Posted on 05/24/2013 1:10:09 PM PDT by drewh
Trayvon Martin's texts messages and photos were released by George Zimmerman's attorneys Thursday. The messages and photos paint a troubling picture of the teen, as he chats with friends about drugs, guns and fighting
Slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin's cellphone texts and photos show him chatting with friends about marijuana, fighting and guns, new potential evidence shows.
Data from the 17-year-old's cell phone was released Thursday by lawyers for George Zimmerman, whose second-degree murder trial for killing Martin begins next month.
The texts and photos paint a troubling portrait of Martin's home and school life in the months before his death.
In one exchange, a friend texts that Martin is turning into "a hoodlum."
"Naw, I'm a gangsta," his reply read.
In another, he refers to a fistfight with another boy who "snitched" on him.
"I lost da 1st round but won da 2nd and 3rd," he writes, according to transcripts posted on the defense team's website.
"Im not done with fool…he gone hav 2 see me again."
The texts are peppered with pot references, and there are photos of what appear to be marijuana plants.
A series of photos show him blowing smoke rings.
One friend calls him a "weedhead."
In one exchange, a friend jokes that he "better be high talking a lot dat s---"
"Naw I ain't smok 2day u just wanna act a ass," he replies.
Perhaps most troubling are the photos and references to getting a gun.
In an exchange on Feb. 18, 2012, eight days before his death, he asks a friend if he or she has a gun.
A text later that day asks Martin if he wants a "22 revolver. "
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trayvon-martin-texts-reference-guns-fighting-pot-article-1.1353832#ixzz2UF6SR89x
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Had a friend call him just a kid. Told my friend that he was a young man, and old enough to enlist in the Marines if his mom or dad signed off. And that in a matter of months, he wouldn’t even need them to sign.
wow, he sure seemed like a mean mean mean nasty guy. So glad he’s dead.
If John Boehner had a son-in-law...
On that People magazine cover of St. Trayvon, the whites of his 10-year-old eyes have been PhotoShopped to make them whiter—I assume to appear more youthful and less like someone who was already using drugs.
I tell you, I’ve never seen a case of self defense so incredibly railroaded like this one, and I put blame 1000% on Obama. Stuff like this happens every single day, every-single-day, and because the Kenyan had to flame the racial fire, this guy Zimmerman has gone through absolute hell.
If he’s going to be presented as an angel, the defense should be qable to rebut this.
Not so. If there is evidence that Martin had a reputation for a propensity to violence, unbeknowst to Zimmerman, that can come in. It is referred to as evidence of reputation.
Here is a case that cites the relevant case law, and also illustrates the threshold for sufficiency of the evidence, to find reputation.
Simon v. State, 4D08-2903 (Fl 4th DCA, 2010)
"An exception to the rule that character evidence is inadmissible 'permits an accused to use character evidence to show that the victim of a crime was the aggressor and that the accused acted in self-defense.'" Williams v. State, 982 So. 2d 1190, 1193 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008) (quoting Hedges v. State, 667 So. 2d 420, 422 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)); see also S: 90.404(1)(b)1., Fla. Stat. (2009). "Evidence of the victim's reputation is admissible to disclose his or her propensity for violence and the likelihood that the victim was the aggressor." Berrios v. State, 781 So. 2d 455, 458 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001).
Wow all this time and you people still don’t know that graphic uses the WRONG Trayvon Martin, someone who ain’t dead and lives in North Carolina.
If I were that bro I would be a suing somebody.
If reputation evidence is offered to show the victim's conduct, the defendant's prior knowledge of the victim's reputation is not necessary.Banks v. State, 351 So.2d 1071, 1072 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 354 So.2d 986 (Fla. 1977)
;]
On an earlier thread someone mentioned that this evidence could make it in as rebuttal...if the prosecutors cont the myth TM was “14 and honor student”. Also, this is being revealed for potential jurors
This evidence will keep the prosecutors from making this trial “Zimmerman bad...Trayvon good”. Now..,just have to worry about New Black Panthers intimidating the jury
Well, we know the prosecution in this case is dumber than dirt so they may just open that line up for examination by accident because no way any prosecutor is going to serve that one up unless they make a huge error. Biggest thing going for Z in this case is his injuries. If he can get that in properly, the self defense defense wins. If they don’t get it in effectively, not so good.
I think this is why they are not using the stand your ground defense. The state has evidence to show that Z was keeping tabs on Saint Treyvon. So, to use that defense could hurt their case of self defense because the state will throw up the image of a guy following St Treyvon because he was black in a SYGD. No way the state can show or prove that Treyvon was threatened by Z causing St Trevon to confront him physically; Z had a legal right to keep him in eye sight; Z is a neighborhood watch guy and lastly he was doing his volunteer job. St Trevyon reacted beyond legal bounds and Z was defending himself, case closed. All IMHO.
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