As I posted a few days ago, Fox News has dispensed with the need for a jury because they already “know” George Zimmerman is not guilty. On Friday (6/28/13), one week into what is expected to be a two to four week trial, no less than three Fox News hosts announced that the verdict is in: Zimmerman not guilty. Sean Hannity, a college drop out, announced, “As far as I’m concerned, this case is over today.”
Friday night, Geraldo Rivera, an attorney, was only slightly less definitive. In an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor (the first video below), Rivera had the following discussion with substitute host Laura Ingraham, also an attorney:
Rivera: George Zimmerman is clearly winning this case.
Ingraham: Oh, he’s going to win this case.
Rivera: It seems to me virtually impossible, given the testimony today that had Zimmerman on his back, being pounded by Trayvon…
Ingraham: That’s doubt. That’s reasonable doubt.
Rivera: However reprehensible, morally speaking, George Zimmerman may have been for provoking this incident, I think it is absolutely clear that self defense applies here and Zimmerman will be acquitted, Laura.
Ingraham: Yeah.
In the next hour, Hannity, who seems never to have met a white guy in racial trouble he hasn’t jumped to befriend, declared, “As far as I’m concerned, this case is over today.” However, not long after, Hannity admitted, “There’s gonna be a lot more.”
His guest, Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi – who, unlike Rivera, Ingraham or Hannity is a real prosecutor – disagreed that “the case is over.” Her appearance on Hannity is in the second video below. It’s hard to think how Hannity could have been any more pro Zimmerman as he first announced:
Later tonight, we’re gonna show part of my interview where he describes what happened. In this interview, he goes into extraordinary detail, including he got hit – he said he was dazed, he thought his life was in jeopardy, 14 times in the face, that (Trayvon Martin) said, "Expletive, you’re gonna die tonight." All of these things.
Hannity also exclaimed, “Look at these injuries!” A graphic of the back of Zimmerman’s head conveniently popped up on the screen.
Nicolazzi told him, “Those are not bad injuries.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Hannity replied. “Look at his nose!”
But Hannity was being disingenuous here and/or incredibly arrogant. His own pal, Mark Fuhrman, a real crime scene and forensics expert (as well as a guy not exactly known for being too pro-African American) had just told Hannity a few days earlier that Zimmerman’s injuries were not bad and that they were inconsistent with someone whose life was in danger.
Furthermore, Nicolazzi now explained to Hannity that Zimmerman “caused this to come about" and that his “stand your ground” defense does not apply “if you provoke the attack." She added, "And to me, as a lawyer, I’m telling the jury that he provoked the attack.”
But Hannity-for-the-Defense knew better. “This seems to me to be classic self defense. …My reading of (Florida law), he has a right to defend himself,” he insisted.
Last night, on his own show, “Geraldo at Large,” Rivera sounded as certain as Hannity that Zimmerman will be acquitted. Citing the testimony of prosecution witness Jonathan Good the day before, Rivera said Good’s testimony “virtually insures that the defendant, George Zimmerman, will get off.” Later, he said, “There’s no way six women are gonna say George Zimmerman didn’t have a reasonable fear that his life was being threatened.” That's the third video below.
As I suggested in an earlier post, Fox’s pronouncements are probably not just avenues for shoring up their viewers’ sympathies for Zimmerman. It’s a tactic that positions themselves for later: If Zimmerman’s acquitted, they were proven right. If he’s convicted, he’s the victim of racial politics, a liberal media, etc.
Back to Zimmerman – today they introduced the audio of his statements about Martin jumping out of the bushes, punching him and threatening him. I wonder how Zimmerman’s defenders will try to reconcile these statements with all the witness testimony that contradicts them…
Not only is this the dumbest argument I’ve heard since OJ Simpson… but there’s only one place where it won’t hurt his case, if it gets talked about: Fox News.
I guess the part of this that I truly don’t understand is the vehemence of the cheerleading these guys are doing. And I heard more of it on Friday night when I asked a right wing friend – he exploded at me that this was due to “the left wing media lying about the story all last year and telling us Trayvon Martin was this little 9 year old angel!” When I asked him whether anything justified the cheerleading, he diverted into saying that he thought ZImmerman was totally justified to shoot Martin to death and that he thought Zimmerman would be acquitted. He then refused to discuss the matter further.
For some reason, this case is hitting a nerve for the right wing. I’m not sure why this is the case, but they seem to have a very personal interest in seeing Zimmerman get acquitted.
This audio is as provided by Sanford Police Dept. Their own copy is on compresse4d format. Saving every 011 call in lossless format would be resource heavy at best.
This isn’t an audiophile issue.. it wont be sounding more lush or worth breaking out the NOS laden hand wired receiver.
This is just a simple, and somewhat novel way, at listening to the audio in a legitimate, but non determinate way. For those who like looking under every rock, from different angles. Some have found value in it, others may not. Nothing o get hung about. I do like sharing though. I do believe there are aspects of the audio tape (like was there a hand over his mouth etc_ that will certainly be coming up soon I suspect. I could be wrong, I have been before. Make or don’t make what you want of it. But this audio (The original 911 call) will certainly be scrutinized more in he future, and his is one way for the curious to get another look at it.. nothing real revealing, yet certainly a bit more palatable from a sense of urgency standpoint.. I think anyway.. .
The only version of the 911 tape I’d want to hear is the one that the jury will hear (or has heard), including any “cleaned-up” versions.
I compressed it so the lows came up a bit, limited it so you can hear other low sounds without your ears bleeding when the shots ring out. I then (thanks to the wonders of digital, couldn’t do this with tape) slowed it down to just over half speed but PITCHED it back up to 100%.
In other words.. you can hear the call without it hurting your ears, at a speed that is easier to digest and get a sense of. The pitch however is true to source. And there has been no EQ or altering ANY of the tonalities, although there are inherent nuanced swirly artifacts from slowing anything down that radically.
Anyway, make of it what you will.. if you want to actually HEAR the call, I wouldn’t discount taking a listen to this version. The way I have done it is almost Akin to slowing down a video tape.
Zimmerman Martin Altercation
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11548279
