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Chariot of Fire wrote:As for GreecePwns.....yeah, what? A massive debt. Get a job you slacker.
Viceroy wrote:[The Biblical creation story] was written in a time when there was no way to confirm this fact and is in fact a statement of the facts.
Woodruff wrote:BigBallinStalin wrote:Could Phatscotty, Woodruff, and puppydog please answer the following:
Question: What are the facts that are in dispute which are relevant to what went down between Martin and Zimmerman?
Phatscotty claims it is a fact that Zimmerman did not punch Martin. I claim that this is not a fact. No one has shown that it is, indeed, a fact.
Night Strike wrote:Woodruff wrote:BigBallinStalin wrote:Could Phatscotty, Woodruff, and puppydog please answer the following:
Question: What are the facts that are in dispute which are relevant to what went down between Martin and Zimmerman?
Phatscotty claims it is a fact that Zimmerman did not punch Martin. I claim that this is not a fact. No one has shown that it is, indeed, a fact.
I addressed this directly, yet you ignored it or skipped right over it while "debating" Phatscotty.
Woodruff wrote:Sorry, Night Strike. I didn't ignore it (and I suppose I should have responded to say so)...what you said supported my point (in my view), so I didn't see it as a refutation, so I didn't think I had anything to respond to.
The man accused of killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is attacking media giant NBC for its damning edit of his 911 calls.
Back in April, the "Today" Show aired a segment featuring a selectively edited version of the calls that made it seem like Zimmerman targeted Martin solely because the teen was black.
In NBC's version of the calls, Zimmerman said Martin "looks like he's up to no good. He looks black."
In reality, Zimmerman said Martin looked like he was on drugs and was just walking around in the rain. He only mentioned the teen's race when asked about it by the 911 dispatcher.
NBC has since apologized for the dreadful editing.
But that apology wasn't enough for Zimmerman, who is about to file a lawsuit against NBC, its president Steve Capus and correspondent Ron Allen, the New York Post reported early Thursday.
George Zimmerman judge OKs question: Who was the real Trayvon Martin?
The new judge in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial allowed defense attorneys to subpoena social media networks and peruse Trayvon Martinās school records to determine whether the slain teen had a violent past.
In sparking a nationwide call for justice, Trayvon Martinās parents painted the slain teenager as sweet, aspiring, and well-meaning ā notions backed up by a baby-faced photo that led President Obama to suggest, āIf I had a son, heād look like Trayvon.ā
But on Friday, a new judge in the second-degree murder case against George Zimmerman, the 29-year-old volunteer watchman accused of profiling, accosting, and then murdering an unarmed Trayvon on Feb. 26, made a major ruling that could alter that image.
Circuit Court Judge Debra Nelson allowed, with limitations, defense attorneys to dig deep into Trayvonās social media scribblings and school records to determine whether the boy had a violent streak that may have put Mr. Zimmerman into a self-defense stance.
Whether any evidence dug up by Zimmermanās defense team ever makes it to the media or the public will be up to Judge Nelson. But the ruling opens up a major new break in whatās shaping up to be an emotional, heart-wrenching trial that will explore not just Zimmermanās guilt, but the extent to which race played into both Zimmermanās actions and decisions by police in the aftermath.
āI have had anecdotal evidence that there were videos out there suggesting that [Trayvon] involved himself in MMA (mixed martial arts) fighting, he had an experience level with that,ā Mark OāMara, Zimmermanās attorney, said after Fridayās court hearing. āI think the judge hit it on head ā¦ that reputation for violence is an issue in this case.ā
The shooting caused a national uproar about racial profiling and permissive gun laws when local police in Sanford, Fla., where Trayvon was killed, let Zimmerman go free, citing the 2005 āstand your groundā law in Florida, which negated the legal doctrine of āduty to retreatā in the face of an attack. Forty-four days later, a special prosecutor filed second degree murder charges against Zimmerman, who is now out on bond at an undisclosed location in Seminole County.
On Friday, Trayvonās parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, called Judge Nelsonās decision to allow the school and social media subpoenas a travesty, suggesting that by opening up Trayvonās records it would allow defense attorneys to āmake a dead child seem as if theyāre the perpetrator.ā
Yet thereās a sound legal reason for the judge allowing the defense to go on the offense, says George Dekle, a law professor at the University of Florida. True, he says, the prosecution has stated that the basic facts of the case ā a grown man profiles a boy as a criminal, instigates a confrontation, then shoots him dead when the boy defends himself ā substantiate a second-degree murder conviction.
But under Florida law, the nuances of the confrontation, and the actions of the victim, are all admissible in a self-defense claim.
The stand-your-ground law, which was cited by police when they originally let Zimmerman off without an arrest, doesnāt allow someone to instigate a fight and then immediately use deadly force. But if the tables are turned and the person is backed into a corner ā or ends up with his back on the ground, as Zimmerman claims ā a defendant can still claim that they acted in self-defense, Mr. Dekle says.
āYou could analyze a lot of cases that are stand-your-ground cases as not having anything to do with stand your ground, because the person wasnāt in a position to run away anyhow,ā says Dekle.
To be sure, race continues to be a simmering undercurrent in the trial. In late September, a Trayvon family attorney, Ben Crump, told the Orlando Sentinel that, āNobody believes that if you make Trayvon Martin white [and Zimmerman black], thereās no way he would not be arrested. Thatās why race is involved in this case.ā
But this week, Mr. OāMara shot back in an online post, writing, āWhile it can be safely argued that it is largely the question of civil rights issues that has made the George Zimmerman case a national ā and international ā story, there is nothing to support the contention of racism in the Zimmerman case.ā
Either way, following a summer in which Zimmermanās credibility came under heavy scrutiny after he and his wife colluded to lie to the court about their financial situation, the judgeās ruling on Friday made it clear that Zimmermanās defense team has found some traction in a case thatās scheduled to go to trial on next June.
And while the race issue continues to define the case more broadly, it became clear this week that the tension in the case has come to revolve around whether Trayvonās personality and whether the boyās actions ā not his race or his hoodie, which in part drew Zimmermanās attention on the night of the shooting ā played a role in the tragedy.
Trayvon had been on a 10-day suspension from his high school when he was killed. The suspension came after school officials found an empty marijuana baggie on him. An eyewitness to the shooting has also testified that Trayvon was straddling Zimmerman, punching him āMMA-styleā in the moments before he was shot.
āThe rules of evidence permit the defense to introduce evidence of a pertinent character trait in support of Zimmermanās claim that [Trayvon] Martin was the aggressor,ā writes former defense attorney Frederick Leatherman on his popular law blog.
āFor example, if Trayvon Martin was known to be an aggressive bully who started fights, the defense would be permitted to bring that out at trial,ā Mr. Leatherman writes. āThe defense would be limited to introducing the evidence as a character trait. Assuming such evidence exists, which I doubt, it might be in the school records. Therefore, I believe the defense has a legitimate reason to want to review the records.ā
notyou2 wrote:...yeah, Zimmerman is going to need all the help he can get or fabricate.
natty_dread wrote:Do ponies have sex?
(proud member of the Occasionally Wrongly Banned)Army of GOD wrote:the term heterosexual is offensive. I prefer to be called "normal"
john9blue wrote:
rdsrds2120 wrote:john9blue wrote:
Implausible!
BMO
natty_dread wrote:Do ponies have sex?
(proud member of the Occasionally Wrongly Banned)Army of GOD wrote:the term heterosexual is offensive. I prefer to be called "normal"
natty_dread wrote:Do ponies have sex?
(proud member of the Occasionally Wrongly Banned)Army of GOD wrote:the term heterosexual is offensive. I prefer to be called "normal"
john9blue wrote:notyou2 wrote:...yeah, Zimmerman is going to need all the help he can get or fabricate.
what do you think is fabricated?
i mean, you can believe what you want to in your own world, but in the real world we use conclusive evidence and the judicial process to decide guilt, not knee-jerk accusations of white-guilt-fueled racism.
i personally don't care whether one hispanic dude that i don't know happens to be racist or not. this case serves the purpose of being a fascinating insight into the racist mind of the modern american liberal.
john9blue wrote:rdsrds2120 wrote:john9blue wrote:
Implausible!
BMO
oh yes, i almost forgot. it's the rest of the country that is right-wing, and YOU that is in the center. because you are such a balanced, nuanced thinker.
Phatscotty wrote:
notyou2 wrote:john9blue wrote:notyou2 wrote:...yeah, Zimmerman is going to need all the help he can get or fabricate.
what do you think is fabricated?
i mean, you can believe what you want to in your own world, but in the real world we use conclusive evidence and the judicial process to decide guilt, not knee-jerk accusations of white-guilt-fueled racism.
i personally don't care whether one hispanic dude that i don't know happens to be racist or not. this case serves the purpose of being a fascinating insight into the racist mind of the modern american liberal.
Nice jump to a conclusion.
lrn2read
natty_dread wrote:Do ponies have sex?
(proud member of the Occasionally Wrongly Banned)Army of GOD wrote:the term heterosexual is offensive. I prefer to be called "normal"
Phatscotty wrote:He has become the most hated man in all the land, no?
Woodruff wrote:Phatscotty wrote:He has become the most hated man in all the land, no?
Not even remotely, no.
Baron Von PWN wrote:wasn't this like a year ago? hasn't the trialstarted yet?
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