The encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement or conversely if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialog to dispel each party’s concern,” the Sanford Police Department’s report says. “There is no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any criminal activity at the time of the encounter.”
Getting out of one's car is not a crime. Either is following someone in public. Using a "but for" analysis, why didn't the officer conclude that had Trayvon not smacked Zimmerman, he would still be alive? That appears to be a far more immediate cause of the shooting than Zimmerman's getting out of his car.
It's also an unsupportable theory for criminal liability. How far back do you go? One could say if Zimmerman stayed home that night and didn't go to the store, Trayvon would be alive. Or if Trayvon had stayed home and not gone to 7-11 that night, he would still be alive. But for a hundred things, Trayvon would be alive. (If only an airline passenger had taken a different plane, he wouldn't have gone down with the flight. If only a person took a different route to the store, or left home 10 minutes later, he could have avoided a fatal car accident and would still be alive.) They are all true, but they are not a basis for charging a crime.
Other findings in the discovery: As previously reported,the skin on one of Trayvon's knuckles was broken.
Marijuana was found in Trayvon's blood and urine. Marijuana stays in one's system for around 28 days, so without researching what the quantity levels mean, which I haven't had time to do, it may not be evidence of recent usage. And marijuana doesn't cause violence, so I doubt it's related to why Trayvon hit Zimmerman.
A bit more significant: Chris Serino played the 911 calls for Tracy Martin when he wanted to know why Zimmerman wasn't arrested. Another officer was with Serino. Serino asked Tracy Martin whether the voice crying out for help in the 911 call was Trayvon's. Mr. Martin said "No." That conversation was not recorded, however, and a report by another officer says he was outside the room and could hear them, but Tracy Martin speaks very softly and he couldn't hear his answers.
I'm still making my way through the photographs and the reports. There are 183 pages of reports and a ton of recordings and photographs. Here's the state's list of what was released. You can view more than 40 of the photographs here.
No one saw the beginning of the struggle or who initiated it. But since witness John was outside and saw them fighting before the gun went off, and saw "the other guy" beating the guy in the red jacket, it's pretty obvious Zimmerman didn't slip on the sidewalk and fall on his face, get up, and then slip again, landing on his back.
What has not been released are George Zimmerman's statements. They are exempt from public records disclosures as "confessions."
There are several DNA reports that two person's DNA is on various items, but most conclude they can't identify the secondary contributor, and I haven't matched the reports up to their exhibit numbers yet, to see if any are particularly relevant.
The state's attorney has put the discovery on a newly built website created for media access. While various media sites will put some of it up on their websites, I am not confident they won't cherry-pick the material and only post some of it.
So late this afternoon, when I read about the website created for the media, I applied to the state's attorney's office for media access for TalkLeft. My request has been granted.
It's not free. Every media organization has to share in the cost. The check or money order must be received at the state's attorney's office by 5 pm tomorrow. Personal checks, credit cards and cash are not accepted. I got my business check to Fedex at 5 pm today, and the state's attorney's office has graciously granted my access, conditioned on them getting my check by 5 pm tomorrow, which will happen.
I'm making my way through all the material. If I see things being misreported or incompletely or misleadingly reported, either in the media or in comments at TalkLeft, I'll be able to state what contradicts it.
For example, the Orlando Sentinel has posted some of DeeDee's interview. But their segment is under 5 minutes long and the interview is actually almost 30 minutes. Since I can now listen to the whole thing, I'll be able to point out things not included in the shortened versions the media decides to republish.
One last word about the media website. They did a really good job with it, in terms of speed of access and organizing the material. I can download whole sections or individual documents/recordings. It will even store what I choose to download in my own "bin" online so I can get to it quickly when I next log on. It's really pretty impressive.
By the way, the Arizona iced tea can (it was a can, not bottle) was in Trayvon's sweatshirt pocket. They put it on top of the yellow blanket/tarp covering his body. And it was Serino who asked Officer Doris Singleton (reportedly a narcotics officer) to interview Zimmerman that night. Serino was at the scene that night.
If you have comments and questions about the new discovery, this thread is for you.
