George Zimmerman's Wife Now Says She Doubts Her Husband's Innocence

By PAMELA ENGEL/Business Insider:

In a new interview with the "Today" show that comes after a domestic altercation with her soon-to-be ex-husband, George Zimmerman's wife reveals new doubts about his innocence in the Trayvon Martin killing.

Shellie Zimmerman said her highly public fight with George earlier this month — during which he allegedly threatened her and assaulted her father — helped her "take the blinders off and start to see things differently."

When "Today" show host Matt Lauer asked her if she was having any doubts about George's innocence, she replied: "I think anyone would doubt that innocence because I don't know the person that I've been married to. I have doubts, but I also believe the evidence."

She might doubt whether George was really acting in self-defense the night he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, but she still insists that George did not profile the black teenager.

It's worth noting that Shellie is divorcing George after standing by his side throughout the trial and insisting that she believed he was innocent. She acknowledges in the "Today" show interview that she has credibility issues, but says she wants to tell the truth from here on out.

Watch the full interview below:

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In Email, Zimmerman’s Local Police Chief Agrees He’s Another ‘Sandy Hook’ Waiting To Happen

BY JUDD LEGUM/Think Progress

Police Chief Steve Bracknell, who is responsible for the Florida town where George Zimmerman resides, agreed in a series of emails that Zimmerman is a “ticking time bomb” and another “Sandy Hook” waiting to happen.

Bracknell expressed his views in response to two emails from Santiago Rodriguez, who reached Bracknell through a contact form on the police department’s website. Bracknell confirmed the emails’ authenticity to ThinkProgress and subsequently tried to distance himself from the remarks.

Rodriguez’s first email was an extended, and sometimes angry, critique of how the Lake Mary Police Department handled their response to the recent altercation between George Zimmerman, his wife and his father in law. Rodriguez told Bracknell that he had a responsibility to charge Zimmerman because he was another “Sandy Hook… waiting to happen.” Bracknell responded with a detailed defense of the police department’s conduct, but explicitly endorsed Rodriguez’s comments on Sandy Hook.

[Ellipses are from the original email.]

Asked to elaborate on his email, Bracknell attempted to distance himself from Rodriguez’s comments, saying he did not agree and was “referring to the fact that [Zimmerman] seems to be involved in incidents” involving firearms.

In his second email, Rodriguez called Zimmerman a “ticking time bomb” who will snap “sooner or later.” Again, Bracknell agreed.

The full email exchange between Rodriguez and Bracknell is available here.

The police are still deciding whether or not to charge Zimmerman in connection to the incident. They are attempting to recover video of alleged assault that Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie, recorded with her iPad. Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, acknowledged that Zimmerman broke the iPad into pieces before the police arrived. According to witnesses, Zimmerman also punched his father-in-law in the nose.

In her call to 911, Shellie Zimmerman told the police that Zimmerman was threatening her with his gun. “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really, really scared,” Shellie said.

Zimmerman told police at the scene that he did not have a gun, according to Bracknell and a police department spokesman. O’Mara, however, insisted on CNN that he did have a gun on him during the entire incident. Bracknell told ThinkProgress that one of them isn’t “telling the truth.”

What is not in dispute is that Zimmerman, despite his legal troubles and the police chief’s concerns, is still permitted to carry a concealed weapon in the State of Florida. In Florida, unlike other states like New York and New Jersey, authorities have no discretion over whether to grant or revoke concealed carry permits. Dr. Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, recently told Salon, “You’ve got all kinds of George Zimmermans and everything in between there who fall through the cracks of our exclusions. But if you ask any reasonable person how comfortable they are with an individual like that running around with a concealed, loaded gun, the vast majority would say they are not.”

George Zimmerman’s lawyer quits after client is accused of threatening Shellie Zimmerman

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Mark O’Mara, the attorney who successfully defended George Zimmerman against charges that he murdered Trayvon Martin, said Tuesday that he would no longer represent the former neighborhood watch captain.

Lake Mary Police on Monday detained and then released Zimmerman after oficers responded to a 911 call from his wife, Shellie, who accused her husband of threatening her with a gun and punching her father in the nose.

Police Chief Steve Bracknell later said that Shellie Zimmerman had refused to press charges and had dropped her claim that Zimmerman had a gun.

But in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night, O’Mara said that Zimmerman did have a gun during the incident.

“He never took the weapon out,” the attorney explained. “He made sure the gun was not moving anywhere and didn’t do anything because Mr. Dean was sort of coming at him. That can be seen in the video.”

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for O’Mara said that he would no longer represent Zimmerman in future cases, including charges resulting from the confrontation on Monday. The spokesperson said that Zimmerman intended continue working on a defamation suit Zimmerman had brought against NBC.

TMZ reported last week that Shellie Zimmerman’s recent divorce filings indicated that she was getting $4,300 a month from the Zimmerman Legal Defense Fund. But at the same time,Zimmerman is asking Florida to cover up to $300,00 of expenses from his trial.

Earlier this month, O’Mara was hired as a legal analyst for CNN.

Did George Zimmerman Lie To The Police?

BY JUDD LEGUM/Think Progress

On Monday, George Zimmerman’s wife called 911 to report that he was threatening her and her father with a gun. Shellie Zimmerman told the 911 operator that her husband “continually has his hand on his gun and he keeps saying step closer and he is just threatening all of us.” When the police arrived, she abruptly changed her story and claimed she never saw a gun. Officer Zach Hudson, the Lake Mary Police Department public information officer, told the New York Times that Zimmerman told the police he was not carrying a gun:

“No one ever saw a gun,” said Officer Zach Hudson of the Lake Mary police. “He said he has no gun on him and we haven’t found a gun. I think she assumed that he had one on his person.”

ABC News also reported, “A Lake Mary police official later said Zimmerman did not have a gun, officers never found a gun and that Zimmerman himself said he never had a gun on him.”

But George Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in no uncertain terms that Zimmerman was carrying a gun and had it on his person during the confrontation with his wife and father-in-law:

O’MARA: He acted appropriately. He never took the weapon out. The only thing he really did, which is what he told the police, was on the outside of his shirt, he made sure the gun wasn’t moving anywhere and didn’t do anything because [Zimmerman's father-in-law] Mr. Dean was sort of coming at him, that can sort of be seen in the video.

COOPER: So he had the gun actually on his person not like, in the glove box of his car?

O’MARA: That’s correct.

O’Mara acknowledged “there are some reports that said he didn’t have a gun with him but he did.” He also admitted George Zimmerman smashed an iPad during the confrontation.

CNN’s Victor Blackwell reported that the police “did not check the car” because they didn’t have a warrant and it “wasn’t part of the crime scene.” Other reports indicate that, at some point, Police Chief Steve Bracknell became aware that there was a gun in Zimmerman’s truck, but they did not confiscate it. Shellie Zimmerman told the 911 operator that her husband was threatening her from his vehicle.

Bracknell told the LA Times, “Man, it would be fantastic if you have an apartment out there [in California] for George Zimmerman. This guy is killing me.”

Calls to Officer Hudson regarding Zimmerman’s comments to the police were not immediately returned.

UPDATE

Zimmerman allegedly smashed to pieces an iPad that has video of the confrontation. The police are trying to recover the footage:

UPDATE

The local police department says Zimmerman could face charges of evidence destruction if they connect him to the broken iPad:

Texas cop took fan photos before letting Zimmerman off with warning

By David Edwards/Raw Story
Officials in a Texas town said on Thursday that they planned to question one of their officers after it was discovered that he took what may have been fan photos of George Zimmerman’s driver’s license during a traffic stop.

Earlier this week, the former neighborhood watchmen was stopped for speeding in Forney, and pointed out to the officer that he was the same George Zimmerman that was recently found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.

“What a coincidence?” the officer replies in dash cam video that was released on Wednesday.

On Thursday, TMZ pointed out to Forney officials that the unmistakable sound of an iPhone snapping a photo can be heard after the officer walks back to his cruiser to write out the warning ticket. The sound typing on the keyboard could also be heard.

The Forney city manager told KDFW that the officer would be questioned to find out if he took any personal photos and what he might have done with those photos.

Former police officer and attorney Pete Schulte explained to KDFW that taking a photo of Zimmerman’s diver’s license may not be cause for discipline.

“I mean, officers have a right to have a phone with a camera just like anyone else,” Schulte explained. “The question then becomes is what they do with that information, and there’s no evidence that that particular photo went any further than the police department.”

The officer was off duty on Thursday and has not been named publicly. City officials said that questions about the photos were not considered a formal investigation at this time, but the officer could be disciplined if department policies were violated.

Watch this video from KDFW, broadcast Aug. 1, 2013.

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

George Zimmerman armed with gun during traffic stop in Texas

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

George Zimmerman was stopped in Forney, Texas over the weekend for speeding and told police he was armed, according to CBS 11 News.

Zimmerman, who was recently acquitted after killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, was pulled over on July 28 around noon. He said he was heading “nowhere in particular.”

He told officers that he was armed. The officer instructed him to put his gun in the glove compartment.

The officer gave Zimmerman a warning after running a background check.

Zimmerman reportedly asked the officer if he recognized him, but the officer did not.

It is not the first time Zimmerman has popped up in the news following the end of his highly publicized trial. Last week, Zimmerman made headlines for helping pull a family out of their overturned SUV.

New York Mayoral Candidate: Stop-And-Frisks Institutionalized Zimmerman-Like Profiling

BY NICOLE FLATOW/Think Progress

The only African American candidate in New York City’s mayoral race, who has taken a moderate position on the city’s aggressive stop-and-frisk program, invoked Trayvon Martin’s death in lambasting racial discrimination in the New York Police Department’s rampant stops, saying the city has “institutionalized” George Zimmerman’s racially charged suspicion.

In comments that echoed those of President Barack Obama on Trayvon Martin and racial profiling, former city comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. broke into uncharacteristically impassioned and personal remarks that made plain he believes Martin died because he was black, and that no one else should have to. The New York Times reports:

“Here in New York City, we have institutionalized Mr. Zimmerman’s suspicion with a policy that all but requires our police officers to treat young black and Latino men with suspicion, to stop them and frisk them because of the color of their skin.” [...]

Of what Mr. Thompson said were the 600,000 blacks and Latinos stopped by the New York police in 2011, a vast majority were innocent, he said — “profiled as Trayvon was profiled.”

“If our government profiles people because of skin color and treats them as potential criminals, how can we expect citizens to do any less?” Mr. Thompson asked, as church members loudly applauded and occasionally interrupted with cries of “amen.” [...]

“Trayvon Martin did die because he was black. Of that, there is no doubt,” Mr. Thompson said, adding, “The verdict in Florida was a verdict — but it was not the verdict.”

The New York Police Department’s aggressive program for stopping those on the street suspected of criminal activity has come increasingly under fire as amonths-long trial in a class-action challenge to the program revealed additional evidence that the Department sets quotas on the number of stop-and-frisks, instructs officers to target black men, and taunts young teens. In 2011, the Department made more stops of young black men than the population of young black men in the city.

Unlike fellow Democratic candidate John C. Liu, the current city Comptroller, Thompson does not seek to abolish the stop-and-frisk program entirely. He even opposes a legislature-passed bill to authorize racial profiling lawsuits against the police that was vetoed last week by Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I). But he would remove Police Commissioner Raymond C. Kelly, who has led the unprecedented expansion of the stop-and-frisk program; ban racial profiling; and put more officers on the street in high-crime areas to reduce false reliance on race as a proxy for criminal suspicion. In a debate with Liu on the topic, Thompson defended the measure as a means of fighting crime, snapping, “I’m the one who has to worry about my son getting shot on the street.” Thompson’s position, however, has thwarted an endorsement from Rev. Al Sharpton and other high-profile African American Democrats.

Fellow Democratic candidates Christine Quinn and Bill de Blasio would also stop short of abolishing stop-and-frisk, but have supported the legislature’s reform bills.

Since Mayor Bloomberg took office, the NYPD has expanded its use of the tactic, completing 5 million stops during his tenure alone — 4.4 million of innocent people. But some version of this tactic has been common nationwide, since a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court decision authorized police to stop individuals on the street even where they don’t have probably cause for their arrest. Under this decision, police may briefly stop individuals if they have “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity, and frisk that suspect if they suspect after questioning that the person is armed. Although the tactic was intended to protect against violent crime, the NYPD’s program has yieldedmore arrests for marijuana than anything else.

George Zimmerman’s heroic car crash rescue appears to be a fraud

By Dog Gone/IVN

This was a suspic/ious story from the beginning.

We have seen news reports of protesters doing thousands of dollars of damage to be wrong. The claims of separate attacks by protesters over the Zimmerman verdict turned out to be false. Now added to the list of  false news reports appears to be the story of George Zimmerman heroically rescuing a family of four from a burning SUV.

The initial report was that George Zimmerman was ‘just coincidentally’ driving by after a car accident occurred, that he leaped out of his vehicle to come to the rescue of the family of four trapped inside as the vehicle caught fire, pulling them to safety. That was followed by the claim that the family he rescued had planned a press event to thank George Zimmerman, but that they canceled due to threats from Trayvon Martin supporters.

It appears they may have canceled the event because they did not want to be part of the fraud of making Zimmerman out to be a hero, when that story was not precisely true.

What did occur was that an accident occurred where a car slid on it’s side into a median. People at the scene called 911, which went to the Sanford office of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. BEFORE responding to the 911 call, News Ball.com reports that Seminole Sheriff’s Dept. Officer Patrick Rehder, a self-styled friend and supporter of Zimmerman,contacted Zimmerman by cell phone directing him to go to the accident so as to appear to be a hero.      News Ball.com also provides a social media screen capture of a curious statement about Rehder taking pleasure when someone gets credit for something they did not do.

Rehder’s name appears on the accident report as the responding officer; social media shows his connection to Zimmerman.

There were plenty of people driving by who witnessed the accident, and stopped to help the family out of the vehicle, BEFORE Zimmerman showed up, according to the 911 calls, but no ‘thank you’ press conference mentioning anyone else by name specifically was scheduled by the family, and no mention of anyone other than Zimmerman was made by the sheriff.

Zimmerman showed up AFTER he was called by a SCSO member according to a report at News Ball.com,  Zimmerman then got out of his car with a fire extinguisher, and apparently left without doing anything especially heroic.  You can hear the course of events here in the 911 calls; many people who were there as the accident happened stopped to get people out, and the fire and smoke problem from the calls, appeared some time after they were out of the car.  As you can hear from the calls, people were out before there was a smoke or fire problem; Zimmerman did not appear to risk his life to pull anyone out of a burning car, as was claimed. :

http://youtu.be/qD35RgOoy34

So, we have the claim that George Zimmerman just happened to be at the accident several days after his verdict called into question. We have established a relationship between George Zimmerman and the responding officer.

We have the actual extraction of the people in the accident by multiple citizens coming to the rescue who witnessed the accident, according to the 911 calls, we have the report in 911 calls that everyone was OUT of the vehicle for some time before there was any question of smoke or fire, and we have the sheriff and the victim ONLY mentioning George Zimmerman – by name. But there is no mention by anyone, especially the Sheriff’s office, of the  other ‘good samaritans’ who appear to have done the actual hard part of helping people out of the car lying on its side.

We have no independent verification that Zimmerman was even there, much less that he did anything heroic.  No photos, no cell phone video, no police video, no other people who were present as indicated by the 911 calls that support that Zimmerman was there, or did what was claimed – that he pulled people from a flaming car wreck.

That seems distinctly odd, on top of the suspicious timing of this heroic Zimmerman rescue.  Enough strange and implausible quirks make this SUV accident rescue appear fake.

THIS new challenge to Zimmerman’s integrity  in addition to the misrepresentation of funds donated when bail was set, as well as the conflicting statements made to police and in court, is why protesters both distrust BOTH George Zimmerman and the local Florida LEOs, and are protesting the validity of the trial verdict.  It is also part of why there is opposition to the SYG laws that make it easier for someone to get away with homicide.

Gun Advocacy Group Sends Zimmerman $12,000 To Buy Guns

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

On Tuesday, an Ohio-based gun advocacy group sent George Zimmerman, who fatally shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a $12,150.37 check with which to purchase more guns.

Buckeye Firearms Foundation said that it came under cyber attack since raising money for Zimmerman and has had its website hacked. The page was not accessible at the time of publication.

The group, however is no stranger to controversy; it has actively trained teachers and administrators to carry arms in the classroom since the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The so-called Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response (FASTER) program is designed to “help deal with mass murders at schools” by ensuring that schools “are no longer ‘victim zones,’” the group claims. Participants will be able to carry weapons inside the classroom after completing “an intensive 3-day class where you will learn many of the same skills and tactics used by law enforcement.”

Ohio law allows teachers and staff to carry firearms if approved by the school board and the FASTER program hopes to attract teachers from the kindergarten through collegial levels.

The U.S. Department of Justice is still holding the gun that killed Martin, as part of a civil rights investigation into the killing, though an attorney for Zimmerman claims that since the verdict, there is “even more reason” for Zimmerman to always be armed. Attorney Mark O’Mara “said his client is getting threats since the verdict earlier this month and has been carrying a weapon.”

Zimmerman’s Old Myspace Account Reveals Racist, Sexist, Violent Behavior

 RANDA MORRIS/Addicting Info

Photo of George Zimmerman, titled “Beer On My Head” from his Myspace Page

A Myspace account, which has been confirmed by several sources as belonging to George Zimmerman, describes arrests/felony ATF charges, and accusations of domestic violence against Zimmerman, in 2005. The page also contains racist statements that reference “Mexicans”, and sexist comments directed as his ex-fiancee, whom he refers to as the “ex-hoe”. On the account, “onlytobekingagain”, Zimmerman uses the name Joe G. His attorney confirmed to the Miami Herald that the 2005 myspace page does belong to his client.

On August 24, 2005, Zimmerman posted this comment “ Im still free! The ex hoe tried her hardest, but the judge saw through it! Big Mike, reppin the Dverse security makin me look a million bucks, broke her down! Thanks to everyone for checkin up on me! Stay tuned for the A.T.F. charges……”

Court documents obtained by MSNBC.com in 2012 show multiple run ins with law enforcement during this same period of time.

The three incidents took place in Orange County, Fla.

• In 2005 he was arrested and charged with “resisting officer with violence” and “battery of law enforcement officer,” both which are third-degree felonies. The charge was reduced to “resisting officer without violence” and then waived when he entered an alcohol education program. Contemporaneous accounts indicate he shoved an officer who was questioning a friend for alleged underage drinking at an Orange County bar.
• In August 2005, Zimmerman’s ex-fiancee, Veronica Zuazo, filed a civil motion for a restraining order alleging domestic violence. Zimmerman counter-filed for a restraining order against Zuazo. The competing claims were resolved with both restraining orders being granted.

A few days after Zimmerman’s August 24 comment he posted the following:

“2 felonies dropped to 1 misdemeanor!!!!!!!!!!! The man knows he was wrong but still got this hump, Thanks to everyone friends and fam, G baby you know your my rock!”

Besides referring to his former fiancée as the “ex-hoe” Zimmerman made disparaging remarks about Mexicans living near his hometown of Manassas, Virginia, calling them “soft ass wanna be thugs” and accusing them of being car vandals. He even went as far as to say that every “Mexican” he saw held a knife to his throat. What these comments suggest is an “all or none” pattern of thinking, where he applies stereotypes and broad generalizations to ”every” member of a group or class.

“I dont miss driving around scared to hit mexicans walkin on the side of the street, soft ass wanna be thugs messin with peoples cars when they aint around (what are you provin, that you can dent a car when no ones watchin) dont make you a man in my book. Workin 96 hours to get a decent pay check, gettin knifes pulled on you by every mexican you run into!”

While Trayvon Martin’s facebook page was allowed into evidence during the trial and was used to help the defense paint a picture of someone who would be seen as intimidating or threatening, for some reason the prosecution did not bring up Zimmerman’s myspace page. On this public page Zimmerman implicates himself in more than a single violent crime, and also demonstrates that he has strong prejudicial feelings about members of minorities groups. One is left to wonder why this information was not brought out during the trial.

7 Mind Blowing Moments From Zimmerman Juror B37′s First Interview

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

On Monday night, one of the jurors in the George Zimmerman trial offered shocking insight into how the group of six women reached its decision to acquit the defendant of all charges in the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Juror B-37 — who initially planned to write a book about the trial — revealed that the jurors considered Florida’s Stand Your Ground law in reaching their verdict, appeared to strongly sympathize with the defendant, and felt that race played no factor in the incident. Below are Juror B-37′s most surprising revelations:

1. Martin was responsible for his own death.

JUROR: It was just hard, thinking that somebody lost their life, and there’s nothing else that could be done about it. I mean, it’s what happened. It’s sad. It’s a tragedy this happened, but it happened. And I think both were responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into. I think both of them could have walked away. It just didn’t happen.

2. Juror felt just as sorry for Zimmerman.

COOPER: Do you feel sorry for Trayvon Martin?

JUROR: I feel sorry for both of them. I feel sorry for Trayvon, in the situation he was in. And I feel sorry for George because of the situation he got himself in.

3. Zimmerman should continue to serve as a neighborhood watchman because he has learned his lesson about going too far.

COOPER: Is George Zimmerman somebody you would like to have on a neighborhood watch in your community?

JUROR: If he didn’t go too far. I mean, you can always go too far. He just didn’t stop at the limitations that he should have stopped at.

COOPER: So is that a yes or — if he didn’t go too far. Is he somebody prone, you think, to going too far? Is he somebody you would feel comfortable —

JUROR: I think he was frustrated. I think he was frustrated with the whole situation in the neighborhood, with the break-ins and the robberies. And they actually arrested somebody not that long ago. I — I mean, I would feel comfortable having George, but I think he’s learned a good lesson.

COOPER: So you would feel comfortable having him now, because you think he’s learned a lesson from all of this?

JUROR: Exactly. I think he just didn’t know when to stop. He was frustrated, and things just got out of hand.

4. Verdict hinged on “Stand Your Ground” law, even though Zimmerman did not use it in his defense.

COOPER: Because of the two options you had, second degree murder or manslaughter, you felt neither applied?

JUROR: Right. Because of the heat of the moment and the Stand Your Ground. He had a right to defend himself. If he felt threatened that his life was going to be taken away from him or he was going to have bodily harm, he had a right.

5. Zimmerman was only guilty of using poor judgment and was “egged” on to follow Martin by the 9/11 operator.

COOPER: Do you think he’s guilty of something?

JUROR: I think he’s guilty of not using good judgment. When he was in the car and he called 911, he shouldn’t have gotten out of that car. But the 911 operator also, when he was talking to him, kind of egged him on.

6. Race played absolutely no factor in Zimmerman’s profiling of Martin.

JUROR: I think just circumstances caused George to think that he might be a robber, or trying to do something bad in the neighborhood because of all that had gone on previously. There were unbelievable, a number of robberies in the neighborhood.

COOPER: So you don’t believe race played a role in this case?

JUROR: I don’t think it did. I think if there was another person, Spanish, white, Asian, if they came in the same situation where Trayvon was, I think George would have reacted the exact same way.

COOPER: Why do you think George Zimmerman found Trayvon Martin suspicious then?

JUROR: Because he was cutting through the back, it was raining. He said he was looking in houses as he was walking down the road. Kind of just not having a purpose to where he was going. He was stopping and starting. But I mean, that’s George’s rendition of it, but I think the situation where Trayvon got into him being late at night, dark at night, raining, and anybody would think anybody walking down the road stopping and turning and looking, if that’s exactly what happened, is suspicious. And George said that he didn’t recognize who he was.

COOPER: Well, was that a common belief on the jury that race was not — that race did not play a role in this?

JUROR: I think all of us thought that race did not play a role. [...]

COOPER: It didn’t come up, the question of, did George Zimmerman profile Trayvon Martin because he was African-American?

JUROR: No, I think he just profiled him because he was the neighborhood watch, and he profiled anyone who came in acting strange. I think it was just circumstances happened that he saw Trayvon at the exact time that he thought he was suspicious.

7. Zimmerman’s history of reporting black men to the police and his decision to follow Martin played no role in the verdict.

COOPER: So whether it was George Zimmerman getting out of the vehicle, whether he was right to get out of the vehicle, whether he was a wannabe cop, whether he was overeager, none of that in the final analysis, mattered. What mattered was those seconds before the shot went off, did George Zimmerman fear for his life?

JUROR: Exactly. That’s exactly what happened.

Juror B-37 twice used the phrase “George said,” even though Zimmerman himself didn’t testify. Tapes of Zimmerman explaining the incident were shown in the courtroom.

For Zimmerman Trial, A Right-Wing Race To The Bottom

ERIC BOEHLERT/Media Matters For America

With final arguments underway in the trial of George Zimmerman, who is accused of killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin last year, most observers might focus on the central question of whether the neighborhood watch volunteer was guilty of murder, or whether he acted in self-defense the night Martin died. They might also ask why it took prosecutors six weeks to charge Zimmerman with any crime, even though he admitted to killing the youth.

But from the crooked perspective of the far-right media, the trial represents something far more insidious than justice on display. Unfolding beneath the sinister specter of President Obama's pugnacious interference, the Zimmerman hearing is being denounced as a Soviet-style show trial, by Lou Dobbs on his July 9 program, anda hoax in which the defendant is the real victim.

It's the defendant who faces a perilous future even if found not guilty we're told; a defendant who's being persecuted by "the race industry." And it's a trial that allegedly operates under the ominous threat of "riots" if Zimmerman is found not guilty.

In other words, the trial, and the irresponsible right-wing commentary surrounding it, represents the latest example of how the conservative press remains incapable of dealing honestly with issues that the nation grapples with, and especially any issue that involves race when an African-American (Democrat) sits in the White House.

Instead, the right-wing media once again gleefully stirs the cauldron of racial animosity. Uninterested in letting justice unfold in the courtroom, the far right mob has been obsessed with making Obama a central player in the saga. A Breitbart writer this week condemned the president for his "direct insertion" into the story, referring to the time, 16 months ago, when Obama answered a single question about the Martin controversy. Obama's quote was supposedly part of a larger, menacing White House plot "to gin up charges of racism" surrounding the case, according to the site.

Given that level of obsession, it's no surprise the right-wing press manufactured a story this week that allowed them to cast Obama as an essential villain in the Zimmerman controversy. Pointing to a report that confirmed the Department of Justice's Community Relations Service unit (CRS) had been dispatched last year to Sanford Florida, the scene of the Martin killing, most of the right-wing noise machine trumpeted the revelation as proof that Obama's Department of Justice was guilty of staging "anti-Zimmerman" rallies.

All of that, of course, was completely false.

The CRS employs peacemakers who work with civic and religious leaders when tensions flare up within communities. Its presence in Sanford was hardly proof that the Obama administration had taken sides in the case. And none of it was even news. As Media Matters noted, both the Miami Herald and the Orlando Sentinel wrote about CRS's presence in Sanford last year and detailed its efforts to successfully facilitate peaceful protests.

In other words, the Department of Justice under Obama did its job and helped keep the peace in Sanford at a time when community tensions were running high. Therefore Obama is guilty of fueling racial tensions in Florida? Of "instigating race riots," as Limbaugh put it. (For the record, there were no "race riots" last year in connection with the Martin controversy.)

It's classic Obama Derangement Syndrome, in which the president's professional opponents contort reality to place him at the center of every possible controversy, even murder trials, and cast him as an all-powerful thug. It's a hypnotic force that overrules common sense.

Note this opening sentence from a recent Breitbart News item, which suggested danger was lurking in Florida:

On Wednesday, Sanford Chief of Police Cecil Smith told Breitbart News exclusively that there is "nothing out there" suggesting civil unrest will take place in the city following the George Zimmerman verdict.

So after getting a quote from the head of Sanford police confirming there's no indication there will be civil unrest following the Zimmerman verdict, Breitbart then hyped a story about how officials are bracing for civil unrest following the Zimmerman verdict.

Talk about remaining committed to a race-baiting narrative.

This week Breitbart also trumpeted a piece headlined: "Broward County Sheriff's Office Prepares Zimmerman Verdict Riot Plan," claiming Florida law enforcement "released a video calling on the public not to riot."

But that wasn't the case.

The youth-oriented public service video released by police made no mention of fending off a "riot." It simply discouraged individuals from expressing anger through an act of violence. ("Raise Your Voice, Not Your Hands.") Getting angry and getting arrested does not constitute rioting. So why the right-wing echo chamber obsession about looming riots? On this show Monday night, Bill O'Reilly couldn't stop talking about the threat.

And note how O'Reilly couched most of his trial coverage.

From the Washington Post's Erik Wemple, who contrasted O'Reilly's complaint that the only reason the trial was getting so much attention was that  "it's a light-skinned Hispanic against a black kid," as compared with the coverage on The O'Reilly Factor [emphasis added]:

Last night, O'Reilly delivered an editorial monologue on the George Zimmerman case; then he discussed it with commentators Kimberly Guilfoyle and Lis Wiehl; then he sat down with another guest, Jacques DeGraff, and talked about it. Much of the discussion concerned race.

On Monday night, O'Reilly discussed the racial aspects of the case with LeVar Burton. In another segment on the same show, he discussed the case with Juan Williams and Mary Katharine Ham. Much of the discussion concerned race.

Last Wednesday night, O'Reilly convened a panel with Wiehl and Guilfoyle on the trial.

Last Tuesday night, O'Reilly blasted actor Jamie Foxx's Trayvon Martin T-shirt in a segment with Alan Colmes and Monica Crowley. That was all about race. 

But in terms of unfiltered race baiting, nobody has matched Rush Limbaugh's invective about the Zimmerman case, and the talker's obsession with portraying Obama as a driving force in the story. Latching onto the phony spin surrounding CRS, Limbaugh accused the president of "promoting racial strife" so that the "rest of us can get a taste of" slavery.

The confirmation that the right-wing media's loudest voice was using the murder of a young, unarmed black teenager to suggest America's first black president was trying to fuel racial tension so white Americans could "get a taste" of what the crushing pain and humiliation of slavery felt like, really does defy common sense and civility, ever for a confused hate merchant like Limbaugh.

With the Zimmerman trial, Rush Limbaugh had once again won the race to the bottom.