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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGeorge Zimmerman, Son of a Retired Judge, Has 3 Closed Arrests
Did George Zimmerman have help from his father, a retired judge, in clearing his name in three separate arrests?
Thats the question thats being asked now that more information on Trayvon Martins 28-year-old killer is being revealed. Robert Zimmerman, a former Orange County magistrate judge, recently wrote a letter to The Orlando Sentinel defending his son, whos been dragged through the mud for shooting the unarmed 17-year-old last month. In the letter, the senior Zimmerman asks people not to jump to conclusions and insists that his son didnt follow the young boy home as he walked through their gated community.
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Now more info is being dug up on his victimized son through public records and revealing his checkered past.
According to a records search on George, he was previously arrested for domestic violence, resisting an officer without violence and most shockingly, resisting an officer with violence a felony charge that surely could have landed him in prison.
All three of those arrests, however, were mysteriously closed with no semblance of charges for the Florida resident. So how was someone with a violent past including that of battery against an officer able to carry a 9 mm handgun? Maybe thats a question Robert Zimmerman should answer
http://rollingout.com/culture/george-zimmerman-son-of-a-retired-judge-has-3-closed-arrests/
Well, why was he allowed to carry?
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)It works for some of the people, some of the time. But it doesn't work for all the people all the time.
Uncle Joe
(58,426 posts)Thanks for the thread, grits.
Baitball Blogger
(46,758 posts)I thought he was originally from Virginia?
That would make it more likely that political strings were pulled.
And it would also make Norm Wolfinger's move suspect.
Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)A lot of bases in Virginia.
Baitball Blogger
(46,758 posts)TheWraith
(24,331 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,758 posts)niyad
(113,582 posts)mbuch64
(55 posts)He was allowed to carry because his daddy used his former position of authority to make sure his little boy
would have no felony record. Throw in the NRA, ALEC, and the tea party neanderthals in the Florida legislature and you have such a wonderful recipe for a good old fashioned lynching.
billy_e
(1 post)There are always deals made for lesser sentences, maybe they happened when he was a minor, like Trayvon's Marijuana suspension?
uppityperson
(115,681 posts)This link shows George Zimmerman had felony assault on police officer charge in 05 & 2 domestic assaults.
http://rollingout.com/culture/george-zimmerman-son-of-a-retired-judge-has-3-closed-arrests/2/
Trayvon was suspended from school. Never arrested or charged.
Yes, Zimmerman was never convicted. Maybe having a retired judge as a father might have helped a little bit?
School suspension vs felony assault on a cop. Yup. Just the same. Oh, I hope you noticed that Zimmerman was born in '83, making him 21/22 yrs old at the time? Not a minor at all.
Oh, another question for you, from that article. " how was someone with a violent past including that of battery against an officer able to carry a 9 mm handgun?"
spanone
(135,885 posts)The Midway Rebel
(2,191 posts)According to some here there is no such thing as white male privelidge.
40lbsHammer
(13 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)I know the term "Hispanic" keeps getting thrown around, but Zimmerman's father was obviously at least considered an ally of white domination, and was under the protection(as was his son) of white privilege as such.
Perhaps it's in the gray area between white privilege and class privilege, but still, it's there.
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)Ecumenist
(6,086 posts)says everything you need to know.
CottonBear
(21,596 posts)For instance, many Cubans, Dominicans and Central Americans are Black Hispanics. It is my understanding that many Mexican immigrants to the USA are mixed race (European/Spanish and Native American.) My Cuban Spanish teachers in high school were European (Spanish) Cuban immigrants.
Is Zimmerman part black, Asian or Native American or are his mother and/or father Hispanics of European origin? I'm just curious.
BTW, I'm a white woman who was shot by white racists at while I was with my black (a native and citizen of the island of Grenada) male friend while exploring the Wild and Scenic Obed River conservation area in eastern Tennessee. We drove a short way down a gravel driveway by mistake (all of the county roads in the area were unmarked dirt and gravel roadways) and were greeted by two men who shouted "Hey, Nigger!" and then shot at us as we turned around drove away as quickly as possible. It was terrifying.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)(and arguably, there isn't a single Hispanic culture, either...Afro-Cuban Hispanic culture is completely different from that of mestizos Hispanics in Mexico or Central America, and both of those are radically different than that of pure-blooded Spanish-descent Hispanics in Argentina.)
And I'm really, really horrified to hear about what happened to you and your friend in Tennessee. I hope you have fully recovered physically(though obviously you'll never be quite the same psychologically, and neither will your friend). Were the psychos who shot you ever prosecuted, or was it one of those "man has the right t'defend his property, dadgum it!" kind of things with the local law enforcement types?
CottonBear
(21,596 posts)nor do I ever wish to see them again. My friend, who had been a soldier and had been in combat situations was just as scared as I was. I was really embarassed that such thing could have happened. (BTW , I'm a native of NC who grew up in east TN) It was so scary. My friend, who has since returned to his home country, had lived here for a number of years while attending university and working in his profession. He was used to how a black man in the South could be treated and/or perceived but this was an unexpected and unfortunate experience. Some people do not want to see a black man with a white woman. (My friend was driving the car.) We never looked back as we left (very fast) and we had no desire to ever return to that area.
MADem
(135,425 posts)This attempt to brand "Hispanic" as a race will not be met favorably by Hispanics, I can assure you. It is an ethnicity, a cultural connection, not a racial category. There are Hispanics named Richardson, and Hispanics named Fujimori. The Hispanic umbrella encompasses all races.
Zimmerman's father is Caucasian-American. His mother's racial makeup is unknown, but she is Peruvian, ergo, Hispanic as far as her ethnic background goes.
CottonBear
(21,596 posts)I had forgotten about the South American-Japanese politician/president who was born in a Spanish speaking country.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Who, when tried for corruption after leaving office, used as a defense the argument that he was a Japanese national the whole time he was in office...which, if it were in fact the case, would actually have made him ineligible for office...or at least I think it would have.
Solomon
(12,319 posts)CottonBear
(21,596 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)lifesbeautifulmagic
(2,511 posts)daddy is a retired judge??? How the hell did I miss that, and OF COURSE that is why the police blew this off.
TBF
(32,102 posts)I doubt he had much to do with the Trayvon case (although it could have influenced Z's priors - especially in the case of knowing to get competent counsel etc)
But I do think that there is something fishy about this whole story and/or coverup. Like others I keep wondering if Z is some kind of informant. It seems like there's got to be more that hasn't come out yet.
librechik
(30,676 posts)perhaps he was allowed to carry because he was a police informant. However, I'm more convinced it was Daddy.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)spicegal
(758 posts)This kind of stuff goes on all the time, preferential treatment for those with connections. They thought no one would notice. They thought this injustice could simply be swept under the carpet.
onenote
(42,768 posts)Is there any verification of the report that he served as a judge in Florida as well?
Hubert Flottz
(37,726 posts)Probably because he never was tried and convicted. The legal system probably would have put the dude away or at least prohibited him from having a firearm. The system probably failed to work right, due to outside interference of some type. We have a republican magistrate here who is under investigation right now, because she dismissed several criminal charges for friends and even for people she had come and work on her private property. If the felon never comes to trial and is found guilty of a felony he can go buy a gun.
The law that Jeb Bush helped pass in Florida should be struck down. Should be called the, 'Jeb Bush Vigilante Law'.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)"for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off
-Diogenes Laertius
marshall gaines
(347 posts)well... i'm not surprised.
Ganja Ninja
(15,953 posts)We can hear the man following him on the 911 call. He fucking admits it to the operator.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)I think his own dad just convicted him.
dmoyer
(114 posts)thanks for the info
Arby
(60 posts)sates:
"Note: It has been brought to our attention that George Zimmerman has been arrested one time, not three, and that the charges against him were dropped after he completed a pre-trial diversion program. The additional two charges stem from the same incident on the same date."
Not that I believe it exonerates Zimmerman, I just want to keep things factual...
- Peace