Fact, Fiction, and the Unknowns of the Trayvon Martin Death

There is still so much of misinformation going around about this case, I  thought it may be good to figure out fact, fiction and the unknowns.

1. George Zimmerman used a racial slur during his 9-1-1 call.  Fiction.  The prosecutors have cleared this up once and for all.  He used the word punks.  Hardly a racial slur

2. George Zimmerman continued to follow Trayvon after the 9-1-1 operator instructed him not to.  Fiction and unknown.  The fiction is that he was "instructed" not to.  No such instruction was made, it was a suggestion, not an order.  Nor does the 9-1-1 operator have any authority to "instruct" anyone to do anything.  There is still some unknown in this when listening to the 9-1-1 tape.  Some say it proves that he stopped following Trayvon, others disagree.  You will have to listen for yourself to make that determination.

3. Trayvon attacked Zimmerman first.  Not known.  It just isn't.  Anyone that says that it is, is kidding themselves.  There are no witnesses who saw the fight start.  There are about 3 to 4 minutes between Zimmerman's 9-1-1 call and the next calls coming into 9-1-1 to report a fight and gunshots.  There are no witnesses to who threw the first punch.  At least that have been public at this point.

4. Trayvon is a drug dealer.  Fiction/Unknown No proof of this exists.  He was serving a suspension from school when they found a baggie that once had pot in it.  That only proves that at some point he had some pot in his possession.  It doesn't prove that ever smoked it, let alone sold it.  There are some tweets between he and his friends that seem to be talking about getting pot, but not enough to say that he was a drug dealer.  The most likely scenario was that he and friends smoked it at some point.  Nor does this information have any bearing on what happened that night as Zimmerman had no way of knowing it.

5. Trayvon is gang member.  Fiction.  Zero proof of this exists

6. Zimmerman is a racist.  Fiction.  Zero proof of this exists.

7. Trayvon went for the gun.  Unknown.  We don't know what the physical evidence says.

8. Zimmerman was being "beaten to death".  I would have to say unknown.  We don't know the severity of his injuries.  He was treated but we don't know the extent of those injuries.  We only know what a man accused of murder says happened.  We need to hear testimony from the person who examined his injuries at the scene.  It is a fact that Zimmerman had injuries, but we don't know the extent of what those injuries were.

9. Zimmerman was not arrested after the shooting.  Unknown to an extent.  He was handcuffed and taken to the police station for questioning.  It doesn't seem to be clear if he was free to leave or not.  Since he was handcuffed, I would think he was not free to leave.  Is that technically an arrest?  I am not sure.  A lawyer or police officer from Fl. would know that better than I.

10. Trayvon's father didn't report him missing for three days.  Fiction.  It took three days for the body to get released to the family.  His father reporting him missing the following morning.  It was at that time that the police brought a picture of him to his father to identify.  Trayvon was originally listed as a John Doe after the shooting.

11. The Sanford police department have had issues of incomplete investigations of black victims of crime.  Fact.  Zimmerman himself was involved in trying to force the police department to arrest an officer's son who beat a black homeless man.  Originally nothing was done.  Was that racially motivated or motivated by the cops trying to keep a fellow officer's son out of trouble?  Can't say, but either way and injustice was done to the homeless man initially.

12. The police just wanted to let Zimmerman go.  Fiction.  The officer who did the questioning wanted to press charges.  The prosecutors said to let him go.  The first police officer to hear his entire story wanted to arrest and charge him criminally in Trayvon's death.

A list of many of the other unknowns:

Where was Trayvon's body in relation to the Zimmerman's car?  No evidence of this has been released.

What angle the bullet entered Trayvon's chest is not known.  This will be important as it will answer the question if the gun was shot from a position of Zimmerman being underneath him at the time he pulled the trigger.

Did Trayvon have defensive wounds?  The person who got the body ready for burial says he didn't see any other injuries, but he is not a medical examiner.  The autopsy has not been released.

Did Trayvon have Zimmerman's DNA under his nails?

Is Zimmerman's blood on the concrete?  For his story to be true, it would have to be.

One of the most important facts in this case is that a set of parents buried their child.  They have every right to want a through investigation of why that happened.  If that were your child, you would want exactly the same thing.  They are not making an unreasonable demand.  The hoopla surrounding it has become that.  But the family wanting complete answers to why they had to buy a coffin for their son most certainly is not.

The hope now must become that Zimmerman can receive a fair trial.  Both Zimmerman and Trayvon only gets justice if the facts are judged for what they are instead of what people think they are.