As the highly publicized trial of the unprovoked murder of an unarmed 17-year-old Black male by a 28-year-old Latino-Caucasian Jewish neighborhood watchman continues in Sanford, Fla., many wonder if Trayvon Martin’s family will receive the justice they’ve sought for the past 17 months or if George Zimmerman will literally get away with murder.
“Check all the sly, underhanded stuff their doing. They’re trying to set up the case for [Zimmerman] to get off by saying [Martin] was high, like that’s justification to get killed for,” said urban sociologist La Meh Nua.
Race has figured prominently since the onset, when Zimmerman admittedly shot the Martin to death in a gated community on Feb. 26, 2012. Martin’s supporters contend that he was profiled, stalked, confronted, assaulted and then killed after retailiating and getting the better of the battle.
Although initially arrested that same night, the quasi cop used his “get out of jail free” card and was released without charges after brief questioning by Sanford police. No forensics, sobriety or toxicology tests were taken. Pressure from the public resulted in Zimmerman eventually being formally charged in mid-April.
“If it had been the other way around, had the shooter been Black and the victim an honorary white, do you think it would’ve turned out the same way?” Nua said. “Look at who they tested … the victim, not the assailant. George attended law school, plus his father’s a judge; he knew enough to contrive his plea of self-defense as proven by his professor [Alexis Carter].”
Carter reflected on the stand on Wednesday, July 3.
“I remember talking about [stand your ground law] quite a few times.”
One bit of evidence of note was the 911 call Zimmerman made that tragic night while he pursued the teen.
“These a—holes, they always get away,” Zimmerman mutters while on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. “He’s running…”
“OK, which way is he running?”
“These f—g coons …”
“Are you following him?”
“Yeah!”
“OK, we don’t need you to do that.”
On March 26, 2012, his alleged best friend Joe Oliver appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” attempting to justify the derogatory term.
“That’s a term that I listen to over and over on there, and to me, it’s a matter of interpretation of whether he’s saying ‘coon’ or ‘goon.’ I am a 53-year-old man, and I don’t know too many people younger than 40 who use that term as a racial slur. As far as the other word, ‘goon,’ I’ve been informed by my 17-year-old daughter that, that, amongst her peers, is a term of endearment.”
Yet attorneys on both sides now claim that Zimmerman actually said, “These f—g punks always get away.”
Additionally, analysts say that throughout this trial, by allowing the defense to utilize video footage of Zimmerman detailing accounts of what he says happened on the rainy night Martin had his life taken, the defense tactically allowed their client to share his story without facing the scrutiny of cross-examination.
On Monday, Judge Debra Nelson announced that she’ll allow the defense to introduce evidence of Martin’s marijuana use, no matter how miniscule.
“The defense counsel has made a very conscious decision that they are committed to making this 17-year-old young, Black child appear to be some thug and throw him into some negative light,” determined the Martin family’s co-counsel, Daryl Parks. “It is totally wrong what they are trying to do to his character and to the image of him in this case. The truth of the matter in this case is about what happened during that seven minutes that the two of them were engaged.”
The prosecution rested its case on Friday, concluding two weeks of testimonies, which they hope has persuaded jurors to render a guilty verdict that will place the defendant behind bars for up to 25 years. Defense made a motion for acquittal, which was denied. The same day, medical-examiner Dr. Shiping Bao explained Trayvon’s slow, painful death.
“I believe he was alive for one to 10 minutes after he was shot. His heart was bleeding until there was no blood left,” Bao told prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda.
Sabrina Fulton and Gladys Zimmerman each claimed it was their son’s screams on a neighbor’s 911 recording from that fateful night.
On Monday, the defense’s first full day saw Tracy Martin deny previously not knowing the screams were his son’s. He later said in court that the recorded cries were the last sounds he heard his child make.