Star Witness Against George Zimmerman Flops Big Time

The New American ^ | 28 June 2013 | Alex Newman

[Rockingham]

Supposedly, there was an initial contact between the two, with Zimmerman later following Martin in order to see what he was up to, thinking that was what the police operator wanted him to do. At some point, Martin attacked Zimmerman, apparently catching him unawares.

Notably, even though Zimmerman did not identify himself as Neighborhood Watch and was following Martin to some degree, that did not give Martin the right to attack Zimmerman. Martin, by throwing the first blows and putting his opponent in fear of his life, moved the transaction to the point that lethal force could be used against him.

[zencycler]

You make a fair point, and I’d tend to agree. I think there’s reasonable arguments on both sides of that issue, which was mostly what I meant. On all other issues, I just listen to those against Zimmerman and think - what, are you insane?

[Rockingham]

Some months ago, I was astonished to hear even my level-headed mother make anti-Zimmerman comments. After some pushback from me, my mother fessed up: she had worried more than a little over the years about the kind of mischief that her three sons might get into when we were growing up, and Zimmerman made tangible again the worries she had once experienced for the safety and well-being of me and my brothers.

[trisham]

She looks like a thug.

[zencycler]

I wish I could say I had the same success when confronted with similar situations among some of the Democrat (but otherwise level-headed) members of my own extended family when discussing the Zimmerman case. I think their temporary insanity over this issue has resulted from the following:

1) Certain issues like guns and alleged racism are hot button issues among many on the left, which can immediately shut off their ability to think logically about an issue.

2) When your source of news comes from NYT, CNN and MSNBC, then the first impressions you got from all the misinformation they put out on this case is likely all that you still know about it.

3) Liberalism in general is a brain disease, and some of the more serious symptoms of this disease which can impair one's reason to think logically have been exacerbated by the factors mentioned above.

[Rockingham]

There is a solid body of political science research and opinion surveys that show liberals to be poorly informed as to the facts. Of course, liberalism is less about facts than about moral preening.

[KC_Conspirator]

"To say that Miss Jeantel's testimony was anything other than a fiasco would be an understatement,” Martin said in statement distributed by the National Center for Public Policy Research. "The prosecution did a real disservice to the memory of Trayvon Martin in apparently not preparing Rachel Jeantel well enough to testify. To the casual observer, it seems that Miss Jeantel did not have any understanding of the gravity of testifying in this trial."

Meanwhile, Jeantel's demeanor in court — described in media reports as "annoyed," "confused," "combative," "hostile," and more — was probably not helpful to prosecutors either. Among the more controversial comments: referring to the defense attorney as "the bald man" and answering questions with remarks like "that's retarded."

"Her seeming contempt for the proceedings of the court itself was detrimental," Project 21's Martin continued. "While some outside observers were very critical of the defense's tactics early on, it must be remembered that the burden is not really on the defense here as much as it is on the prosecution to prepare their star witness. It seems that did not happen here."

This is actually a very good point by Kevin. There are plenty of suspect things that the prosecution is doing, but NOT prepping your star witness would rank really high up there on incompetence. This woman appeared not to be prepped at all. This is a normal thing that is taught in law school.

I understand that once a person takes the stand its out of your hands. I have heard and sene nutjobs who reverted to lying and acting like a ranting, raving lunatic on the stand after spending countless hours of coaching.