The Jurors Speak

[nomatter_nevermind]

Bob Somerby (The Daily Howler) on ABC and the B-29 interview.

[nomatter_nevermind]

In the Nightline segment (7/25/13), the B-29 interview was chopped up and scattered among other clips. Segments of Tracy and Sybrina being interviewed predominate.

There is a brief clip of Robert Zimmerman Sr. and Gladys Zimmerman, in which only Gladys spoke.

3:19

Voice Over: [George Zimmerman's] parents spoke to ABC News, offering an apology, to Trayvon's family.

Gladys said 'We are deeply sorry for this tragedy.' To me it seemed more like an expression of sympathy than an apology.

There are also clips of shouting protesters, and of George Zimmerman in the courtroom as a defendant. There is one clip from Obama's speech, a clip from Zimmerman's reenactment video, and a clip of the gun being displayed at the trial.

A bit of Zimmerman's NEN call is played, over a still of the shadowy face of a mature black man with facial hair. The face is dimly illuminated by flashing police lights. I think the imagery is meant to symbolize Zimmerman's presumed racial paranoia. (5:52)

Still pictures are mostly of Trayvon Martin in younger days, including the Hollister shirt, and Trayvon being kissed by Tracy. The Hollister picture is serenaded by one of the more emotional bits of Surdyka's 911 call (6:13).

There are some crime scene pictures, including one of Trayvon's body under the yellow blanket. There are two stills of George Zimmerman, the 2005 mug shot, and the back of his injured head after the blood was cleaned off.

The way the B-29 interview was chopped up and framed, to me suggests that the reasoning, the law, and the evidence underlying the verdict, are not what is of interest. Interest is to focus on the emotions roused by the verdict, of unhappiness, disappointment, and outrage.

[DebFrmHell]

The way the B-29 interview was chopped up and framed, to me suggests that the reasoning, the law, and the evidence underlying the verdict, are not what is of interest. Interest is to focus on the emotions roused by the verdict, of unhappiness, disappointment, and outrage.

That is the same as it has been presented from the start.  Getting people emotionally invested in the outcome because of weak evidence.  I think the Prosecution knew that GZ would most likely be acquitted and they were buying time hoping things would settle down. 

When they started preparing people over a week before the end of the trial; there could be trouble after the verdict, I don't think they were taking about Hispanics/Caucasians rising up. 

What did they think was  going to happen?  People are disappointed with the verdict, the ones that bought the whole narrative,  are the same ones calling on the DOJ to find some other way to convict Zimmerman of ANYTHING just so that he can be punished for protecting his own life.


When B-29 said that she thought it was a "show trial" she was exactly correct.

This is, of course, my own opinion.

**jumps off soap box**

[nomatter_nevermind]

That is the same as it has been presented from the start.  Getting people emotionally invested in the outcome because of weak evidence.

Sure. But I think the Nightline segment is an unusually impressive audio-visual representation of the theme.

There are two more things about Nightline's framing of the B-29 interview I want to discuss. The first will be enough for one post. I will discuss the second in a later post.

First is a clip of the B-37 interview (3:45-59).

I think both were responsible, for the situation they had gotten themselves into. I think both of them could have walked away.

B-37's voice in the clip is very emotional, consistent with the framing discussed in the earlier post. It might be B-37's least favorable comment about Zimmerman, and that might be the reason this particular clip was chosen. It is the only clip of B-37 in the Nightline segment.

This is what followed the B-37 clip (3:59-4:17).

Robin Roberts: There were some things that the other juror said, that, that you wanted to respond to.

B-29: B-37 used the word 'we', I guess because we were in the jury together.

Robin Roberts: Mmhmm.

B-29: She put it all as in a group.  And the way she made a lot of us sound, we [unintelligible] by color. And that's not what I do.

The juxtaposed comments of the two jurors, B-37 and B-29, bear no relationship to one another that I can discern, either logical or emtional. I feel it makes for an oddly jarring transition.

As I mentioned, that was the only clip from the B-37 interview in the Nightline segment. I missed part of the B-37 interview when it first aired, so I can't say if it includes anything like what B-29 suggested. If it does, why not include that clip in the segment?

[nomatter_nevermind]

That last thing in the B-29 Nightline segment that I want to discuss, is a summary of the events of 2/26/12, presented in voice over with a montage of stills and clips (5:35-6:25).

5:40-58

On February 26, 2012, Martin was walking back to a house, where he and his father were staying. He caught the attention of the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, who called police. . . . They suggested he stay in his car.

Both these memes, 'self-appointed' and 'stay in his car', should be well debunked by now. One of the prosecutors, John Guy, disavowed both in the 6/21/13 session, between jury selection and opening statements (video).

20:54

As a matter of fact, I believe it would be incorrect to say he's the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain.

22:00

The facts are that he was told not to follow anyone, specifically, he was asked 'Are you following anyone?', he said 'Yes', the dispatcher said 'We don't need you to do that.' That conversation happened after he was out of the car.

The president of the Home Owners Association for the Retreat at Twin Lakes, Donald O'Brien, testified in George Zimmerman's trial on 6/25/13 (video, 6:40).

Mantei: Was there a person, sort of appointed to be the contact, or the committee chair, as it relates to Neighborhood Watch, by the HOA?
O'Brien: Yes.
Mantei: And this was during your term as president?
O'Brien: Yes.
Mantei: Who is that person?
O'Brien: George Zimmerman.

The 'self-appointed' meme appeared very early, at least as early as Huffington Post, 3/8/12.

On his way back home, according to reports, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, a self-appointed captain of The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch.

No source was cited. I have seen this meme repeated many, many times in the press. I haven't seen a source for it cited once.

That the dispatcher, or 'police', directed or advised GZ to 'stay in his car', was foreshadowed in the first national story on the shooting.

Reuters 3/7/12

"If the 911 protocol across the country held to form here, they told him not to get involved. He disobeyed that order," said Ryan Julison, a spokesman for the family.

"He (Zimmerman) didn't have to get out of his car," said Crump, who has prepared a public records lawsuit to file on Thursday if the family doesn't get the 911 tape. "If he never gets out of his car, there is no reason for self-defense. Trayvon only has skittles. He has the gun."

Ryan Julison, specialist in communications, and 'spokesman for the family', would not appear to be an expert in 911 protocols. Reuters quoted him as one, and didn't bother asking a real expert in the subject.

ABC News, 3/13/12 (Matt Gutman and Seni Tienabeso)

A dispatcher told him to wait for a police cruiser, and not leave his vehicle.

No source was cited. The NEN call was publicly released, along with the 911 calls, on 3/16/12.