The lawyers representing our friend George Zimmerman need to get their client off the national stage, stat.
A woman told authorities that while they were children, murder suspect George Zimmerman sexually molested her for a decade, according to prosecution records released today.
The woman, identified only as “witness 9,” said the abuse started when she was six and ended when she was 16. Zimmerman, she said, is about two years older than her.
[…] Zimmerman’s family, she said, “don’t like black people if they don’t act like white people. They like black people if they act white.”
If you do the math, the alleged abuse stopped when Zimmerman was 18, about ten years ago. The FL statute of limitations for a first degree felony is four years. The only major fallout is that we can feel a hair more confident that race contributed to Zimmerman deciding to hound Trayvon Martin, confront him and shoot him.
Nonetheless, if I were Zimmerman’s lawyers I would start thinking very hard about the best ways to get him off the public stage ASAP. There is no telling what other skeletons are waiting to tumble out of this nut’s closet.
We can only hope that Zimmerman’s (alleged) victim gets the support that she needs. The newspaper does not have to name her for friends and family to piece together who it is, and during this incredibly tough time they will need to provide a layer of support and protection from the fanatical people who have decided to rally around Zimmerman.
Elizabelle
His family appears to be absolutely awful, too.
The father, a magistrate in Virginia now (?), who could care less that a high school kid with snacks in his pocket ended up shot to death.
These are your heroes, wingnutz and gun-nuts.
rlrr
How are wingnuts going to react to the revelation that their latest hero is a child molester?
evinfuilt
@rlrr:
By finding out who she is and inspecting her countertops.
Joel
I noticed that the White Nationalists are mighty quiet in the comments section of that article. The lead comment is someone trolling them by referring to Zimmerman as “Sanduskimmerman”.
Joel
I noticed that the White Nationalists are mighty quiet in the comments section of that article. The lead comment is someone trolling them by referring to Zimmerman as “Sanduskimmerman”.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
its amazing that zimmerman didn’t end up at penn st with a record like that.
Yutsano
@Elizabelle: Well obviously the kid was out looking for trouble. He was wesring a HOODIE, for Pete’s sake! Didn’t Geraldo teach us anything??
Lord Jesus Perm
I need to know what Paragon of Reason Clime Acts has to say about all of this.
iLarynx
Odd
Tim F.
@iLarynx: Read the part you quoted again.
trollhattan
Cripes, before this is over they’ll find out he used to torture and kill animals. Are they sure Trayvon was his first?
TPM had a piece last week noting Zimmerman tried to buy mo’ guns after the shooting. If he cops a deal, he’ll lose all that sweet NRA cred.
Bailey
iLarnyx–um, I didn’t major in math or anything, but pretty sure if she is 6 then he is 8. Which makes him about a third grader.
Lord Jesus Perm
@iLarynx: I think you need to figure out the difference between addition and subtraction, because your conclusion’s a bit off.
trollhattan
@Tim F.:
That whole pesky komprehenshun thing strikes, again.
cathyx
I would have to think that if this were true, and Zimmerman started abusing her when he was 8, then he himself must be a victim of sexual abuse. 8 year olds shouldn’t know anything about this sort of thing.
iLarynx
I caught it in an “oh spit” moment and then saw all the comments. That’s the last time I borrow Megan McArdle’s calculator.
shano
yea, GZ is a paragon of virtue, a real patriot. he gets away with stuff no one else would be able to. He had a former court case where he stiffed his lawyer and neglected to pay the court a $10,000 fine while he got an $18,000 settlement.
He better get as much time as Marissa Alexander or there will be rioting in Florida. Same prosecutor, Corey, gave her 20 years for firing a warning shot into the ceiling to prevent being attacked by her abusive ex husband
pragmatism
there is no way that zimmy (as the wingnutosphere calls him) takes a plea deal. like it or not, he’s bigger than just his own criminal case. this is a national referendum on racism to too many people. plus zimmy is in for the long con on wingnut welfare.
Xecky Gilchrist
@rlrr: How are wingnuts going to react to the revelation that their latest hero is a child molester?
That’s what this has had me thinking – gotta choose your heroes carefully. Look at their whole record, don’t just go high-fiving them just because they kill one kid and get away with it.
dr. bloor
@shano:
Know your states.
pragmatism
@rlrr: denial, conspiracy theories, clapping louder, tu quoque, blame teh MSM, attack holder/obama. standard stuff, really.
Anya
According the story, he was 8 and she was six when the alleged molestation started. I worked with child predators and generally kids repeat learned behavior. If he did this, chances are he was molested himself or was exposed to sexual behavior (such an adult asking him to molest another child).
In any case, I am no lawyer but non of this evidence is admissible in court. It just muddies the water.
Kane
Lets say that you’re facing criminal charges for something that you’ve done. You’re receiving countless phone calls from a long list of members of the local and national media wanting to speak to you. How far down on that list is Shawn Hannity as someone you want to confide in? The fact that Zimmerman chose to confide in Hannity speaks volumes about where he is coming from.
Joel
@Anya: Yep, it says so right in the linked article. Angela Corey’s office leaked the story to destroy Zimmerman’s fundraising efforts, methinks.
Culture of Truth
More interesting is the story that a former cop (fired, now works as an air marshal) is a longtime friend and has been guiding Zimmerman through this process and perhaps coaching him on his story.
James E. Powell
@rlrr:
How are wingnuts going to react to the revelation that their latest hero is a child molester?
By attacking the accuser or by ignoring the allegations.
PeakVT
Same prosecutor, Corey, gave her 20 years for firing a warning shot into the ceiling to prevent being attacked by her abusive ex husband
The 2nd Amendment doesn’t cover women. That’s what I got the last time I channeled the Founding Fathers.
BTW, I hate the phrase “Founding Fathers”.
Tonal Crow
This is yet another example of how our criminal “justice” system has become a circus.
If we’re going to even bother trying to run a fair process, police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and courts have to keep their traps shut until a verdict has been reached.
That means no perp walks, no pressers with the prosecutor characterizing the defendant as this far from Hitler (and not coincidentally burnishing her “tough-on-crime” cred), no counter-pressers from the defense lawyers characterizing the victim as asking for it, etc., etc., etc.
jayjaybear
Both Corey and Zimmerman’s team tried to hold this back (I assume BECAUSE it actually makes it harder for him to get a fair trial), but Florida law deems all discovery revelations to be public record. It won’t be admissible in court, since it’s not a conviction but an accusation, and it’ll only make seating a jury much, much harder.
Steve
I may get my head bitten off here, but I doubt I’m the only one for whom “child molester” generally implies stuff a lot worse than what the article describes.
Tonal Crow
@jayjaybear: The release of this accusation has contaminated the entire jury pool. Within a few hours (and certainly by the trial date) everyone will have heard it. Good job, Florida. Why not just let the police try and sentence suspects on the spot?
Tim in SF
“About” two years – does that mean almost two years?
Are we talking about two children playing “doctor” or is she describing something else entirely?
Assuming the former, how does one go after two children for doing what many children do, and which I’ve heard described as “normal?”
I’m unwilling to go down this road without more information.
Karen
When did she make this accusation? If she just made it, doesn’t that make her sound like an opportunist? I’m not saying she is. But usually when someone suddenly makes an accusation when someone already has charges against him, that might not look that convincing.
liberal
@Tonal Crow:
Better yet, why not let civilians execute “suspects” on the spot, as Zimmerman did?
jayjaybear
@Karen:
The woman was the daughter of a friend of Zimmerman’s family and approached the prosecutors after Martin’s death with her story. She also said that Zimmerman had a long-standing attitude of disliking black people, which is the more relevant (but still probably not admissible) information in her testimony. She’s not an opportunist because she didn’t go to the press…she went to the prosecutors, and her testimony would probably never have been heard by anyone but them if the law hadn’t made pre-trial discovery public record.
Flying Squirrel Girl
@Karen: Think I read that her family confronted him and his parents about the abuse back in 2005.
jayjaybear
@Karen:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/zimmerman-witness-sexual-molestation-160900334.html
James E. Powell
I wonder if Zimmerman has been offered a plea deal. What would it be? If I read my sources right, the minimum sentence for manslaughter is 9-1/4 years. The max is 15.
Why would anyone take a deal like that?
Tonal Crow
@liberal: Exactly. Repealing stand-your-ground laws is yet another facet of maintaining a fair process.
Joe Buck
If prosecutors have evidence that Zimmerman is a molester, they should charge him with that, rather than trying him in the press for something that is not alleged in the current case. All they are managing to do is poisoning the jury pool.
Karen
@jayjaybear:
Gotcha!
jayjaybear
@Joe Buck:
Again, the prosecution was trying to withhold this from public record BECAUSE it was going to make their job 1000x harder. Florida law is what got it released, not the prosecution.
rachel
@jayjaybear: Florida law looks all kinds of effed up.
The Moar You Know
@Lord Jesus Perm: Tim/Kola/Clime probably would say something like this.
He/she/it got REAL nervous when that post was bought up, haven’t seen it since that happened. And I frankly find that far more disturbing than anything it ever actually said on this blog.
Publius39
@Tonal Crow:
Actually, you would be surprised how many potential jurors do not watch the news. If this makes it past the contradictory hearing where the judge determines if stand your ground applies, a publicity voir dire will most likely ensure that the jurors are not biased.
Tonal Crow
@Publius39:
Whether a person pays attention to the news or not, everyone either talks with people who do, or (worse) talks with people who talk with people who do.
This is exactly the kind of accusation that spreads most readily, and that is most likely to be “enhanced” in the telling. Finally, the voir dire itself will ensure that any Japanese soldier who still thinks he’s at war with America, will know all about the accusation.
Lord Jesus Perm
@The Moar You Know: Thanks. Just threw up in my mouth a little.
Steve
@Tonal Crow: I assure you the voir dire will be a little more sophisticated than “have any of you heard the allegation that the defendant is a child molester?” There are literally millions of people in the State of Florida who have never heard of George Zimmerman or Trayvon Martin, and there are a great many more who will never hear a one-day story that someone accused him of molesting them.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
ABC just identified the witness as Zimmerman’s first cousin.
And no, it wasn’t playing doctor.
geg6
@Tonal Crow:
Ridiculous. You do understand that Jerry Sandusky was tried and convicted by a jury from State College, PA, don’t you? Some of them emploees of Penn State. Do you think he got a fair trial? And what are the chances that none of them knew anything at all about the accusations, not all of them a part of the crimes he was on trial for, against him?
I think you are confused about what voir dire is about. It’s not to dismiss jurors who have heard about the case or defendant or victim. It’s about many things for the lawyers, but for the judge or any possible appellate court, it’s about whether or not any knowledge a juror may have has not prejudiced their opinion of guilt or innocence.
Tonal Crow
@Steve:
Sure. There’ll be a long questionnaire asking whether a potential juror knows the defendant personally, knows of him, might possibly have heard of him, etc. There won’t be any questions mentioning the molestation allegation. The problem is that that there are going to be plenty of gossips in the jury pool who know about it. And their tongues will start wagging — irrespective of what the judge says — the instant it becomes known that they’re in the pool for Zimmerman’s case. And the judge’s instructions to ignore anything jurors have heard about the case, to avoid news, to not discuss the case with anyone, etc., will often be ignored. It’s just human nature.
The only way to avoid this problem is to avoid disclosing prejudicial information in the first place. That’s why I think there should be a blanket gag on everyone involved in a criminal case until the trial is over. The media you can do nothing about, per the 1st Amendment. The parties (and the courts) you can — and should.
Tonal Crow
@geg6: Ridiculous. You do realize that the media report things? And that the 1st Amendment prevents us from gagging them? The prejudice that flows from that is unavoidable. The prejudice that flows from leaks in the “justice” system itself is avoidable, and should be avoided. Again: no perp walks, no prosecution pressers, no defense pressers, no nothing until trial is over.
Steve
@Tonal Crow: I assume that was your experience in all the high-profile jury pools you’ve been a part of? People just get in a room together and start gossiping madly? Uh huh.
Whidby
Zimmerman is obviously a child rapist. There’s no need to convene a court or a jury about this charge just like it is obvious that Zimmerman intentionally set out that night to murder a black person.
Billy Bob Tweed
George Zimmerman was an 8-year-old rapist. Give him a lethal injection. Trial is no longer necessary. He is a racist.
Obama 2012
Yellow-cake from Africa
G.U.I.L.T.Y.
Only a fool – or possibly a Frenchman – could conclude otherwise.
FlyingToaster
@Steve: I can’t speak for Tonal Crow, but in the low-profile juries I’ve been on, the pool did gossip madly — in the 15 minute segments we weren’t having to sit still and listen/wait for the judge and lawyers do their thing.
The feeding pen they kept the pools in — in Monroe County, IN and later (multiple times) in the toxic building in Cambridge, MA — was nothing but gossip. And sheer unadulterated boredom. The hallways were filled with family members impugning the character of witnesses or defendants.
I’m looking forward to my next call-up; HerrDoktor got sent to Lowell earlier this year, I’m betting I’ll get Framingham or Woburn next year. At least now they have Wi-Fi.
gvg
For every bodies information Florida has what we call government in the sunshine laws. We had a VERY corrupt government in the past. I’d have to look it up but I think it was the 50’s. Don’t laugh because I’m talking much much worse than now. We passed laws that a lot of public employees actions have to be open to the public. This includes much more than criminal cases. All public employees salaries are published. ALL. I work for a public university and my salary can be looked up as can the presidents and the janitors. Cops and senators-everyone. All jobs have to be publicly posted so that anyone qualified can apply. This is to avoid awarding the nice jobs to friends. All politicians have to have their meetings announced and publicly open. Pols have gone to jail for having meetings with each other and discussing state business…of course corruption still happens and some of them are always getting away with it, but it apparently has really helped. I believe their were predictions that it would shut down government, no one could work that way etc. What happened was that people learned to deal with it. It works pretty well and clearly helped restore some trust in government as rumors of corruptions that never get proven wrong also do damage to good governing. These laws have been in place since at least when I was a kid. I’m used to them, it seems odd to me that other places haven’t done something as sensible. Louisiana in particular needs to try something like it.
there are difficulties with living with this but people get used to it and adjust. I don’t think this will prevent a fair trial. Incompetant lawyers on either side might, but not this.
Tonal Crow
@gvg: One can (and should) have broad sunshine laws without requiring disclosure of records that impede a fair trial.