both of TMs lungs were punctured by the single gunshot. Zimmerman's statement is that after he drew his gun and fired, TM said "You got me" (or words to that effect). I'm not really sure how effectively one could speak with two punctured lungs, and I don't recall this being raised during the trial, but my understanding is that there's no way to generate positive air pressure to expel air through the windpipe and across the vocal chords with two perf'd lungs. The air just circulates through the perforation(s) and in-and-out of the bullet hole; it's called a sucking chest wound. But it does open up a window of further speculation..... that TM saw the gun and was surrendering
before the shot was fired.
So that's some of the things that bug me.
