The Embarrassment of the George Zimmerman Verdict

Oh, OK, more biased drivel. Thanks. :love2:

 

Nothing.

But here is my point:

His bias is in broad brushing everyone in his statements that they are ignorant of this story or of the facts. I disagree with that point.

 

I agree with a great deal of what was said by Mr. Tannenbaum, but some of it is wishful thinking, too, and therefore represents some form of bias, deliberate or not.

He says ...

That represents his own bias, because as he says just a few sentences later, no one knows exactly what happened. He can't make these statements without engaging in personal bias, most likely based on news reports, because while he knows people "on both sides," he didn't have access to the evidence. That would be illegal. Also, saying he knows people "on both sides" is a misstatement, because there are more like four sides -- prosecution, defense, parents' civil attorneys, and the police. Of those, the police are probably the most reliable of all and they were originally not going to present a case to the prosecutor.

Further, he says ...

On the contrary, there were multiple witnesses, all of whom said they did not have a clear view of the events that led to Martin's death, but who stated with confidence that it was Martin ("the guy in the hoodie") on top of the "the other guy" beating the tar out of him and banging his head on the sidewalk. All said it was "the other guy" (Zimmerman) yelling for help. To say there "were no witnesses" is an outright misrepresentation of the facts.

Finally, he says ...

I'm sorry, but that's just plain naive. Any lawyer who thinks emotions don't play the largest part in deliberations is either trying to hide the truth, or isn't aware of how juries work. I've been on two. One was a murder trial. While we considered the facts, both decisions boiled down to our emotional reaction to the witnesses, both for the state and for the defense. Deliberations were most commonly settled by considering our own comments, "He just wasn't believable" or "She seemed to be concerned more with the accuracy of her statements than with how she came across." It's all emotion, with some perception mixed in.

A lawyer who doesn't know that hasn't spent enough time in the courtroom.