This is purely my fantasy summation in a hypothetical trial of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin. A real summation would be much longer and include many more points, but I had to get this out of my head so I could get back to my real work.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for your close attention in hearing the evidence in this case. I will try to briefly summarize what the State has presented as evidence, apologizing for those things that we could not present. Because of the way the Police Department of the City of Sanford handled the initial investigation, there were potentially many interesting and important pieces of evidence that we will never have. Fortunately, we have had an opportunity to construct a pretty accurate timeline of events based upon the 911 calls and the time of the termination of the last cell phone call that the unfortunate victim of this crime, Trayvon Martin, ever had.
The single most horrifying aspect of this death is how quickly it occurred. All of the fateful and fatal actions took place within roughly two minutes. During those two minutes had the Defendant chosen different actions and responses, none of us would be here trying to sift through the evidence in order to decide this case.
I have heard the testimony of Mr. Zimmerman's friend and family that because he is multiracial, he could not be guilty of racism and that, therefore, racism played no role in his actions on that tragic night. I ask you, therefore, to be mindful of the remnants of racism within your own hearts and minds as you sift through this evidence. I know that for myself, having been raised in an earlier and less enlightened time in the Deep South, I myself struggle from time to time with those early "lessions" about who to trust and when to feel safe.
I belief that feeling safe is the sad crux of the matter. Given that we know Trayvon had left his father's fiancee's apartment, gone to pick up a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles, there would have been nothing in his actions that would have provoked any feeling of unease in an onlooker. He was very young and slender, so one would have no reason to feel alarmed at his overwhelming bulk. He was dressed as many teenaged boys dress, t-shirt, hoodie and jeans... not apparently scary.
His hoodie may have been the single flashpoint of the initial assessment by Mr. Zimmerman of the likelihood of Trayvon being "dangerous," particularly when, due to rain beginning to fall, Trayvon drew the hood up over his head for a little protection from the damp. In that moment, Mr. Zimmerman may have construed that innocent action as an attempt at concealment. But I would argue to you that Mr. Zimmerman started from a position of suspicion. As evidenced by the numerous phone calls he made over the previous year, some 46 in number, being suspicious was Mr. Zimmerman's default position, mostly particularly if the person he was observing was either young or black or, sadly, both.
Mr. Zimmerman felt that he was uniquely qualified to secure his neighborhood. He was willing and eager to be the unofficial policeman of his little gated community. I have heard people use the term "cop wannabe," I do not think we can disagree with that assessment. His actions reflect his impatience and frustration with the fact that the real police weren't doing their job, weren't being able to make his little corner of the world safe enough. Mr. Zimmerman was positive that he could do a better job at protecting the people who lived in his home, as well as his neighbors. Toward that goal, he was the organizer of the neighborhood watch and, from the testimony, perhaps its sole patrolling member. Toward that goal he secured a weapon, to wit the gun that ended Trayvon's life, and got a carry permit. I do not suggest that these are illegal actions, although I will remind you that had the earlier arrest of Mr. Zimmerman been adjudicated differently, he would not have been able to legally obtain a weapon because he would have been found guilty of a felony, battery of a law enforcement officer during the execution of his lawful duties.
Be that as it may, on the night of Trayvon's death a "perfect storm" event came together. A vigilant, one might even say paranoid neighborhood watch person, in possession of a weapon and possessed of a high level of suspicion concerning an unknown black male. Remember I asked you to examine your own hidden racism. Try substituting the following: Instead of a black youth, he sees an older black male... or perhaps an older white male... or even an older black woman... or a young female of any ethnicity. Given that one simple change in circumstances, do you believe that George Zimmerman would have gone into crisis mode? I suggest to you, ladies and gentlemen, that he would not.
From the enhancement of the call that Mr. Zimmerman made to the non-emergency police line, we learned two very important things: The first is that Zimmerman expresses his frustration that "these assholes always get away." We could have many different opinions about what "these assholes" is code for in Mr. Zimmerman's mind, but to be charitable, let's confine it to being the equivalent of wrongdoers, criminals. In that moment Mr. Zimmerman has already made up his mind that the person he is pursuing, the person he is complaining about to the police, the person he ultimately chooses to shoot, is an "asshole," a criminal, a person who he has decided won't get away this time.
The second thing is less clear and I will leave you to relisten to the recorded phone call once you are in your deliberations. Audio experts have testified that Mr. Zimmerman says these words, "fucking coons." If you believe that is what you have heard, than you cannot avoid knowing that Mr. Zimmerman was expressing a racist hatred for African-Americans and is outraged that once again he is having to deal with their odious presence in the one place in the world that he has elected himself to protect. In the context of his uttering those words mere minutes before he terminated Trayvon's life, it is obvious that, at least in his mind, he is ridding the streets of a person he regards as less than human.
Mr. Zimmerman has put on a strong defense of his actions, including that he was being attacked and that he was put into fear which gave him the legal justification to use his firearm. I think you will find that there is a singular lack of physical evidence to bolster that claim. He was briefly tended to by emergency personnel mere minutes after the shooting, not found to have a single injury which necessitated him being transported to a medical facility and within a mere half hour can be seen on a video, which you will have the opportunity to review during your deliberations, walking with no difficulty, no evidence of blood upon his person or his clothing, no evidence of swelling of his purported broken nose, no obvious abrasions to his head. I submit to you, ladies and gentleman, that the George Zimmerman that you will observe on that video would have no difficulty being seated at a restaurant or entering any establishment that he wished to, because he looks absolutely calm, well dressed and without any visible evidence of having been the victim of a battery, particularly one of the savagery he would have you believe. I ask you, therefore, to give Mr. Zimmerman's claims of self-defense, the weight that they deserve based upon the physical evidence. If he was as badly hurt by Trayvon Martin as he claims, so in fear that he felt the use of force was justified, where is the physical evidence? Where are the medical records to bolster any injury, either external or internal, which would be necessary to establish his defense?
I thank you once again for your close attention and service to your community. Serving as a juror is never a convenient or enjoyable task, but it is vital to the preservation of our civilization and we rely upon your wisdom and careful examination of these issues.