Of all the things i found offensive on Friday, O'Mara's attempted ghettoizing and bastardization

[CatWoman]

of the Fulton family stood out the most.

Sybrina Fulton is an educated, employed woman. Her oldest son attends college, and Trayvon was expected to attend college as well.

O'Mara spent a lot of time questioning Jahvaris about the home situation, bringing up the fact that Tracy Martin wasn't his natural father (even though Jahvaris responded that Tracy was the only father he's ever known), Tracy and Sybrina divorced when the two boys were very young (and Jahvaris responded that even so, they still spend a lot of time with Tracy on weekends, etc.,), and that Tracy had remarried (what the fuck did that have to do with anything????).

O'Mara just looked completely stupid to me. Again, what were the points he was getting at? That Sybrina is a single mother raising two sons?

The Fulton's strengths as a family unit could not be undermined, IMO.

[wercal]

1. I believe he was trying to give the impression

That the two brothers did not grow up together, in an attempt to discredit his ability to recognize the screams.

[Warpy]

2. He was trying to paint her as a Reagan welfare queen, of course,

and as one of "those" who have no control over their sexuality and will flop down for any male indiscriminately.

I just hope this all female jury sees it for what it is. I understand there is one black woman on the jury, which means the other 5 will get an earful when they repair to the jury room.

[HipChick]

3. I think she is hispanic, of color, but not black

[Warpy]

4. Ah, didn't know that, undoubtedly picked

because she'll feel maternal toward that poor lad who's been so wrongfully accused of murder.



I still think they're going to get an earful because some folks see Hispanic women the same way, as mindless baby machines sucking up tax money in food stamps and other benefits the poor white folks don't get.

again.

[TorchTheWitch]

5. both defense attorneys have been the most obnoxious I've ever seen

It's like their number one goal is to get the jurors to despise them. And I'm hard pressed to imagine that they don't.

The fact that they're both totally oblivious to it is stunning.

[CatWoman]

7. you've been on fire in reference to this Torchy

no pun intended

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. "The fact that they're both totally oblivious to it is stunning"

THIS.

Now, hopefully the jury sees just this...

Their shit has been WAY over the top.

[lolly]

12. Zimmerman seems to have chosen attorneys who think the way he does

Rather than choosing them based on their abilities to think like lawyers.

Generally, not a good idea. If you only see your client's point of view (The kid was a thug, clearly up to no good, deserved to be shot), then you can't defend him against alternative points of view.

[Ruby the Liberal]

13. Excellent point

Didn't this racist pig go through a few lawyers before settling on Skeletor and Tonedeaf?

[lolly]

18. Didn't know that, but it's true to form

If any (good) lawyer tried to tell him to consider how his actions might look to others, or suggested that he tone down his interviews and appear a little more remorseful, he would have rejected him.

Face it, Zimmerman is a little---off. He's a social misfit who seems to have cast himself in a drama no one else is watching.

I suppose, in his defense, it also seems that he's been terrible at reading social cues. His repeated calls to 911, for example. Besides the apparent racism, he displayed a cluelessness about what was going on around him, and probably was oblivious to the increasing annoyance of the dispatchers. Through it all, he remained convinced that he was behaving heroically.

A good lawyer might even have tried some sort of diminished capacity strategy here, but I'm sure Zimmerman wouldn't have allowed that.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. He was painting the "thug from a broken home" picture

Clear as crystal and yes, it was gut wrenching to watch. I was pissed.

[CatWoman]

9. a "thug" who enjoyed horseback riding and volunteering his time to his community

they just don't make thugs like they used to

[HipChick]

11. Exactly..skeletor aka Don West has been pushing that racist meme

Why is MOM giving press conferences?

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. Because repeating the same question 25 times

doesn't give either of them enough face time to listen to their own voices. Oblivious to how they appear to all witnessing (and the judge's obvious frustration with the level of ego/testosterone oozing from their pores), they need to BE HEARD.

Just a guess, but that lawyer makes the rounds on Hannity et al while prepping for a trial? The kind that just wants to inflate his portfolio for the *next* high profile case. I could be on trial for an assassination attempt or something - and these assclowns wouldn't even get a return call.

[hlthe2b]

10. Playing to the racist sterotyping undercurrents, it would appear

Some can say that's just a defense attorney's "job"--his duty.

I still think there is a line one doesn't cross. O'Mara crossed that line a long time ago.

I so hope that Martin's family will get the justice they deserve... What they have had to bear is beyond my comprehension.

[arely staircase]

14. yeah, I caught that

"now he didn't really hang out with you a lot...you had a different set of friends?"

[Punkingal]

16. O'Mara treated Trayvon's mother shamefully....

I was livid that he said "You don't want to believe he caused his own death" or words to that effect. And he said it more than once. It is inexcusable, under any circumstances, to say that to the mother of a murder victim. And to say it to her, a woman of grace, dignity and radiant inner (and outer) beauty is just beyond the pale. He is completely disgusting. I know everyone has the right to an attorney and the attorney wants to win for their client, but I don't know how anyone can sink that low. Who causes their own murder? He obviously agrees with his sick client that there is nothing to regret.

[Igel]

17. Really?

I heard pretty much the opposite.

This was evidence they knew was coming. No "Oh, crap, I didn't expect that" moment here.

Lawyer 1 was scripted. Just the facts. Family structure and living arrangement. For the record. Older brother is student at an okay school majoring in an okay field. Grew up with brother; close to brother. Raised by mother and non-biological father (who, at some point, departed). Still close to Tracy since Trayvon was staying with a man not biologically related to him. Still that wasn't Martin's "home" as far as Jahvaris is concerned. By most standards these days, that's a reasonable family. (Focusing on the whereabouts of the biological father(s) for the two boys would have been over the top. Even focusing on the reason for the breakup would have been questionable. But while this would have helped to "ghettoize" the family, it wasn't relevant to the questioning. I suspect the issue of "home" and closeness to Tracy will be brought up again.) But there's a jackpot question.

Jackpot 1: Being so close to Trayvon, it was natural that he'd have heard his brother yell and scream in a variety of ways. Mother's hear their little kids scream and yell, but once the ol' voice breaks at puberty it's mostly brothers and friends who hear you scream and yell.

Lawyer 2: Jahvaris positively identified Trayvon.

Jackpot 2: Jahvaris said he wasn't sure it was Trayvon when he heard the tape in the mayor's office. And while he had an excuse--shock and denial--the shock and denial lasted weeks. The shock and denial only went away later. So his first (and second) impression, as the person probably closest to Trayvon, was that he didn't really know it was Trayvon's voice.

If they were that close, why wasn't he sure?

But if the lawyers intended to show that the family was dysfunctional, "ghetto," and they weren't close, then Jahvaris' testimony actually loses importance. It's better for the defense for somebody who really should recognize Trayvon's voice to not do so than to undermine the testimony of somebody tangential to Trayvon's life.

That's how I heard the questioning the first time through. The entire line of questioning coheres, hangs together, in the way you'd expect it to. To show how dysfunctional the family is presupposes that the first half of the questioning goes to undermine any sense of closeness, while the second half depends on there being closeness. I go into a text assuming that the text is coherent and makes sense. If I bring assumptions to it that make it incoherent, my first impulse after making sure I heard the words and understood the context is to question my assumptions.

I suspect the jurors are more likely to hear Jahvaris' testimony the way I heard it. What importance they give it is a different matter. They may accept that he was close to his brother and so shaken that he refused to believe it was Trayvon's voice. Or they may say that he was so close that there's no way, even given shock and denial, he'd have missed his brother's voice.