Zimmerman, the Media, and the Law – a dirty dance?

Aka, Dancing with the Law

I have been blogging about the media, in general, about that they are not talking about George Zimmerman’s past and I believe it will soon be revealed exactly why that was happening.

Normally, when a crime becomes a major news story, the media are in a hundred yard dash to dig up anything and everything about the alleged perpetrator and sometimes the alleged victim as well.

A lot of factors weigh heavily as to how much the media goes after each person or persons involved in the crime.

Sometimes ethnicity affects the media’s decision and sometimes it might be based on the demographics – a rape arrest affecting a Lacrosse team might be treated differently than an arrest of a football coach accused of child molestation.

The mainstream media, for the most part, has avoided discussing anything that would shed an unfavorable light on George Zimmerman, yet, all over the internet there were stories containing dates and charges about Zimmerman’s violent past.

Oh, by the way, it was not like the info on the internet was based on rumors or even untruth’s – there were articles on websites that had dates, times, docket numbers with charges – none of this stuff was make believe – it was real, yet the media were avoiding it like the plague.

It was pretty much a total blackout and the media did everything possible to lock down any conversations on their talk shows about George Zimmerman that would have shown him to be a violent person.

Two things happened last night to help me clarify my position as to why this blackout was happening.

Personally, I call it a “Dirty Little Dance” between the media and law enforcement.  Another way of describing it is, “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” – this is a game we all have played as children and adults.  Of course we do not like to admit we have played this game – but believe me, if you probe enough, everyone will admit playing this game from time to time.

For media to get “exclusives” from the police, which Nancy Grace tries to do all the time, you have to scratch their back.

You cannot attack the police with vim and vigor – accusing them of doing a poor investigation – and then expect them to give you a major exclusive at some point in time during an investigation.

From the start of the Trayvon Martin murder, it looked like the police were doing a sloppy job either by design or by incompetence.  There were rumors, especially online of the case being botched up.  There were many people saying the case was being mishandled because the shooter was white and the victim was black and if the investigation was done poor enough, the shooter would walk away scot-free.

Almost from the start, leaks were being released, supposedly by the Sanford Police Department, about the victim Trayvon Martin – bits and pieces about his school history – from involvement with graffiti, possession of a plastic bag containing traces of marijuana, and the worse of the group – jewelry found in his backpack.

Wow, all of these “major things” sure justify Trayvon being shot, right?. There were people calling in and saying that Trayvon was a bad kid finally caught and shot at the wrong place and the wrong time.  There was a concerted effort to undermine the credibility of Trayvon, while on the other hand, there were comments relating to George Zimmerman being “squeaky clean” as far as the law was concerned.  While there were rumors of George Zimmerman being squeaky clean there was an undercurrent on the Internet portraying George Zimmerman in a much different light.

Decisions were made by the various media to not go into the past of Zimmerman and Trayvon Marton and I was not sure why those decisions were made.  Initially I thought that it was because Zimmerman had serious issues in his past and Trayvon, partly because he was younger and had not been on the earth as long – did not have the opportunity to match Zimmerman crime for crime.  I say that lightly – Trayvon has been accused of doing things that many, many other teens do on a frequent basis – and there are many teens that actually do so much more.

As soon as it was apparent that the Sanford Police Department was spinning its’ wheels, the black community in Florida and across the United States rose up in protest and petitions were started on the Internet to encourage the Sanford Police Department to get off their collective asses and do a thorough investigation of the shooting.

Because of all the protests the State of Florida finally caved in and assigned a special prosecutor.  The FBI was also getting involved in its’ own investigation.  What was unusual about this case is that the State District Attorney did not handle the investigation because of a conflict of interest.  In addition, the Sanford Chief of Police decided to step down – either by pressure or by choice. 

So, why did these two fine gentlemen decide to take themselves out of this investigation?  We might never know – but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the discussions were made by these two gentlemen.

Interestingly enough, the media are avoiding all discussions about these two gentlemen as to their individual reasons for recusing themselves.  Is this part of the dance?  Is the media avoiding the dialogue because if they don’t press for answers, they might get some exclusives down the road.  There will always be crime and there will always be the need for exclusives that will keep viewers watching.

Regarding the case at hand, the media was careful to not dig into Zimmerman’s criminal past,  I believe if they attacked Zimmerman’s past too much that it would make the Special Prosecutor look bad if she decided to not arrest and pursue a conviction against Zimmerman.

On the other side of the coin, if the media played the game and if the Special Prosecutor decided to arrest Zimmerman and subsequently pursues prosecution, then there will be leaks, that would come in the form of exclusives that the media would use to really make Zimmerman come across as the bad guy – in effect, Zimmerman will be tried in the media – much like the media attacks on Casey Anthony.

Well, as I hinted at above, all this started last night.  It started with the announcement by the Special Prosecutor deciding to arrest George Zimmerman and charge him with 2^nd degree murder.

The first thing the Special Prosecutor, Angela Corey, did was to pat everyone on the back regarding the investigation work done so far.

What was absolutely amazing about her gratuitous speech is that she said her team “launched an intensive investigation building on all of the work that the Sanford Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office had already done.”

Although that quote was technically correct, she was assigned to the case because of what the Sanford Police Department failed to do and probably had no intention to do – a thorough investigation.

She also said that the decision made to arrest George Zimmerman was made based on the evidence and not because of public pressure.

Well, I disagree.  It was because of a poor job by the Sanford PD that caused a citizen backlash that resulted in her being brought in to take over the case.  It is absolutely a given that she was brought in because of extreme public pressure.

By the way, did you hear any media criticizing her regarding her remark that she was building on what the Sanford Police Department had already done?  No, and you never will – because that is part of the dance.  If they criticized her right out of the blocks, then they would be blackballed from getting any exclusives from the office of the Special Prosecutor.  I call this “Dancing with the law.”

I am sure Angela Corey is a highly competent District Attorney and I am also sure she is very knowledgeable of the law and that she will do an excellent job, but last night I saw a highly skilled speaker stroke everyone from the Governor of Florida to the State Attorney, her entire staff and the Sanford Police Department.  How could she give kudos to the Sanford Police Department when their negligence was the reason for her being assigned to the case?

I believe she should save all the pats on the back until after the trial, if one takes place.  To me, the proof is in the pudding, and to brag about all the hard work prematurely might have been a huge mistake on her part.

Most of the time, Angela Corey looked like the cat that ate the mouse – she was partially smiling throughout the entire announcement and even during the question and answer period.  It was almost like she knew a secret and she was not going to reveal it to anyone.

So, let’s get to the second item that made me talk about the dance that is going on.

The Nancy Grace show last night was so exciting. NOT!  She had a special screen up showing helicopter coverage of the police caravan taking George Zimmerman from where he turned himself in to where he was going to be incarcerated until his bail hearing.

Up until this episode of Nancy Grace, Nancy had never talked about George Zimmerman’s criminal past.  Surprise, surprise, now that Zimmerman was under arrest, it appears that it is now okay to begin the unfurling of George Zimmerman’s run-in’s with the law – Nancy will do this one step at a time for mankind.  She put a toe in the water by interviewing George Zimmerman’s previous defense attorney, Zahra Umansky, from 2005.  Nancy only gave us a preview – she did not discuss the charges against George Zimmerman from 2005 – only to ask his attorney how he looks now against how he appeared back then.

Last night there was even a discussion about George Zimmerman and his right to carry a concealed handgun and if he had a criminal history that he would not have been able to get a concealed handgun permit.  Also, a criminal past might affect how long he could be sentenced in this case and whether or not he could be eligible for parole.

I am sure starting tonight there will begin the release of information about George Zimmerman’s previous arrests and the charges in each arrest.

What you will not see, however, is any discussion as to why Norman Wolfinger and the Sanford Police chief have stepped down from any involvement in this case.

I believe the reason Norman Wolfinger stepped down could be based on some kind of involvement in George Zimmerman’s previous arrests being out of the news and another reason is possibly because of his involvement in insuring that George Zimmerman be allowed to walk away a free man the night of the shooting.

Also, the reason Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee stepped down might be because of his involvement with Norman Wolfinger and possible involvement with George Zimmerman’s father, retired Supreme Court Magistrate who also served in Vietnam with Norman Wolfinger.

Keep in mind that the police detective first involved in the case wanted to arrest George Zimmerman and charge him with manslaughter of some kind.

How many people were either in the Police Station that night or on a conference call that fateful night who might have colluded to override the police detective?  Will we ever know?

Is any talk show brave enough to try to find out RIGHT NOW, why Norman Wolfinger stepped aside, aka, recused himself? Also, does anyone know if Police Chief is still being paid even though he has stepped down?  If that is the case, I would suggest that the citizens of Sanford, Florida protest to the Sanford City council to insist that Bill Lee not be paid during this period.

I just read an article in the L.A. Times that said that the Sanford Police Chief received a no-confidence vote from the Sanford City Council and was permitted to go on paid leave.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/25/nation/la-na-stand-your-ground-20120325

The Sanford Police Department appears to have a questionable past in which it has shown a failure to prosecute cases where the victims are African American and the alleged assailants are not African American.  Please visit DailyKos to read the petition and participate if you so desire. http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=94

When the media give you only part of the information or worse yet, only one side of the information, they are tricking you into coming to your own conclusion with the limited information they only want you to have.  Is that what you want?

I close with, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave.”

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