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Zimmerman defense closing argument: ‘Pure, unadulterated innocence’ of client
Washington Post ^ | 07/12/2013 | By Manuel Roig-Franzia

Posted on 07/12/2013 10:06:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

SANFORD, Fla. — There’s so much that still isn’t known about what happened on that dark, rainy night in February 2012, George Zimmerman’s defense attorney told jurors Friday in a hushed courtroom here.

Speaking in a soothing, conversational tone, attorney Mark O’Mara urged jurors not to make assumptions about the defendant accused of killing an unarmed teenager named Trayvon Martin and not to try to “fill in blanks” or “connect dots.”

The only conclusion jurors could reach about his client after hearing testimony for three weeks, O’Mara said, is “innocence. Pure, unadulterated innocence.”

Minutes into his closing argument, O’Mara walked over to the defense table, and Zimmerman, dressed in a dark blazer and tie, stood. The defendant held his head high and gazed directly at the jury with a neutral expression on his face.

O’Mara placed his hand on the shoulder of Zimmerman, a humanizing gesture. O’Mara’s demeanor contrasted with the style of assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda, who often shouted and spoke in impassioned tones during prosecution closing arguments on Thursday.

Prosecutors, O’Mara said, had created a false caricature of Zimmerman, portraying him as an overzealous neighborhood watch volunteer. The prosecutors want jurors to believe that Zimmerman was “a crazy guy walking the neighborhood looking for people to harass,” O’Mara said.

But, the defense attorney added, there’s no evidence to back that portrayal. Instead, he said, Zimmerman merely spotted Martin walking through the neighborhood while the defendant was on his way to Target to pick up food to make his lunches for the week.

There is also no evidence, O’Mara asserted, that Zimmerman had “ill will, spite or hatred” for Martin, the elements necessary for him to be convicted of second-degree murder.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: abuseofpower; cultureofcorruption; defense; judicialactivism; nifongism; trayvon; trayvonmartin; zimmerman
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To: onyx

Indeed, and with a touch of class.


41 posted on 07/12/2013 10:46:49 AM PDT by Gator113
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To: Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America

Acquittal means angry riots and violence. Conviction means “celebratory” riots and violence which could be even worse as far as the killing spree. Because conviction sends the message that white folks have no right to self-defense.


42 posted on 07/12/2013 10:47:37 AM PDT by Emmett McCarthy
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To: SeekAndFind

Why didn’t Trayvon just sprint to the house he was staying if he was a frightened child? Why/When did it occur to him to confront Zimmerman. Did Trayvon stop somewhere, observe a goofy George Zimmerman, decide “I can kick his ass” and decide to do just that? If Zimmerman had hate in his heart AND an itchy trigger finger, he would have shot Trayvon long before letting his head be treated like a pinata.


43 posted on 07/12/2013 10:48:20 AM PDT by LeonardFMason
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To: tflabo

I agree with you and disagree with you.

I agree with you that isn’t the way to go...just funny the media fishbowl that all world perspective is viewed through the prism of NYC...I don’t think you talk to women that way, especially in the south.

I don’t think he walks tho. I think he SHOULD. But the prosecution just stood in court and said “forget the lack of evidence, rely on emotion”. The judge WONT refute that in instructions. I think he’s going to get manslaughter then the Sea Hag is going to throw the book at him.

I hope I’m wrong.


44 posted on 07/12/2013 10:48:44 AM PDT by SoCalTransplant (Wake me when we get to the part where we alter or abolish it.)
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To: Defiant

I am not serious, but it begs the question, where is the blood? The hood was shot in the chest. He didn’t bleed?


45 posted on 07/12/2013 10:49:21 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (The reason we own guns is to protect ourselves from those wanting to take our guns from us.)
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To: Stormdog

They might have burned that bridge of civil suite vs Zimmerman by suing and accepting a settlement from the HOA.


46 posted on 07/12/2013 10:50:01 AM PDT by Usagi_yo
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Not likely since TM had a cotton tee shirt on which would have caught the blood long enough for the position changes described.

1. Witness says TM was on top just prior to shot.

2. Expert forensic witness says condition of tee shirt indicates TM was on top.

No evidence was presented that contradicts those two pieces of testimony.


47 posted on 07/12/2013 10:52:23 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (....Let It Burn...)
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To: Red in Blue PA

Psst. We are already at mob rule!


48 posted on 07/12/2013 10:52:28 AM PDT by whitedog57
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To: SeekAndFind

There is NOT so much that is unknown. That’s an absurd statement.


49 posted on 07/12/2013 10:53:24 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: a fool in paradise
When does the trial of the prosecutors begin?

Come the revolution.

Shouldn't be all that much longer...

50 posted on 07/12/2013 10:54:36 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

And that he looks like Obama’s “son”.


51 posted on 07/12/2013 10:54:42 AM PDT by sarasota
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To: umgud

Leave me out of this!


52 posted on 07/12/2013 10:55:04 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: umgud

It will mean the jury is tainted.


53 posted on 07/12/2013 10:55:09 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: null and void

Nifongism should be prosecuted.


54 posted on 07/12/2013 10:55:13 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America
This is the LAST place you want emotion to play a role in a verdict.

Unless your goal is an emotion driven verdict, facts be damned.

55 posted on 07/12/2013 10:57:49 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: SoCalTransplant

I have to turn off the TV when the shows go New Yarker, especially Hannity... I do not understand the need to scream and over talk on a program but I guess that is the New York way and one of the reasons we don’t want them in Texas...


56 posted on 07/12/2013 10:57:54 AM PDT by CenTex (November 6, 2012... A day that will live in infamy!!!)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
... but it begs the question, where is the blood?

You've been watching too much CSI crap on television.

Zimmerman didn't have a scriptwriter to create the "evidence".

57 posted on 07/12/2013 10:58:19 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The most important point was “He didn’t have to have one scratch”...


58 posted on 07/12/2013 10:58:44 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Most gunshot wounds do not bleed immediately. It takes a few seconds for the blood to flow from and injury. Have you ever cut yourself deeply? There is a good 5 to 10 seconds before the cut begins to bleed. Gunshots to the chest even more so because the chest cavity has to fill with blood before the it is forced from the bullet hole.

When Ronald Reagan was shot he did not bleed extrnally at all for several minutes. So your assumption of blood on George is wrong. Due to two sweat shirts being worn there would not even be blood splatter from the initial impact.


59 posted on 07/12/2013 10:59:53 AM PDT by Angry_White_Man_Syndrome
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To: Usagi_yo

“They might have burned that bridge of civil suite vs Zimmerman by suing and accepting a settlement from the HOA.”

That just may be one. Some of these plaintiff’s attorneys can be very creative in trying to name a defendant in a case no matter how tangentially connected.

I am sure that there are attorneys here on FR who can expound on this better than I can.


60 posted on 07/12/2013 10:59:55 AM PDT by Stormdog (A rifle transforms one from subject to Citizen)
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