Posted on 06/28/2013 11:41:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Jeantel and attorney West
After Rachel Jeantel left the witness stand following another six hours of grueling cross-examination by George Zimmerman’s lawyers, she immediately prompted a national debate about the language and attitudes of black youth culture and whether her testimony had helped or hurt the defendant.
Jeantel was billed as the prosecution’s star witness because she was the last person to talk on the phone to Trayvon Martin right before he was killed by a gunshot from Zimmerman. Her testimony is crucial because she reported that Zimmerman aggressively followed 17-year-old through the subdivision until he had no choice but to confront Zimmerman.
But that key fact in her testimony has been somewhat lost in the raucous debate about the language used by the 19-year-old Jeantel, her disrespectful attitude toward the defense, her inarticulateness and seeming lack of intelligence.
It is a fascinating instance of black youth culture, with its language and attitudes, splashed across a national stage as it collides with the protocol of the criminal justice system.
The key question will be how the jury— five white women and one Latina—views Jeantel’s believability after her two days of testimony. Will they be influenced by her language and attitude to view her as not very likable, and then make the jump that she is not to be trusted and believed?
Will they see Martin as an unsavory and less sympathetic character because he referred to Zimmerman as a “creepy-ass cracker,” according to Jeantel’s testimony, and also a “nigga?”
Will they understand that the word “cracker” that Jeantel attributed to Martin is less a malicious slur draped in his ill will toward Zimmerman than a toothless slang word black teens use to describe white people — just as they use the word “nigga” to describe everybody, including each other?
While many observers in the white and black communities are lambasting Jeantel for her lack of intelligence, more savvy trial-watchers will focus on the fact that she never wavered in her contention that Zimmerman was following Martin, which is the most important aspect of her testimony.
High-profile defense attorney Billy Martin told host Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC that despite all the noise about her language, “the jury is going to look at facts that make her believable, key facts. The key word she was consistent on is, this ‘creepy guy is following me.’ And the key elements here are not some of the slurs that may have been used. They may be offensive and the jury may not want to hear them, but on the key elements, was he following him, and did Trayvon Martin have a choice, I think the jury’s going to be convinced that Zimmerman, based on her testimony, was in fact following him and Trayvon Martin had no choice but to try to run, and he could not.”
Attorney Martin said that when he was a prosecutor in Washington, D.C., a lot of nasty and offensive language would have to be repeated aloud in court during trials, particularly involving homicides.
“This is not unusual in a homicide case to have vulgar language and activity that people find uncomfortable,” he said. “I think a juror and juries look right through that and look at what are we really trying to determine. They’re not trying to see if one was a good person or a bad person. There are facts here. And these facts will show who was the aggressor, who had the ability to flee and who had the gun…I don’t think these slurs are going to make a difference.”
In fact, former federal prosecutor Kendall Coffey said the tactic by defense attorney Don West to try to emphasize Jeantel’s inability to understand English and her lack of intelligence — she said she couldn’t read a letter she had a friend write to the Martin family because it was written in cursive — might ultimately backfire.
“There were a couple of points where the defense was starting to be a little patronizing,” Coffey said. “That always backfires. I like the way she stood her ground on that. You saw throughout some of the questioning how she would correct some of the defense lawyers, not rudely but simply standing up for herself. So whether the jury found her sympathetic or not, I think there had to be sort of a grudging respect for this very young woman who was dealing with a situation she couldn’t have imagined ever encountering, who by and large stuck true to her testimony and true to her beliefs.”
The defense tried to damage Jeantel’s credibility by showing how her story changed over the past year, particularly how her testimony differed from the description she gave in the letter her friend wrote for her.
“Why wasn’t ‘creepy-ass cracker’ in prior interviews?” West asked.
“Nobody asked me,” replied Jeantel.
The letter, in which Martin’s name is spelled incorrectly, gives her blow-by-blow account of what happened, which she said was intended for Trayvon’s parents, not for public consumption.
“He started walking then noticed someone was following him,” read the letter. “Then he decided to find a shortcut cause the man wouldn’t follow him. Then he said the man didn’t follow him again. Then he looked back and saw the man again. The man started getting closer. Then Trevon turned around and said Why are you following me!! Then I heard him fall. Then the phone hung up. I called back and got no response. In my mind I thought it was just a fight. Then I found out this tragic story. Thank you.”
In her testimony, she described Martin calling Zimmerman a “creepy-ass cracker,” and said she warned him to walk away, saying “it might be a rapist.”
After Martin told her he was going to try to “lose him” and get to the home, the man who was following him reappeared, prompting the confrontation.
Jeantel has consistently said she heard Martin ask Zimmerman why he was following him. But in an earlier account, she said Zimmerman replied, “What are you talking about?” But on the stand she said Zimmerman replied, “What are you doing around here?”
Jeantel testified she heard Martin’s phone headset fall and then Martin say “Get off!”—after which the phone went dead.
West asked Jeantel why she did not tell Martin’s family or their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, that the teen yelled “Get off!” Jeantel said, “because Crump is not law enforcement.”
West at one point tried to imply that Martin could have started a fight with Zimmerman but decided not to tell Jeantel about it.
“Of course, you don’t know if he (Martin) was telling the truth or not,” West said to Jeantel.
“Why he need to lie about that sir?” replied Jeantel.
“Maybe if he decided to assault George Zimmerman, he didn’t want you to know about it?” answered West.
“That’s real retarded, sir,” Jeantel said. “When you don’t know the person, why risk it? Trayvon didn’t know him.”
What happens during the lawyers’ summation speeches? Can the defense bring up the evidence that the judge ruled as inadmissible, i.e. the toxicology test showing Martin had marijuana in his system, his past history of fighting and suspension from school, and his mother having kicked him out of her house because of bad behavior, etc.
Also, Zimmerman told the police that Martin had been wandering about the neighborhood looking over the houses. In the rain. THAT is why Zimmerman was suspicious of him.
It does not negate rebuttal when a black says the truth. The black in question is always castigated as self-hating and a race traitor. I believe Bill Cosby caught all sorts of flack for his essay.
There is no logic on the left except the logic of agenda uber alles. In their minds, anyone is either with them or against them. This status is under constant review. No deviations are tolerated unless immediately followed by prolonged and humiliating apologies and retractions. Even then, the deviant will be subject to some ostracizing for a period of time before being rehabilitated. The Maoists call this process self-criticism. The most revered and unimpeachable leader will be purged in a nanosecond if they stray from the Party line or otherwise tell the truth.
See David Horowitz. I remember his purge. It took place over a weekend. On Thursday, he was casually acknowledged as one of the top 3 leaders of the New Left. By the following Monday, a mention of his name brought a blank stare and: “Who is David Horowitz?”. This is not an exaggeration.
Today, within society at large, witness the purging of top military leaders and the current designation of government or media whistleblowers as Internal Threats. Race, gender or sexual orientation do not confer immunity. Speak out and suffer the consequences. Otherwise, keep your head down, your mouth shut and follow the Leader. If the Leader zigs and zags, it is up to the follower to keep up with the program. The safest answer is to admit ignorance of the currently approved policies, deny any interest in policy or politics and suffer through condescending informational overload as your self-designated nanny proceeds to educate you. The approved response to that is to say: “Thank you.”
Conservatives have been marginalized. The next step is elimination. We tend to keep to ourselves and limit our interactions with the opposition. Still, today there are quasi-progressives everywhere and one can put a target on one’s back even by speaking truth in what is perceived as a safe environment.
They can organize with impunity. Our organizing is subversion. Case in point is the government/media/academia treatment of the Tea Party and the few remaining outspoken conservatives in politics and media.
Seeming?
'Seeming' lack of intelligence? LOL...
That was proven a year ago at http://www.theconservativetreehouse.com They matched up times of whatever phone records were made public to a map of the complex. If the defense puts on a case, you’ll see a similar proof that will leave no doubt that Trashcan literally went out of his way to kill GZ.
"Or print the ballots in cursive."
LOL!! Best application of the "We no longer teach cursive" meme, yet!
After her name became public, it didn't take long for bloggers to start piecing together some very interesting tidbits. She started complaining in 2012 on her fairly new Twitter account that her new braces were hurting her. Combine that with the HOA paying ransom -- excuse me, a settlement -- to Trashcan's parents' lawyers at about the same time, and you might begin to see that there's a slush fund being used to sway witnesses.
Beautiful!
You need to get up to speed on the case. Excellent end-of-day wrap-ups with a lot of video are here http://www.legalinsurrection.com
It's not rocket surgery to figure out that Dee Dee, Sybrina, Crump, and the prosecutor's office have colluded to concoct her story and create the narrative that Zimmerman murdered Trayvon.
The name “Francine” has come up. I forget if they are friends or neighbors or what. I don’t know if Francine will be called as a witness.
The prosecution isn’t done yet, then the defense will put on their case. Plenty of time for marijuana usage, fighting videos, school expulsions, etc. to come into evidence. I don’t think we have even heard from the medical examiner yet. Prosecution slip-ups or clever defense cross-examination might allow those matters to come in even though I think right now they are not allowed.
We may yet discover what many have suspected from the beginning — that the astonishingly improbable circumstances of her initial questioning, and what is in practical terms a forged document attributed to her after the fact, will reveal that her testimony, including the built-in lies of age and non-hospitalization, was created before she was auditioned and cast for the role as its presenter.
Here’s my comment: DeeDee was caught in lie after lie after lie after lie, not the least of which she said she “wrote” a letter she later said she can’t read. The Jury would be proving they are all functional morons if they believe one single thing this illiterate pig said.
Personally, I think in that fateful phone call (which we can prove she made by phone records) she was egging him on to put a beatdown on that creepy-ass cracka. She probably laughed when she heard him punching Zimmerman’s head into the concrete.
She's the only one that can pull this off, because of the phone records. The prosecution knows what the physical evidence on record is, and they've told her what she needs to say to stay consistent with that. I also think she's causing them problems because she's not able to remember and stick to the script.
Interesting she said in testimony she goes to church.
That means nothing. Obama went to Rev. Wright’s church. LOL
That goes without saying.
Accepting this argument, 1. Does this equal second degree murder, ie with a depraved mind? 2. That Zimmerman "followed" Trayvon was never at issue.
Zimmerman reported that he followed Trayvon after he took off running to see where he went and stopped with asked to be the civilian 911 operator. The operator had asked Zimmerman, where Trayvon was, indicating, as admitting, that could be permission or a request to look and see where he went.
It's irrelevant, if you are a creepy ass cracker or white hispanic or wannabe cop.
Justice would be for Zimmerman to become NBC's largest shareholder.
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