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(photo: DonkeyHotey/flickr)
Cross Posted from Frederick Leatherman Law Blog
The DNA results do not support Zimmerman’s claim that Martin assaulted him.
Zimmerman claimed that Martin punched him in the nose stunning and knocking him to the ground. Martin mounted him as he lay flat on his back, and started hitting him repeatedly in the face with his fists. Then he grabbed both sides of Zimmerman’s head and began slamming the back of his head into repeatedly into the cement.
When Zimmerman started screaming for help, Martin attempted to smother him by placing his hands over Zimmerman’s mouth and nose.
If this story were true, one would expect to see injuries on Zimmerman’s face and the back of his head, but there are no injuries, with the exception of a scab on the right side of the bridge of his nose and two little cuts or lacerations to the back of his head. These two superficial cuts bled copiously as scalp wounds tend to do.
The blood flow from those wounds is consistent with Zimmerman’s head in an upright position leaning forward and inconsistent with his claim that he was lying on his back.
One also would expect injuries to Martin’s hands, but there is only one small abrasion on the ring finger of his left hand where a ring normally would be worn. (Martin did not wear a ring)
Martin’s only bleeding wound was from the gunshot to his heart.
Now let’s take a look at the DNA evidence.
Left and Right Lower sleeves and Cuffs of Martin’s Shirt and Sweatshirt
No blood detected on any of them.
Martin’s DNA was detected on all of them. There were no DNA results foreign to Martin, with the exception of the left cuff and lower sleeve of the shirt, but the data was insufficient to include anyone due to its limited nature.
Martin’s Fingernail Cuttings
No DNA results foreign to Martin were found.
Note: The absence of Zimmerman’s DNA on the fingernail cuttings and the absence of injuries to Martin’s hands consistent with the beating Zimmerman described, as well as the absence of blood and Zimmerman’s DNA on the lower sleeves and cuffs of Martin’s shirt and sweatshirt leads me to conclude that Zimmerman’s story about Martin almost beating him to death is a lie.
In fact, other than Zimmerman’s story, I do not see any evidence that Martin hit Zimmerman.
He was certainly injured, but there are other possible causes for those injuries.
Martin’s Shirt (ME-8)
Bloodstain A: matches Zimmerman
Bloodstain B: matches Martin
Stain C no blood and no DNA
Bloodstain D: mixed DNA profile likely containing both Martin and Zimmerman
Bloodstain E: matches Martin
Martin’s Hooded Sweatshirt (ME-12)
Blood matches Martin.
Zimmerman’s DNA not present
Conclusion
The only place where Zimmerman’s blood and DNA are present is Martin’s shirt, which he was wearing underneath the hooded sweatshirt.
Bloodstain A is all Zimmerman
Bloodstain D is a mixed DNA sample containing Martin and Zimmerman’s DNA.
Pending review of color photographs of the two bloodstains on Martin’s shirt containing Zimmerman’s blood, I am inclined to believe that they are the result of any of the following:
(1) dripped blood from Zimmerman’s wounds as he leaned forward above Martin’s body either before or after the shot, or
(2) transferred blood from Zimmerman’s hands as he handled Martin’s body.
20 Comments
Recommended. At present I rarely comment on your postings. But I always read them.
If my memory isn’t playing me false. The autopsy of Trayvon Martin’s corpse revealed only two wounds:
1. The fatal gunshot wound.
2. Broken skin on his knuckles.
Assuming my memory is correct. I’m interested in the broken skin. They could be consistent with:
1. Trayvon Martin punching George Zimmerman.
OR
2. They could be consistent with a defense wound.
OR
3. They could be consistent with Trayvon Martin scraping his knuckles on something as he tried to get away.
I note what you say above both about the absence of George Zimmeran’s DNA under Trayvon Martin’s finernails and that the injury to his knuckles was on his ring finger and that he did not wear a ring.
If I were involved in this case I’d find the injury troubling.
Your thoughts ? And are you sure that the ring finger injury is the only injury. My recollection which could well be at fault is that there were injuries plural.
mfi
PS: While I think of it is it known whether Zimmerman fired one handed or did he use a two handed “police grip”?
mfi
Strange, but I thought the diarist had concluded a long time ago that Zimmerman was guilty. Why the pretense of needing more evidence?
Additional evidence always needs to be considered as it comes to light, since it has the potential to alter any conclusion that a person may have drawn, as well as the potential to help others draw conclusions of their own. In other words, the diarist is being eminently rational, as he should be.
But the threads he has started about this in the recent past are about as far from objective as one can get, at least as far as I’m concerned.
A careful, disinterested reading of Mason’s excellent series of articles would suggest that you rushed to judgment and not Mr. P. Mason.
Keep up the great work ‘mon estime collegue’ and recommended.
Perhaps you are right, at least to some extent, and that my reaction is in some measure to the subsequent posters, and not just to the diarist. But if he’s writing a post and sees the piling on, then maybe he has some responsibility to act as a moderating influence, which I don’t think he ever did.
Yes, I do agree with the essence of your statement.
Yet, I would add not in defense of Mason, per se, but as a general guideline, if a diarist is to maintain neutrality and allow the revealed facts to speak for themselves, they probably should not attempt to rescue the fact pattern at the bottom of the pile on.
Namaste
I don’t see why any one of us should necessarily remain impartial or objective. That’s the jury’s job. OTOH, if the public did not express some subjective feelings about a grown man with a car and a gun, following, chasing, then stalking a teenager who’s suspicious behavior turned out to be that he was wearing a hoodie, the cops might never have charged Zimmerman. Dimmerman, er, that is Zimmerman is the one that rushed to judgment here. This is strictly a spectator sport to us; we have no skin in the game. As for me, it seems obvious that the young man in the hoodie had much more to fear from the older man with the car and the gun than the other way around, and I’m worried about any law that turns that on its head or justifies his rush to judgment.
There was only the one injury to the ring finger that I described.
Here is a link to the Medical Examiner’s report (p. 125).
One hand.
According to his account, he beat Martin to his gun as Martin was on top straddling him and reaching for it. Zimmerman pulled it out of the holster in his waistband behind his right hip with his right hand, aimed and fired.
He’s left handed but learned how to shoot right-handed.
As far as I am concerned, you are absolutely wrong.
cal222, I am willing to take you seriously just as soon as you analyze the DNA results and data in the latest 200-or-so-pages of bench notes in the latest document dump, present your theory and then support it with your expert, evidence-based point of view.
I won’t be holding my breath.
How convenient. (Leaving aside the fact that it’s well-nigh impossible to reach behind your back and take a gun out in that position).
What follows is speculation but it’s a reasonable explanation for how he got the nose bleed.
He’s a one hand shooter, an amateur, and it was the “wrong” hand to boot. That would be a very good explanation for his nose bleed a recoiling pistol would be enough to knock his hand into his nose with enough force to cause a nose bleed. Granted there’s not a vast amount of recoil on those cartridges even on very lightweight and poorly balanced pistols. But he’s an amateur and they tend to hold guns badly. From experience of such folk I’d be expect him to shoot sideways or try to which increases the likelihood of him being unable to control the recoil and bashing himself on his nose.
Speculative as I say but fits the known facts about him and would account for the nosebleed.
mfi
Yup. It’s very common, particularly with persons who get their ideas on gun handling from movies and TV shows. It can even happen to two-handed shooters who are using .50 caliber handguns (Zimmerman had a 9 mm, the equivalent of a .38 caliber pistol). Here’s a You Tube video showing a man, presumably better braced than was Zimmerman (he’s sitting at a table, for one thing), about to break his nose shooting a .50 caliber handgun.
Another possibility we have been discussing at my site is that the ejected shell casing might have struck him in the nose causing the injury.
Yet another is that TM may have crumpled after the shot and, since GZ may have had a grip on his shirt and sweatshirt with his left hand to restrain him as he fired the shot (i.e., this would explain the apparent misalignment of the gunshot hole in the clothing and the entry wound), TM may have fallen toward GZ causing him to lose his balance with TM’s head hitting GZ’s nose when they hit the ground.
This theory also might explain the cuts to the back of GZ’s head, assuming it struck an exposed sprinkler head or cover for one. Maybe even the edge of the sidewalk.
I must note that many experienced shooters say that the recoil of a 9mm handgun, even if shot one-handed, would be unlikely to be so severe as to cause Zimmerman’s nose injury.
The Kel Tec 9 has an unusually hard recoil for a 9 mm handgun and that is one of its main disadvantages.
A 9mm Luger cartridge has a recoil of about 3½ pounds in a typical light pistol of approx 32 Ounces. An experienced shooter can easily handle such a light pistol using 9mm rounds and experience almost no muzzle flip. My point however stands Zimmerman is:
1. An inexperienced shooter.
2. Using the “wrong” hand.
3. Inexperienced or ill-trained amateurs tend to hold their guns badly typically holding them one-handed and sideways.
All of which increases the likelihood of Zimmerman being unable to control even so mild a recoil and bashing himself on his nose. The stressful situation would also tend to reduce his control.
mfi
Points taken. Judging from his behavior during and after the incident, he’s not the sort to keep a clear head under duress; in fact, he doesn’t seem like the clearest of thinkers even when not under duress. And as Mason points out, the gun he was using is apparently noted for having a fairly hard recoil for a 9mm.