Zimmerman Case: Bracing For Yet More Discovery Material [UPDATE: Zimmerman Not Racist Says FBI, Media]

Sometime Thursday more discovery material should become available in the Zimmerman case; the Zimmerman website is often a good place to find it. [Or here.]

Prosecutors are releasing more documents in the case of a man charged with fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
 
The documents being released Thursday include reports from the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
 
The FBI is conducting a probe into whether there were civil rights violations in the handling of Martin's death investigation, and the FDLE assisted the criminal investigation.

DUMP: The new file is 284 pages. At a glance, I would say the Federal hate crimes investigation is stalling out - all sorts of people, including the ex-fiancee, say George Zimmerman never seemed to have a problem with race. Against that, there is Zimmerman's MySpace page from 2005 where he complains about Mexican thugs (p.224).

We learn a bit about the Gangs of Sanford (p. 116). Three gangs call themselves some variant of "Goons"; they are all black except for one token whte. A fourth gang is Hispanic. And believe it or not, in colder weather these gangstas favor hoodies.

A HEADSCRATCHER FOR THE DEFENSE: The FBI interviewed lead investigator Chris Serino of the Sanford PD.  However, their conclusion is overlaid by the timestamp at the bottom of the document, so we end with this (p. 123):

Serino believed that Zimmerman's story...

What?!?  Was a crock? Was convincing? Showed no evidence of racial animus?  More discovery soonest! [I think we know!  Serino believed Zimmerman's story was "scripted", a word two news outlets use in quotes; see below].

THE ORLANDO SENTINEL: The OS reporting is picked up by the Chicago Tribune:

FBI interviews: No evidence Zimmerman a racist

By Jeff Weiner and Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel

Federal civil-rights investigators interviewed dozens of George Zimmerman's friends, neighbors and co-workers, and no one said he was a racist, records released Thursday show.

FBI agents spread out across the state, talking to three dozen people, including gun-shop employees, Zimmerman's ex-fiancée and the Sanford police detective who led the investigation into the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old.

None said he or she had ever known him to show racial bias. A co-worker who saw him the day after the shooting said Zimmerman was "beat up physically and emotionally."

Chris Serino, the police detective who interviewed Zimmerman the night of the shooting, told agents he thought Zimmerman had pursued Trayvon "based on his attire" and not "skin color." Zimmerman, he said, has a "little hero complex" but is not a racist.

Zimmerman's account sounded "scripted" to him, Serino said. Even so, he did not have enough evidence to justify an arrest, he told an FBI agent, even though he was getting pressure from a small number of officers within the department to file charges.

 That 'not racist' exemplifies the national reporting. For examples:

 The Miami Herald (picked up by the Boston Herald):

FBI records: Agents found no evidence that Zimmerman was racist

CNN:

Witnesses tell FBI that George Zimmerman is no racist

LA Times:

Trayvon Martin case: George Zimmerman not racist, FBI was told

The AP (from the San Fran Chronicle):

FBI doubts Trayvon Martin killing racist

The NY Times:

More Records Released in Trayvon Martin Case

Well, they need to bring their readers along slowly.  Here we go from the lead by Lizette Alvarez:

MIAMI — A wide-ranging investigation of George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, found a man not prone to violence or prejudice and who moved easily between racial and ethnic groups — a “decent guy,” “a good human being.” The assessments, made public on Thursday, came from interviews with friends, co-workers and neighbors who were interviewed by the F.B.I. and state and local law-enforcement authorities. They are part of a pretrial cache of documents in the case that have been released periodically by Angela B. Corey, the special prosecutor. The F.B.I. was brought in to conduct a federal civil rights investigation, which is focused on whether there was racial bias involved in the shooting and in the handling of the case.

SCRIPTED: Both the OS and the Times include the word "scripted" in quotes in describing Serino's reaction to Zimmerman's story. That phrase would fit beautifully in the last visible sentence on the .pdf document (p. 123) and does not appear (to these tired eyes) elsewhere in the FBI account of their Serino interview.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 16 at Raz today.

Trails Romney by 1.

[rse]

Is Legal Insurrection down for anyone else?

[Laddy]

Yes LI is down currently.

[narciso]

Not around here, OT, what is the proper punishment for these folk;

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/11/2891963/paterno-in-letter-defended-penn.html

[Laddy]

LI back up.

[Clarice]

The prosecution team can drag this out as long as they want. Serino's leaking to the media hack who poisoned the jury pool dooms this case.

[Captain Hate]

what is the proper punishment for these folk

Difficult to say. There will be a lot of innocent people who will bear the brunt of any financial punishment but there was a massive coverup by TOP MEN involving the cash cow of the football program. The cult that willfully hasn't come to grips with the fact that the program covered up and facilitated a pedophile needs to suffer beyond pressing a lever and having their football food pellet come out uninterrupted. This is the worst situation ever involved with sports and for the usual suspects to emerge unscathed because of excessive hair splitting just can't happen.

[Danube of Thought]

what is the proper punishment for these folk

At least three of them (in addition to Sandusky) are likely looking a doing time as convicted felons. The question is whether the football program itself should be punished, and I'm uncertain about that. NCAA punishments have always been imposed for infractions that affect fair play on the field, e.g. money under the table to acquire the best athletes. If you view these scumbags' actions as having been taken to preserve the football program's reputation (thus enabling it to keep getting good players), then the NCAA should act. I just don't know...

[NK]

I haven't seen any details. Are we all cops who are supposed to investigate colleaugues -- how deep an investigation? CH seems to be saying that. or do we fire them and let the chips fall? I'll have to learn details I guess.

[cboldt]

I went through the material pretty quickly. No smoking gun for Corey. The "hate crime" angle is DOA. Zimmerman's ex-GF seems less eager to trash talk him in her FBI interview, compared with her "anonymous" remarks to SPD. We get part of FBI's interview with Serino (P124), and he doesn't assign any confrontational role to Zimmerman, beyond following Martin.

[NK]

Cboldt-- thx for the summary of the further document release. So the State has nothing in its files (so far released) making out a case for malicious/depraved Murder 2. Does anyone in Fla care that their State prosecutors act this way?

[Danube of Thought]

"Are we all cops who are supposed to investigate colleaugues?"

Cops are supposed to investigate when they learn of criminal activity, and the results of their investigation may result in criminal penalties. The NCAA is supposed to investigate member schools' athletic programs when they are on notice of a "failure of institutional control." They have a manual that defines that term, but I haven't seen it.

[cboldt]

Serino's FBI Interview 2 pages. He thinks Zimmerman's story appeared "scripted."

We knew that already.

Some good inside baseball relating to the SPD, including who is friends with the Martin family, and how Serino expresses concern about leaks coming from the department. Ha! He's the leaker!

[cathyf]

I have a question... Back in the (Democrat) glory days of Jim Crow and the Klan, were any federal anti-lynching laws passed which could be used when the authorities were in cahoots with the lynch mob? So if we have some future administration where the Dept of Justice takes the position that the 14th Amendment says that anti-lynching laws protect Hispanics as well as blacks, would those racist crackers Serino, Corey and Lester face any federal jeopardy?

[woo woo]

"FBI interviews: No evidence Zimmerman a racist"

"Chris Serino, the police detective who interviewed Zimmerman the night of the shooting, told agents he thought Zimmerman had pursued Trayvon "based on his attire" and not "skin color." Zimmerman, he said, has a "little hero complex" but is not a racist."

"Co-workers also said they saw no signs of ethnic or racial bias. They described Zimmerman as "pleasant" and "outgoing."

The FBI got involved after the Department of Justice launched a civil-rights investigation into Trayvon's shooting."

"A new witness whose name was blacked out told a prosecution investigator March 27 that she saw the fight and that the person on top was the one who wound up dead."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/os-george-zimmerman-evidence-release-20120712,0,5301517.story?page=2

Uh, let's move on to some BS story about Moochelle.

[NK]

"Stalling Out" Tom-- the FBI stabbed Holder and 'Bam in the back with this report-- and rightfully so. There is no civil rights case here-- whatever.

[Neo]

The FBI found no racial bias behind George Zimmerman’s shooting of Miami Gardens teen Trayvon Martin, according to dozens of documents related to the case released Thursday.

Show of hands … how many folks think this will stop Eric Holder’s DOJ from filing civil rights and/or hate crimes against Zimmerman if he gets off in state court ?

[cboldt]

Holder's case is thinner than Corey's. Holder couldn't even get Zimmerman's ex-GF, the one who told SPD that Zimmerman was a racist, to say that Zimmerman has racial animus.

But, if the riots are big enough, Zimmerman will get charged for a hate crime. Facts and law are passe.

[NK]

Neo-- the FBI report isn't even a 'ham sandwich' to show a grand jury. 'Hate crime' is a joke, at least Corey has a body. I refuse to be so cynical to believe Holder would proceed.

[boatbuilder]

While the FBI report does seem to help Zimmerman from a PR point of view (which at this point seems to be what the case is now all about) is there any reason why what Detective Serino (or anyone else, for that matter) thinks about Zimmerman's motivation should have any bearing at all on the legal situation? Serino investigated, had some doubts about Zimmerman's story, didn't have enough to charge, didn't charge. Unless Serino is providing facts and/or actual statements of Zimmerman or the witnesses, there is nothing there. Same for the thoughts and opinions of all of Zim's freinds and the members of the "white supremacist community." If one of them had said that he thought Zimmerman didn't approve of young black men wearing hoodies would that make it ok to charge him with a federal hate crime? Presumably, yes. What a horrible perversion of the system of freedoms that we were bequeathed by the founders. The Salem Witch Trials come to mind.

[NK]

BB@1:56-- I thinks that's unfair to the SPD. They had a dead unarmed 17yo. It would have been gross negligence for the SPD to take GZ's statement, pat him on the head and close their investigation under those circumstances. They did a thorough investigation even before the Feds arrived. As it turns out, the forensics and witness statements corroborated GZ's statements, so the rights abuser here is Corey who wildly overcharged Murder 2. SPD being suspicious and checking out GZ was completely justified IMO.

[cboldt]

O'Mara moves to disqualify Lester? This looks real enough to me ...

July 13 Motion to Disqualify Lester

[narciso]

So the big story, on our local station, was that Zimmerman was staying with a local air marshal, who they ever so gently suggest, coached him, what matters truth,

[Some guy]

That Motion to Disqualify might dissuade those who think O'Mara isn't the game.

Surprised this isn't bigger news...

[Chubby]

this news is very interesting, and I think it is correct to say that Lester is biased against Zimmerman. If he was that personaly offended by Zimmerman, and refuses to consider the state of stress, fear and confusion that Z. was in, and which O'Mara has stated as a relevant, Lester is a petty and vindictive loser, imo.