Zimmerman's extraordinary release of re-enactment video

A lawyer who I know wrote this:

In an extraordinary step, George Zimmerman’s attorneys just released a large amount of evidence in the case -- including a police tape of Z’s being questioned right after he shot Martin.
   This evidence speaks for itself. In and of itself it is routine and there is no occasion for me to comment on it. But what is so EXTRAORDINARY is that an accused’s lawyers would release all this evidence. That is what deserves comment.
   In an ordinary criminal case, the accused’s COUNSEL will TALK. But they never release their client’s statements or any of the other evidence – they themselves just talk to try to spin the evidence. Why not let their client talk? Because their client is guilty and the more he talks, i.e. lies, the more he gives the prosecution to shoot at: "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have shown you that after the crime was committed the defendant claimed ... [X] But the physical evidence we have presented shows [not-X]. We have shown you that after the crime was committed the defendant claimed    ...[Y]. But we have presented the testimony of disinterested witnesses who say ... [not Y].
Etc., etc. Why did the defendant lie about what happened? Because telling the truth would convict him as we have charged. Etc., etc." So the ordinary criminal defendant’s lawyers do everything they can to obfuscate the evidence and confuse the issues. That is because the ordinary criminal defendant is guilty.
   Defense counsel’s actions here strongly suggest that they have the EXTRAORDINARY client who is innocent.

The video here is pretty extraordinary and needs to be seen.



A discussion of the video with some parts of the video also shown.



From Fox News:

A newly-released video shows Florida neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman at the scene of Trayvon Martin's fatal shooting a day later giving police a blow-by-blow account of his fight with the teen.
In a video posted on a website by Zimmerman's defense team, Zimmerman said Martin saw his gun and reached for it as the two scuffled on the sidewalk at a gated apartment community in Sanford. That's when Zimmerman said he pulled the gun and shot the teenager.
The tape shows two butterfly bandages on the back of Zimmerman's head and another on his nose. There are red marks on the front of his head.
On the tape, Zimmerman did a reenactment of the scuffle with Martin in the moments before he shot the 17-year-old from Miami. Zimmerman said Martin kept "slamming and slamming" his head on the sidewalk. "It felt like my head was going to explode," he said. . . .

Here is a summary of events by Jeralyn Merrit at talk left.  There is more at his website, and it is worth reading the entire post, the vast majority of what he posted is consistent with what I have put down up to now.  There are a couple of differences that I have with it.  One is noted below.  And the second deals with his discussion about Stand Your Ground laws (not quoted below), since Zimmerman was unable to retreat any further.

. . . Here’s my interpretation of George’s version of events, which undoubtedly will be disputed by the state. Again, these are not undisputed truths, but my interpretation of George’s version.
George’s suspicion was aroused because he saw someone milling around between houses in the rain. He knew this person didn’t live at the house he was standing by because it had been burglarized before and he knew who lived there. The guy wasn’t exercising. He did nothing to get out of the rain. He thought to himself, who stands out in the rain and stares at houses? He did what the Sanford Police had instructed members of the community to do when they see something suspicious. He called the non-emergency number for the police to report his suspicion.
He pulled over at the clubhouse to make the 911 call. Trayvon walked past him, staring at him and turned down Twin Trees Lane. He drove to Twin Trees Lane while he was still on the phone with the non-emergency dispatcher and parked at the cut-through, in front of the white truck which happens to be located at 1211 Twin Trees Lane. He saw Trayvon go down the path between the shared backyards. Then Trayvon returned and circled his car. The dispatcher tells him police are on their way.
George tries to give him directions to where his truck is parked. . . . Then Trayvon took off running. The dispatcher asks him which way Trayvon had gone. He gets out of his car to look. He says toward the other entrance, and confirms to the dispatcher that would be the back entrance. The dispatcher tells him they don’t need him to follow Trayvon, and he says “okay.” But he still wants to tell the dispatcher where he is so the cops can find him, and he doesn’t know the name of the street since there is no street sign. Trayvon had gone off and was out of his sight.
He keeps walking to the front of Retreat View Circle to get an address. He had a flashlight but it wasn’t working. His purpose at this point was not to follow Trayvon, who had left the immediate area. He told the dispatcher he would stop following him and he did. He continued walking to Retreat View Circle to get the address for the dispatcher to give the cops who were on their way, and hen he then turned around to walk back to his car.
Just west of the “T” Trayvon appeared out of the darkness and confronted him. He (GZ) was right by the bushes along the side of the house at 1211 Twin Trees Lane. Trayvon was on the shared back path, in back of 1211 Twin Trees Lane. Trayvon confronted George, asking him if he had a problem. He said he didn’t and reached for his phone to call 911. As he reached for his phone, Trayvon punched him, he stumbled.

[John Lott: there is a little more that goes on here, such as a struggle where Trayvon was trying to knock Zimmerman down to the ground. See video above.]

Trayvon got on top of him and started banging his head into the cement. His body was on the grass, his head on the cement. He struggled to get up. As they continued struggling, George was crying out for help. Trayvon put his hands over his mouth and nose and told him to shut the F* up. He thought he was going to lose consciousness.
A neighbor behind them (W-6, John, at 1221 Twin Trees Lane) yelled out asking what was going on and if he should call 911. George yelled for help again. He wanted W-6 to help him get away from Trayvon, rather than call 911, because he knew police were already on their way. But W-6 went inside to call 911. No one came to help George as he kept struggling to get out from under Trayvon. W-6 says they were moving as they were struggling, first in the grass, then onto the sidewalk. As George tried to move so his head would be onto the grass and he could get Trayvon’s hands off his mouth and nose, his jacket lifted and his gun was exposed. Trayvon reached for his gun and told him he was going to die. . . .