In another thread I'd asked if anyone had any facts related to the Zimmerman/Martin case that they may want a journalist to report on. We had one in our local paper do a story on Z's gun sale that had all of the typical biased rhetoric (unarmed, teenager, slaying, etc.) and I sent her an email asking if she'd like to discuss the actual facts as opposed to parroting MSM reports. To my surprise, she responded and we are set to speak in the phone later today. So, anything anyone wants known about this case, besides some of the stuff posted in that other thread, such as:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronnie948
...The [photoshopped] picture of him was when he was about 12 years old.
The White hoodie is photoshopped.
At the time of the event, He was over six feet tall and built like a monster.
He was in Sanford because his Mother could "NOT" control him so she sent him to his Father's.
He already had a criminal record.
The night of his death, He was within five feet of his Father's back door but decided to "NOT" go in but to go after the Neighborhood watch guy and sucker punch him and break his nose , Then after getting him down, Bang his head against the concrete.
Quote:
Originally Posted by guns and more
...his father was married to second wife, but was hanging out with pregnant girlfriend, Brandi Greene, who owned the condo in Sanford. They left Trayvon in the condo while they went to Orlando to party overnight. That's why no one identified Trayvon for 12 hours.
For the trial, Tracy Martin had his "crips" neck tattoo redone to suddenly become "praying hands".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronnie948
The night this event happened, There were many witnesses. That is why Zimmerman was not arrested and his gun was not taken. He went to the hospital.
It was when Al Sharpton the so called "Reverend" and Jessie Jackson ( Another fraud preacher) came to Sanford and started with their hate and lies that almost all of the witnesses developed amnesia for their own safety.
The Judge and Jury did get to see sworn affidavits by the witnesses and although not having to appear for their own safety were allowed to give their statements.
Al and Jessie sure did not forget to pass the buckets around for donations. After the buckets were full ,Al disappeared and Jessie stayed to get all of the TV coverage he could before leaving. Both of them should have been arrested for what they did.
Believe me when I tell you that they did everything they could to try to prove some sort of crime by George Zimmerman but everything pointed to """SELF DEFENSE""" It was not even "STAND YOUR GROUND" which Martin's thug
parants go around trying to abolish. They still go around to all of the country's Black churches and speak for donations. ( I wonder if they pay any tax on the money they swindle)
Just look behind the scenes at all of these Criminal Thug Shootings and you will find that the agitators start all of the problems and most of the stupid people don't get to know all of the facts.
It is a problem and will never ever go away.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SISF
Ronnie is correct, the trial record bears it out... Martin was outside his Dad's condo, speaking with his "girlfiend" on the phone, and he told he he was going to take care of the "creeper". Even the girlfirend stated in an interview after the trial that she believed Martin started the attack.
Regarding Zim's actions, he's an embarrassment. Yes, I agree he did what he had to do, BUT to revel in it or try to make yourself out loke you saved the world by taking this life... that's pathetic.
And, as seen from the quote above, I have no problem discussing the errors in judgement that Z made but, nevertheless, those errors don't justify skewing the story to make concealed carriers (not just Z) look like maniacal assassins.
Here is the article that prompted my email:
Quote:
DAYTONA BEACH -- The notorious gun used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 could be taking up permanent residence in Daytona Beach.
Main Street bar owner Denny Honeycutt said Friday he's the one Martin's killer, George Zimmerman, worked out a deal with for the purchase of the firearm.
But the agreement to purchase the gun, which had been up for bid on two online auction sites over the past 10 days, has fallen through – at least for now.
Honeycutt, the longtime owner of beachside tavern Froggy's Saloon, said Zimmerman backed away from their $150,000 agreement at the last minute when he found out a woman who wanted to buy the small black pistol for her son's birthday was willing to come up with $250,000.
"I thought he was a man of his word," Honeycutt said.
Honeycutt said he and Zimmerman are still talking, and he's still "absolutely" interested in becoming the owner of the gun used in the nationally publicized slaying of the 17-year-old Florida teenager in Sanford. Honeycutt said Zimmerman sent a text message Friday afternoon apologizing for the change in plans and wrote that his attorney was trying to figure what his contractual obligation is now to Honeycutt.
"I still got the check waiting on him," Honeycutt said. "If he comes back, he comes back. If he doesn't, he's an (expletive)."
For a few days this week, the plan was for Zimmerman to come to Honeycutt's home in a gated Port Orange community at 2 p.m. The pair and their representatives were going to finalize the deal and then have a drink at the Downwind Cafe near Honeycutt's home.
At 12:27 p.m. Friday, 90 minutes before Honeycutt said Zimmerman was due to meet him and exchange the gun for a $150,000 check, Zimmerman fired off a text message.
"Sit tight," Zimmerman's message read, according to Honeycutt. "Apparently last night someone dropped off a cash deposit at my attorney's office."
"For what?" Honeycutt said he replied.
"For the gun," texted Zimmerman.
"I thought we had a deal," Honeycutt shot back.
"We do," Zimmerman wrote. "My attorney is working on it right now."
"OK. Keep me posted," Honeycutt sent back.
At 1:30 p.m., Honeycutt sent a message saying, "Are we still on at my place?"
"We're going to have to postpone," Zimmerman replied. "Apparently the other party submitted a bid on 5-16 for $250,000. However, I did not see the asset verification since it was sent separately as an attachment."
Honeycutt said Zimmerman, who could not be reached for comment, was angry that the particulars of the gun deal were revealed to The News-Journal. Honeycutt, for his part, said he's not too happy how things went with the agreement, and if Zimmerman comes back to him they'll have to negotiate a new deal.
Honeycutt said he and Zimmerman have talked "many times" over the past few days, including for an hour on Wednesday, and he found Zimmerman to be a nice enough guy. Honeycutt contacted Zimmerman on Facebook and the two wound up exchanging personal contact information.
Honeycutt said Zimmerman told him repeatedly this week he was very worried about the high bidder destroying the gun. Honeycutt said he sees the gun as a piece of Florida history, the "main reason" he wants it, and he assured Zimmerman he would never damage it much less trash it.
"It's not about a gun issue or a black and white issue," Honeycutt said. "I'm a human being who loves everybody."
Media reports in USA Today and elsewhere have indicated Zimmerman wanted to use the proceeds of the gun sale to combat members of the Black Lives Matter movement who go after police officers, to attempt to end the career of the woman who prosecuted him and to fight what he believes is Hillary Clinton's anti-gun rhetoric.
THE NIGHT MARTIN DIED
The gun was just another firearm until Feb. 26, 2012, when Zimmerman used it to shoot Martin, a high school student from the Miami area who had been staying with his father at the The Retreat at Twin Lakes community in Sanford. Zimmerman, then 28 years old, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community.
During a nighttime altercation when the two crossed paths outside the homes in the Sanford complex, Zimmerman fatally shot the unarmed Martin. Police responded within a few minutes, Zimmerman was taken in for questioning and then was released because, the police chief said, there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's claim of acting in self defense. The chief cited Florida's Stand Your Ground statute.
The case sparked international attention and racially charged protests in Florida and nationwide as week after week went by with Zimmerman a free man. Six weeks after the shooting, Zimmerman was charged with murder by a special prosecutor appointed by Gov. Rick Scott.
Zimmerman's trial began in June 2013 in Sanford, and a month later a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and manslaughter. For three years, the U.S. Justice Department investigated Zimmerman on civil rights charges but concluded in February 2015 there was not sufficient evidence that Zimmerman intentionally violated Martin's civil rights.
Zimmerman has said in media reports that he recently got the gun back from the Justice Department. Zimmerman initially put the gun up for bid on GunBroker.com, and then on UnitedGunGroup.com. Numerous bids came into both sites.
Honeycutt said he only put in a bid to the second auction on UnitedGunGroup.com, and dropped out when the numbers soared too high. It was his one-on-one talks with Zimmerman that put him at the top of the heap, he said.
AUCTION, SALE TRIGGER CRITICISM
The gun auction has sparked a bevy of media reports, national attention and debate. A piece this week by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., compared selling the gun to the early 1900s sales of body parts of a black Georgia man lynched by a mob of 2,000 white people.
If he ever gets the gun, a black Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol, Honeycutt said he plans to keep it in a safety deposit box in a bank. Honeycutt said he would take several pictures of the firearm and post them around his bar, and he would have T-shirts made with an image of the gun and the name of his tavern. Something similar was done with another local bar associated with convicted and executed serial killer Aileen Wuornos, Honeycutt noted.
Honeycutt said he'll listen if Zimmerman wants to pursue a sale.
"You never know. It's still open," Honeycutt said.
A few local leaders were disgusted to hear the gun was for sale and could become enmeshed with Daytona Beach.
"It's outrageous people want to buy that as some kind of twisted trophy," said the Rev. L. Ronald Durham, who helped organize a huge protest rally in Sanford shortly after Martin was killed. "It shows just how far our society has gone when it comes to devaluing young African American lives."
Police Chief Mike Chitwood said he would pay $5,000 for the gun if he could "turn it into a box of nails." Chitwood said he doesn't understand why Honeycutt would want the gun, and said the $150,000 could go a long way to addressing the needs among some in Daytona Beach.
"It's very sad," the chief said. "I can't imagine how Trayvon's parents would feel on a day like this. As a parent and a grandparent it makes me sick to my stomach."
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