Trayvon Martin: Why Is the Zimmerman Family Getting Preferential Treatment?

I just watched George Zimmerman’s bond hearing, and I was shocked to see that Zimmerman’s family members were permitted to testify by telephone. Where is the evidence that their lives are in danger? All of the protests have been peaceful so far. Why the exaggerated fear that somehow African Americans will use violence against Zimmerman and his family? And why is the court going along with it?

If George’s father Robert and his brother Robert, Jr. are so fearful of all the scary black people out there, why have they been willing to make multiple appearances on television and radio programs? Robert, Sr. appeared with his face hidden, although I don’t know why that was the case. Robert, Jr., the brother, was on a high-profile CNN program twice, and was in no way disguised.

Who was more hated than Casey Anthony and her family? They even experienced having people picketing their home and screaming “baby killer” at them when they came out of their house. Yet they were not permitted to testify by telephone. Even child witnesses in abuse cases have to come to court to testify. Occasionally they are allowed to testify by video-conference, but I have never heard of telephone testimony before. The implication was that George Zimmerman and his family are in danger comparable to testifying in a mafia trial.

The state permitted George Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara to hold a mini-trial during a bond hearing! An investigator was called to the stand and cross examined about the wording of the probable cause affidavit.

“Evidence” was introduced to indicate that George Zimmerman had two vertical cuts on the back of his head, and O’Mara got the investigator to say that that is consistent with Zimmerman’s story that Trayvon Martin banged his head on concrete. How would that cause two vertical scratches? Isn’t it more likely those scratches were caused by Martin’s fingernails as he tried to defend himself from his mysterious stalker?

The ultimate insult came when George Zimmerman was permitted to take the stand and “apologize” to Trayvon Martin’s parents. He was also permitted to claim that he did not know how old Trayvon was and that he believed Trayvon was only a little younger than he (George) is. Yet, on one of the police tapes, Zimmerman is heard saying that he thinks Trayvon is in his “late teens.” Zimmerman is 28.

Why is Zimmerman apologizing now? As Ben Crump, the Martin family attorney said afterwards, this was nothing but a self-serving act on Zimmerman’s part. It has been fifty days since Zimmerman shot Martin. He never apologized through his attorneys. His father and brother never expressed any sorrow at the young man’s death. Instead they tried to paint Martin as a thug who beat up on their son and brother. George Zimmerman created a private website, and he did not express remorse or sorrow on the site. In fact he posted photos of graffiti that had been posted on a black student center building and signs from a rally led by Koran-burning Florida pastor Terry Jones. Why didn’t the prosecution object to this self-serving display?

In the end, the judge granted George Zimmerman $150,000 bail, meaning that he only needs to pay $15,000 and he is free. He does have to have GPS tracking, but he will be permitted to leave the state and keep his location secret.

Alleged photo of Zimmerman's head after the shooting

Finally, to top all this off, a supposed photograph of the back of Zimmerman’s head taken by an anonymous bystander was released to the media today. It shows blood dripping from two small cuts, but it doesn’t seem like that much blood for a head wound. We also know that the EMTs didn’t see fit to bandage the cuts after they wiped the blood off, and there was no blood visible in the videotape of Zimmerman arriving at the police station less than an hour after the shooting.

I think we are seeing the writing on the wall. I am very concerned that George Zimmerman is going to get off on the stand your ground defense. I think it is time for those who care about justice for Trayvon Martin to start marching again.