And the Post extends a script: Did George Zimmerman commit a crime when he killed Trayvon Martin? Should he have been charged as he was, with second-degree murder?
The facts are emerging in dribs and drabs, and so we can’t really tell you. But plainly, major journalistic scams have been staged concerning this tragic case.
This worst offender has been MSNBC; more on their horrible conduct tomorrow. But on Sunday, the Washington Post extended a preferred point of view with a very strange, very lengthy, highly speculative front-page report.
In the Post’s front-page report, Stephanie McCrummen told us what two “audio experts” have said about the tape of the 911 call on which the fatal gunshot is heard. One of the “experts” is Alan R. Reich, “a former University of Washington professor with a doctorate in speech science”—and an active imagination.
Or maybe not! Everything's possible, of course. It may be that Reich is right about what he hears on the tape.
That said, “audio experts” have already failed, in major ways, in an earlier part of this case. But this didn’t stop the Post from publishing a highly speculative report in which Zimmerman turns out to be guilty again, with McCrummen engaging in some slightly comical pseudo-journalism.
What does Reich think he hears on the tape? You can read McCrummen’s full report for yourself. But this is the point where McCrummen semi-comically describes Reich’s basic conclusion:
MCCRUMMEN (5/20/12): The analysis does not discount the possibility that there was a physical struggle between Martin, who had an abrasion on his left ring finger, and Zimmerman, who had a one-inch laceration in the back of his head, an abrasion on his forehead and a bloody, fractured nose, according to newly released photos and police and medical reports.Who knows? It’s possible that Reich is right—that the “help cries” all came from Martin. But note the rather comical writing at the start of this passage:
Rather, Reich’s analysis suggests that whatever physical struggle occurred was over by the time the recorded 911 call began.
From that point until the gunshot 45 seconds later, Reich said, it is Zimmerman who seems to have the upper hand, not Martin.
“It is Trayvon who felt threatened,” Reich said. “The help cries are all Trayvon.”
It’s possible there was a physical struggle between Zimmerman and Martin? As McCrummen notes, Zimmerman emerged with a fractured nose, with lacerations and abrasions on the back of his head. Unless he just walks around with a fractured nose as a matter of course, it does seem fairly obvious that a struggle occurred this night. And of course, the one eyewitness with a very good view told police that he saw such a fight—with Martin on top, punching Zimmerman “MMA style.”
This is also what Zimmerman said.
This evidence makes it seem somewhat odd when Reich determines that Zimmerman “seemed to have the upper hand” in the last 45 seconds. Meanwhile, how did Reich manage to figure this out? In one especially worrisome graphic, McCrummen explains his expert procedures:
MCCRUMMEN: Reich relies heavily on critical listening when examining evidence tapes. Reich amplified this 394-millisecond portion of the audio using computer software. After listening to the segment several hundred times, he perceived the ‘a’ phoneme—a linguistic part of a spoken word—pronounced by the ‘o’ vowel (which sounds like the ‘a’ in father.)Reich could be right in his judgments, of course. He could be right that someone was yelling “stop,” not “help.”
Reich writes, “When interactively scaled up or amplified by a 10x factor, the word appears to be “stop,” not “help” as previously perceived by listeners.
That said, would you be willing to send someone to jail based on phonemes that can only be perceived “after listening to the segment several hundred times?” Given the way other “audio experts” have failed, we would be disinclined to base a judgment on such tortured deductions.
But beyond that: On a journalistic basis, we wouldn’t build a sprawling front-page Sunday report around such tortured technical claims—a Sunday report in which Reich was allowed to say that Zimmerman was in command at the moment Martin was shot.
In fairness, McCrummen balances Reich’s presentation with the views of another expert—James J. Ryan, “retired head of the FBI forensic audio, video and image analysis unit.” But uh-oh! Ryan says Reich’s claims are bunk—that you simply can’t tell what’s going on from this degraded tape!
Having heard this, a sensible newspaper wouldn’t publish a sprawling report which points the finger of blame at someone in an ongoing murder case. But the Washington Post isn’t such a newspaper. It published Reich’s claims anyhoo.
Reich could be right in his judgments, of course. But what if his “expert judgment” is wrong, as all those other “experts” were?
What if that FBI expert is right? What is Reich is just hearing things?
Finally, how thoroughly is McCrummen wed to anti-Zimmerman narratives? Consider the ridiculous speculation she offers near the end of her piece. As you read the highlighted passage, please note the dog that wasn’t allowed to bark:
MCCRUMMEN: All of which leaves the question of how you hear the 45 seconds [of the 911 tape] when you can't hear the 45 seconds, when the context is conflicting and subjective and emotionally charged, when there is an expert such as Reich arguing with certainty about what can be discerned and another such as Ryan claiming that little can be discerned at all.Truly, that is astounding. McCrummen imagines two possibilities. The jury might decide that Martin was screaming for help. Or they might decide that they can’t tell—that the tape is ambiguous.
Ultimately, the only answer to that question that will really matter, if the case goes to trial, is the jury's. How it hears the 45 seconds, said Stephen A. Saltzburg, a law professor at George Washington University, will depend partly on the machinations and strategies deployed during the trial.
If the prosecution can convince jurors that Martin is screaming for help on the recording, it could become "enormously powerful," Saltzburg said.
If the defense can convince them that the recording is ambiguous, it will help Zimmerman.
In either case, Saltzburg said, what the jurors hear will depend on human nature.
McCrummen doesn’t list the third possibility. Obviously, a jury might decide that Zimmerman was screaming for help, as he said. This is an obvious third possibility, one that fits a good deal of the evidence. But McCrummen can’t bring herself to type this third possibility!
Especially given the earlier failures of “audio experts,” we think the Post showed very poor judgment when it built a sprawling front-page report around these “expert” speculations. But could that be Zimmerman screaming for help?
We don’t know who was screaming that night. But McCrummen couldn’t bring herself to type an unwelcome idea.
40% Now Say Trayvon Martin Shot in Self-Defense; 24% Say It Was Murder
ReplyDeleteA new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 24% of American Adults still believe the man who shot Martin should be found guilty of murder. But that’s down from 33% in late March when the case first began to draw national headlines and 30% in early April.
Forty percent (40%) now think George Zimmerman, who has been charged with second degree murder in the Martin shooting, acted in self-defense. That’s up 25 points from 15% in March and up 16 points from 24% last month. Thirty-six percent (36%) remain undecided, compared to 55% two months ago.
Rasmussen report is irrelevant. They call land lines and only old people still have land lines and they are probably rather uninformed in general. Nothing out there would lead an informed individual to believe that GZ shot Trayvon in self-defense after profiling him as a criminal who always gets away and an a-hole. Get over it.
DeleteAnyone with two brain cells knows there is no logic that supports it was Martin screaming, much less evidence.
ReplyDeleteTestimony from the EYEWITNESS to whom Zimmerman directly screamed help isn't even necessary, but it exists.
Attempts to convince that it was Martin should be one of the more comical if embarrassing aspects of the trial.
And anyone with three brain cells knows it really doesn't matter altogether that much who was screaming.
DeleteZimmerman grabbed his gun, chased down a black kid walking down the street, got his wussy ass whipped, then shot the kid.
"Wussy"
DeleteAm I as big an idiot as I come off? Probably.
Yeah, anonymous, we get it: somehow Zimmerman is still vile and disgusting, no matter what the facts may be.
DeleteFirst, Zimmerman was a sadistic brutal murderer who, monstrously, beat up defenseless Martin (oh, have you ever heard such heartwrenching cries for help?), then shot him in cold-blood.
Then, when the evidence about the injuries rendered that scenario very dubious, and it was pretty clear that it was Zimmerman who instead was being beaten up, then Zimmerman became a girly-man who wouldn't take his punishment and screamed for help (oh, have you ever heard a more craven, wussy, girly scream for help?), then shot Martin out of pure girlish cowardliness.
Yeah, we get it: facts may change, but conclusions don't.
And to add to my post: remember when a huge to-do was made of the supposed fact that Zimmerman outweighed Martin by 40 or more pounds? Remember when that showed what a rapacious, brutal, predatory monster he was, and how it meant that it simply MUST be that it was Martin, and not Zimmerman, who incurred all physical injuries?
DeleteOops, the facts showed otherwise. And so different good and evil personalities had to be invented for Martin and Zimmerman. Martin, the defenseless little boy became the rightful avenger of the terrible indignity of being followed; Zimmerman, the brutal, sadistic, overpowering physical bully became the girly-man who couldn't take his punishment.
Funny how ideology gets around any obstacle of fact.
"Zimmerman grabbed his gun, chased down a black kid walking down the street, got his wussy ass whipped, then shot the kid."
DeleteWe agree. Zimmerman, at some point, likely before setting out to Target grabbed his gun and placed it on his person. He spotted a black kid he thought was "acting weird" and "on drugs" near his neighborhood clubhouse and called the police.
While on the phone with the police requesting an officer, Zimmerman followed the person he found suspicious, and communicated his frustration over the fact that his neighborhood had several burglaries in recent months, with some perpetrators getting away (and all who were identified, incidentally, were black men).
He was attacked by the person he found suspicious, and required to shoot him to avoid grave injury or death.
I'm still wondering how anybody could hear Zimmerman's call to police dispatch and conclude that he hunted down Martin. I mean, he's on the phone with them for over four minutes, agrees not to follow Martin, tells them that he's lost sight of Martin who is described as running away and tells the police where to meet up with him so he can point them in Martin's direction. I mean exactly when did this "stalking" take place? How is Zimmerman's call different from what any community watch call to police would be expected to sound like?
DeleteAnd, again, Zimmerman has an unusually high voice for a 28-year-old man. How is some "expert" supposed to tell his voice from an adolescent screaming on a bad recording?
You want know why so many white straight males think liberals are their enemies? It's because we're victims of a right-wing smear campaign! Our own behavior has nothing to do with it and anyone who tells you different is only displaying their covert racism!
PS: Martin had evidence of marijuana in his blood. Ergo, assuming it was a recent hit (Skittles=munchies?), Zimmerman's characterization would appear to have been quite on the money.
Delete"I'm still wondering how anybody could hear Zimmerman's call to police dispatch and conclude that he hunted down Martin."
DeleteUmmmm, because he DID grab his gun, get out of his truck and hunt down Martin after, according to his own words, the kid started running away?
Oh, I forgot. You KNOW "the facts" in this case, and there is only one possible conclusion. Martin was a street thug who had it coming, and Zimmerman was just your garden variety pussy who was minding his own business when this thug decided to thump him.
Martin had evidence of marijuana in his blood? Oh my God! The kid was no doubt a crack dealer!
DeleteOh, and you have no idea how long it was since Martin last toked, but you, in your great wisdom, can "ass/u/me" it was recent. After all, he went to the store to buy Skittles. Damning evidence!
Hieronymous, do you even realize what an utter fool of a hypocrite you look like for inventing evidence that fits what YOU want to believe while accusing others of doing the same thing and dismissing everything that doesn't fit your particular fairy tale because they don't know "the facts" like you do?
Here's something that is certain to come out in trial if it ever gets that far, and that neither one of us know.
According to at least one version of Zimmerman's story, his gun was still in its holster in the waistband of his pants above his ass when Martin knocked him down with one punch, straddled him, and began pounding his head mercilessly into the sidewalk.
Now how did Zimmerman manage to reach behind himself, unholster his gun, take the safety off (assuming his is smart enough to have the safety on while the gun is holster) and fire off a shot straight to the heart, while a guy is straddling you with both hands on your skinhead, pounding it into the pavement?
It will be interesting to see how Zimmerman explained that to the cops that night, before he could think up a better story, because that's the story he's stuck with.
And too bad we'll never hear Martin's version of the events. But then again, when you already know the "facts" what could he have possibly add?
How often is it that the guy with the gun in a fight is the one who starts screaming for help?
ReplyDeleteWhen he's being held down against the sidewalk getting the shit beaten out of him "MMA style" and reasonably terrrified that any minute either: a)he's going to lose consciousness from his head being repeatedly banged against the concrete, or; the guy on top of him who is currently beating the shit out of him is going to find his gun and take it and shoot him first.
DeleteThat would be one likely scenario.
I can imagine the terror that would go through my mind in exactly that same situation, even if (perhaps especially if) I was carrying a concealed firearm (and I don't carry, personally, but I have heard somewhere that it is considered to be a protected right.)
DeleteThen again, what do I know, I'm probably just a pussy.
Glad to see you agree that it is not very often that that armed stalkers beg and scream for help.
DeleteAren't you assuming that Zimmerman wanted to shoot someone? What if he had the gun for just such an emergency and, like most people who own guns, wasn't in the habit off pulling it out at the drop of a hat? Isn't also possible that in the shock of being attacked he initially forgot and then remembered, "Oh, yeah, I have a gun," while he was getting his head banged into the pavement?
DeleteAnd, again, what makes you think that Zimmerman was "stalking" Martin? He agreed to stop following him and told police dispatch where to meet him so he could point them in Martin's direction. Maybe I'm crazy but, if I want to stalk and kill someone I don't invite the police in as an audience. Again, he described Martin as running away from him and disappearing.
And what about that witness who saw Martin on top of Zimmerman?
But keep believing that the evil white oppressor Zimmerman unquestionably stalked and killed Martin for the sheer racist hell of it while ignoring that virtually every fact used to support the case against Zimmerman has crumbled into dust. Because, you know, you're fighting prejudice.
I see. We have a guy in the habit of taking his gun along for grocery store trips. We have the guy grabbing his gun when he sees a kid walking down the street. Then we have the same guy shooting the same kid.
DeleteBut of course, he never wanted to shoot anyone. Thought never came to his mind until the kid he was chasing stood HIS ground.
Riiiight!
Seriously, why would you take your gun to Target? Zimmerman wasn;t screaming for help because his help was on his hip. End of story, the grasshole didn't get away. GZ has made his bed and will lay in it.
DeleteSummerby and his commenters have fallen way down the rat hole on this one. Zimmerman shot an unarmed kid. I don't feel at all sorry for the guy. He get his day in court.
ReplyDeleteAn "unarmed kid" that was holding him down and beating the shit out of him "MMA style" while banging his head on the concrete? How would you feel if you were in Zimmerman's situation at that moment? Would it give you much comfort that the 6 foot "kid" currently beating the shit out of you was "unarmed?"
DeleteWhat happened to our supposedly enilghtened liberal empathy? Can we feel none for Mr. Zimmerman?
Well, it is best at this point to see how the evidence plays out, if you are interested in the case. It seems to me your assessment may be correct, or not. What The Daily Howler is doing now amounts to gloating, at yes, people on the left who were quite foolish. But sometimes he reminds one of the kind of southerner who has much more bile for the pious liberal interloper than he ever could for, say, someone who believed in human slavery.
Delete"What The Daily Howler is doing now amounts to gloating, at yes, people on the left who were quite foolish. But sometimes he reminds one of the kind of southerner who has much more bile for the pious liberal interloper than he ever could for, say, someone who believed in human slavery."
DeleteExcellent slime job, Greg. Really first class. And classic liberal, bigoted arrogance too. Apparently the fact that Bob's "assessment may be correct," is no defense in the eyes of a super-duper fighter of racist bigotry like Greg here. If you notice that the facts point to Zimmerman's likely innocence and that the liberal news media appears to have majorly screwed the pooch, it's only because you're just like the people "who believed in human slavery!"
Jesus, but I am so sick of this piously abusive horse crap.
If you want to know why so many Americans like conservatives and vote against their own self interest, a lot of it has to do with liberals like Greg. Correct on an issue when liberals are wrong? It's because you're racist! Ha! I still win, you bigoted a-holes!
Way to go, dude.
Comments like these just prove my point: you folks are batshit crazy with rage. According to the coroner the kid weighed only 159. And didn't have enough pot in his system to have an effect ... Pot stays in your system a long time.
DeleteLike I said - Zimmerman will get his day in court and no doubt end up a wealthy man. Martin's life is gone.
"If you notice that the facts point to Zimmerman's likely innocence and that the liberal news media appears to have majorly screwed the pooch, it's only because you're just like the people 'who believed in human slavery!'"
DeleteAnd here, you and the guy who does your thinking for you make the same mistake you condemn in others --- ass/u/ming you KNOW all the facts, everything there possibly can be to know about this case.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Heironymous Somerby.
"But sometimes he reminds one of the kind of southerner who has much more bile for the pious liberal interloper than he ever could for, say, someone who believed in human slavery."
ReplyDelete--"BUT THE OTHER TRIBE IS SOOO MUCH WORSE THAN WE ARE!!"--
I, for one, appreciate Bob's attempts at being the conscience of the left. Somebody has to (besides Glenn Greenwald on occasion).
Naively, I used to think that liberal commentators and websites were more trustworthy than conservative ones. However, after what i have seen and read from the former on the Trayvon Martin matter I have, unfortunately, come to seriously doubt that belief.
Bob is sadly correct that, before the rise of the left blogosphere and the left turn of MSNBC, we progressives had it easy - only the dishonesty and stupidity of the right were on display. Now, comparing the hackery of MSNBC and Fox, I honestly can't say that one is worse than the other. In fact, on the Trayvon Martin matter, I'd be willing to bet that MSNBC has been much more dishonest than Fox.
Shorter:
ReplyDeleteContinuing to point out continuing bias and mis-reporting is "gloating".
I know, you couldn't make it up.
The reason there may not have been a struggle is because it is possible that Zimmerman shot Martin, the gun recoiled hitting Zimmerman in his nose, fracturing it and then he fell and hit his head.
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The voice issue is just cumulative evidence of Zimmerman's guilt. Even if it is ultimately inconclusive who was screaming, there is no way Zimmerman can explain how a punch, knock down and pounce upon got from the T to 50 feet down the dogwalk. The dilemmas caused by a plethora of Zimmerman's lies and invented truths are more than enough to convince a sophisticated jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, however, it is unlikely as Singleton aptly pointed out, that a person getting their head repeatedly slammed and face punched would not react in pain after each blow. If you have a broken nose, even the slightest pressure on it is going to cause pain. Zimmerman is not a boxer. Each punch would have caused him to agonize in additional pain. We wouldn't as Singleton pointed out, be hearing help, help, help. We would have been hearing owwwwwww, ohhhhhhhh , aghhhhhhhh, indicia of injury. Furthermore, the fact that the screaming for help abruptly stopped after shot ("I grabbed my gun, aimed and shot" Zimmerman's words - hardly the actions of a person about to black out screaming for help) all points to the screams being Martin.
The voice issue is just cumulative evidence of Zimmerman's guilt. Even if it is ultimately inconclusive who was screaming, there is no way Zimmerman can explain how a punch, knock down and pounce upon got from the T to 50 feet down the dogwalk. The dilemmas caused by a plethora of Zimmerman's lies and invented truths are more than enough to convince a sophisticated jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, however, it is unlikely as Singleton aptly pointed out, that a person getting their head repeatedly slammed and face punched would not react in pain after each blow. If you have a broken nose, even the slightest pressure on it is going to cause pain. Zimmerman is not a boxer. Each punch would have caused him to agonize in additional pain. We wouldn't as Singleton pointed out, be hearing help, help, help. We would have been hearing owwwwwww, ohhhhhhhh , aghhhhhhhh, indicia of injury. Furthermore, the fact that the screaming for help abruptly stopped after shot ("I grabbed my gun, aimed and shot" Zimmerman's words - hardly the actions of a person about to black out screaming for help) all points to the screams being Martin.
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