O'Mara Has Proclaimed an All-Out War on Truth and Justice at the Expense of an Unarmed Teen

Looking back over the past year or so, it is not hard to understand why lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda recently called defense attorney Mark O'Mara a "craven" duplicitous grandstander who "courts anything resembling a microphone or camera". I give Bernie a standing ovation.

"I am a businessman first" - paraphrased, but pretty damn close to what Mark O'Mara told the media when he realized that George's PayPal account had reached close to 300 thousand dollars, leaving some to wonder if he was no longer working pro bono. If O'Mara fancies himself as a successful businessman, the first thing he needs to correct is his visual image. I don't know about others, but I have a hard time watching O'Mara talk. I find myself with a constant urge to hand him a glass of water to clear up that perpetual cotton mouth; or I keep waiting for his teeth to fall out of his mouth because they have become permanently stuck to his tongue; and I swear, if I have to watch his twirling fingers one more time as if he is about to conduct his first prostate exam, I am going to throw something at the tee vee screen. But personal observations aside, let's look at how O'Mara has handled the defense of George.

Do you remember his first presser? You know, the one where you got the impression that finally, finally, an attorney was going to take control of George's defense and bring some sense to what had occurred over the past few weeks? I remember I did. I remember, on April 12, 2012, when O'Mara stood before a dozen or more of reporters with microphones in his face and stated:

"There's a lot of issues and there's a lot of emotions, and we need to calm this down," O'Mara said. "It needs to be tried in a courtroom, which is the only place it's supposed to be tried, and that's what I'm going to try help get done."

Read the above again and think back over this past year. Brother, was that a lie. And, surprisingly, everything since has been a lie or as some like to say, "misstruths." Indeed, in that same presser, I distinctly recall O'Mara saying that he would not be attacking the victim or victim's family. I remember this clear as day because I remember thinking, "how refreshing" and "that's a new concept."

My hopes were dashed when not more than a day later, O'Mara was in front of the cameras once again, and we received the first real clue as to how this case would be handled by O'Mara:

Reporter: Mark his former attorneys made him [George] sound a little frantic. How did he sound to you? How was his voice?

Mark O'Mara: He is troubled by everything that has happened. And I cannot imagine living in George Zimmerman's shoes for the past number of weeks. Only because he has sort of been at the focus of anger and maybe confusion and maybe some hatred. That's got to be difficult. I mean truly it must be frightening to not be able to go into a 7-11 or into a store and literally to be in effect a prisoner wherever he was. So that would trouble all of us. I am sure that he is wearing some of the fallout.

I think you will agree with me when I say I did not give consideration on how distressing it must be for George to not being able to travel freely to the local 7-11 without fearing for his safety. You will also forgive me that I gave this insensible, tone deaf lawyer the benefit of the doubt before I heard him utter these words about George when he surely he must know that Trayvon Martin's parents will hear that we all should feel sad about George being inconvenienced from going to 7-11 to maybe pick up some Skittles and an iced tea and that he is "wearing the fallout" of that tremendous life-altering setback.

It also wasn't too long after the above incredible statement that O'Mara took to the airwaves again, this time to defend his tactic of pandering to a racist base for George donations. Did you know that he claims that he returns money donated to George by people who have made racist comments "on the white side." Do you believe him? I hope not.

O’Mara defends his trying the case in a court of public opinion by stating, "we as the defense team, have chosen to engage in the national conversation in a responsible and respectful way." In keeping with his "responsible" conversation with the nation, O'Mara released a statement via his blog regarding the fundraising needs for a $1 million bond to get George out of jail for having sat like a potted palm while his wife and O'Mara lied to the Court. Check out how "responsible and respectful" O'Mara is to use key words to hook all of the people who will be struck by his reference to "constitutional rights" in the following statement:

We steadfastly maintain that George Zimmerman acted in self-defense and that he is not guilty of second degree murder.

In the next hours and days the defense team will be working to get George released on bail and on effective strategies for moving forward. Much of our decision making will be based upon the funds available for mounting a defense. In the days surrounding Mr. Zimmerman’s initial arrest, supporters surprised everyone with the strength of their donations.

For those who have given in the past, for those who have thought about giving, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman was justified in his actions, for those who feel they would do the same if they were in Mr. Zimmerman’s shoes, for those that think Mr. Zimmerman has been treated unfairly by the media, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman has been falsely accused as a racist, for those who feel this case is an affront to their constitutional rights — now is the time to show your support.

O'Mara's approach was to stir the racist sentiments. The use of code words when speaking to this demographic activates and inflames the racism rooted in the notion that this country belongs to them, and no Black person, no Latino, no immigrant, no Native American has any rights to the perceived entitlements as whites in America. These are the sentiments that O’Mara taps into with his words–both the denotation and connotation.

Nevertheless, to O’Mara’s captive audience of closet racists, making a donation is a way of stopping the reverse-racism “victimization” of George, without having to actually go and spit in the face of Black folks like they did in the 1950s.
O’Mara’s appeal to racists who would have done the same thing? I find it disgusting. So, now what? So now we have O’Mara contributing to the legitimacy of shooting and killing random blacks. I can no longer bear to even look at O'Mara, cotton mouth be damned.

O’Mara was wrong to post to “those who feel they would do the same if they were in Mr. Zimmerman’s shoes” and his attempt to redeem himself by saying that he feels “conflicted” was pathetic. It’s one thing to vigorously defend a client. I would have no problem if he were to argue that George had no choice but to shoot Trayvon. But he crossed the line by appealing directly to those who believe that shooting Trayvon was “a good thing” as Martha would say. And I find it hard to believe that they are turning down donations from those who make racist comments. I’d have to see the PayPal records on that.

And don't be fooled, O’Mara is more than aware of the type of people who are supporting George. Not all, but many of the people who support George are closet racists to begin with. They are the people who hide behind ideals like patriotism and constitutional rights, while at the same time feeling free to stampede all over the civil rights of brown and Black people in this country. These are the same people who felt that separate was equal in the middle of the twentieth century, and who yell for "those wetbacks" to go back to their countries south of the border.

Most of those who support George, think nothing about making some of the most horrible comments about a dead child. They say things like, “Trayvon got what he deserved,” and other incredibly insensitive things. Not suprisingly, you have George’s chief spokesperson, Mark O’Mara saying similar things. O'Mara refers to Trayvon's death as his "passing" as though he died of natural causes, old age, or some disease, not at the hands of his client. At the 6/29/2012 bond hearing, O'Mara said that Trayvon Martin’s own actions led to his death. During a presser following that hearing, one of the reporters asked O'Mara about George and his wife talking in code about tens of thousands of dollars on the jailhouse recordings. O’Mara gave the following response:

If you consider talking about ten, and twenty, and one fifty-five as being code, then maybe you’re accurate. [...] I’ve involved myself in cases where drug dealers talk, and they talk about watermelons and things like that.

When you talk about nine or ten, I’m not certain that that is so much of a code for eight- or ninety-thousand dollars–that that’s legitimately trying to deceive anything.

And again, if deception was their intent, why did they disclose it to me the first day that it was discussed? And, why did he forward all of the money I asked him to forward, you know, the day we asked him to forward it? So again, we’ll vet that out with the judge when we have a hearing.

In addition, O’Mara’s suggestion that George “has been falsely accused as a racist,” is really just a cunning way of implying reverse-racism. This is quite laughable, since it is George’s own words and actions that paint him this way. People are merely pointing out the obvious–that George racially profiled, stalked, and then murdered an unarmed, Black 17-year-old. We KNOW George actually said “fucking coons” in reference to Trayvon Martin. He says this at about the 2:20 mark in the full version of the NEN call. The clip of the racial epithet is included a brief transcript of about the 2:08 mark to the 2:28 mark of the original audio:

Zimmerman: Shit, he’s running!

911 Operator: He’s running? Which way is he running?

[sounds of Zimmerman's labored breathing and car door sounds]

Zimmerman: Down towards the, uh, other entrance of the neighborhood.

911 Operator: Okay, which entrance is that that he’s heading towards?

Zimmerman: The back entrance.

[sounds of Zimmerman's labored breathing]

Zimmerman: Fucking coons.

911 Operator: Are you following him?

Zimmerman: Yeah.

911 Operator: Okay, we don’t need you to do that.

Zimmerman: Okay

.

Over the course of this past year, O'Mara has made sure to inform the media and the Court that George is so in fear of his life and the potential for retribution for his murdering Trayvon, that he had to purchase bullet proof vests for he and his wife, Shellie, to wear whenever out in public. They retained private investigators to act as private security guards to provide security 24/7. Yet, no one has ever seen any proof that George has received any threat of harm. Is GZ’s fear reality based or is it an admission of guilt that he is a racist who profiled Trayvon and killed him without justification all the while believing he was a thug?

In truth, I see it as evidence of an obsessive and paranoid fear of Black people that explains why George would have profiled, followed, confronted and murdered an innocent unarmed teenager walking home in the rain on an early Sunday evening talking to his girlfriend on a cell phone after walking to a 7/11 to buy Arizona Iced Tea and Skittles.

And it should be perceived for what it is; namely, stark unreasoning fear of race-based retaliation by a racist projecting his fear and prejudice on everyone else. Tell me who cares enough to harm him, other than Trayvon's family? People on our side-of-the-fence are too rational to harm him. George either has an inflated sense of self-importance or his conscious is getting the better of him. I highly suspect the latter.

Then there are George's injuries that he supposedly incurred at the hands of Trayvon - you know, the hands that have none of George's DNA on them according to the forensics. For an attorney who was going to try the case in the courtroom and not in the court of public opinion, O'Mara could not run fast enough with the 8x11 bloody photos of George's nose and scalp to the media. Lights! Camera! Action! - go for it O'Mara - that'll bring in the donations.

Problem is, the PA made no diagnosis as to George's nose and she made no recommendation for stitches for the two small cuts on George’s head. She recommended daily washing with soap and water. Nevertheless, for some deeply mysterious reason George showed up for the police walk-through video wearing two enormous Dumbo-sized butterfly bandages on the back of his head, as if they were the only impediment to his brains spilling out across the lawn.

Look at George's photos taken by LE approximately 2+ hours post murder of Trayvon. No bloody mouth, busted lip, black eyes, scratches, bruising, bites, no defensive wounds whatsoever. George's hands are pristine. And what about the picture of his nose in the police car versus the photos taken 2+ hours later by LE? How did the grotesque swelling of his nose go down that quickly to the point of absolute imperceptibility? How? There is no way - absolutely no way that the photo in the police car accurately reflects the condition of George's nose as it truly was. I do not know what caused the distortion, but O'Mara will be eaten alive if he attempts to use it. But I digress.

The point is that O'Mara wants the jury to believe that George was facing a life or death situation from which he could not extract himself. The only problem is the only proof there is that Trayvon touched George is George himself - a man who lies about money that he has, lies about a college degree he doesn't have, lies about why he got out of the car, lies about Trayvon coming out of the bushes, and lies about the position of the body after the shooting, but who is not going to lie about something that will place him in prison for possibly the remainder of his life.

O'Mara realizes this and so hell bent is he to win this case because, after all he is a businessman, that he has resorted to the type of victim-blaming that entrenches the very prejudices and stereotypes that filled his client’s belly with violent hatred in the first place. This type of legal defense does not belong in our courtrooms, and neither does this so-called attorney.

Indeed, yesterday, O'Mara released its second set of discovery. Last I heard, the death penalty is not yet applicable to smoking weed, cursing, or calling yourself a Gangsta. The death penalty is not a fitting sentence to hold against a barely 17 year old minor who is talking smack with his homies via text messages. If such were the case, then George would have been given the death penalty several years ago - since, ironically, George has referred to himself as a "gangsta" on his MySpace page.

Thank God nobody killed me based on my behavior or appearance as a 17 year old kid. If we deserved to be killed for trying to be tough, fitting in, smoking weed, cutting class or other silly things we did as kids, not many of us would still be alive! If weed, inappropriate texts, and photos of flipping the bird are now evidence of being so violently dangerous that a random stranger is justified in murdering you, we are all in real trouble.

Except, of course, I'm not in real trouble, because I'm not a teenage black boy who will be racially profiled, stalked, and murdered by a racist vigilante for walking down the street carrying iced tea and Skittles, and then my very common habits used to suggest I fucking deserved it, as if there could even be another "aggressor" besides the armed shithead in the SUV who followed and harassed and provoked and ultimately killed a kid in direct contravention of the dispatcher's request to stand down.

Like it or not, what’s on trial is the value of the lives of young Black males, and whether they should be viewed as violent and suspicious on site, rather than be given the benefit of the doubt like other youth receive. Trayvon has come to represent not only himself, but the masses of other nameless, faceless, and forgotten young Black males who’ve had their lives stolen away by people who saw no worth in them, and despised them because they were viewed as undesirable and expendable.

O'Mara is playing into the hands of these racists who believe it is their constitutional right to “protect” themselves from the threat of outsiders. That George’s cup has runneth over with donations from people who are racists and/or have political interest in gun laws is implausible. While we were marching in our hoodies in solidarity, the racists were making their voices heard through the silent mouse clicks of PayPal donations.

O'Mara's conduct in handling this case is beyond unethical. Rather than defend his client, he has proclaimed an all-out war on truth and justice. George has become merely a pawn in what I can only describe as O'Mara's monumental ego. O'Mara's lies and twisting of even the true circumstances of events occurring procedurally in this case leaves anyone who has been following this case with their mouth agape. As Noah has correctly pointed out, O'Mara has attempted to "Niggafy" Trayvon. That is enough to call for this man's license IMO. He is not deserving of the title of advocate for justice in a court of law.

It doesn't get much worse than this Folks. O'Mara has gone as low in the bucket of slime as an attorney can get. Indeed, as Professor Leatherman states:

This is quite possibly the sleaziest tactic that I have ever seen. To intentionally poison a jury pool a couple of weeks before trial with false and misleading information about the victim of a homicide calculated to incite and unite White racists to approve of the execution of an unarmed Black teenager is astonishing.

These two lawyers are fortunate that I am not Judge Nelson because I would jail them for contempt of court and file complaints against the bar association requesting their disbarment from the practice of law.

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Meanwhile, the prosecution can't say a word.

I also know the media's got reporting to do, but "negative evidence," seriously? Trayvon isn't the one on trial here. Trayvon could have been the worst kid on the planet. Or he could have been an angel. Or he could have been a dope-smoking, class-skipping, bird-flipping kid, who got into the occasional scuffle—that is, somewhere been the worst and the best, like most of us. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that on February 26, 2012, he was an unarmed kid who ended up dead because of a gun in the hands of a vigilante who profiled him, in total disregard for who Trayvon actually was.

Hoodies up. 17 Days.

I can't top anything you've stated above, it's spot on.

It appears to me, with releasing those doctored up photos of TM, it reeks of pure desperation. They have no true defense so they resort to bashing the victim. I don't believe it will work in their favor since it was GZ who instigated and provoked this entire deadly encounter.

I'm so saddened by this toxic attempt to dirty the jury pool and put GZ as a victim of TM when the forensic evidence goes against that. I can't wait for Tuesday to see what smack down this duhfense will get. IF you think BDLR was fired up before, we ain't seen nothing yet.

I do think MOM and West should come under fire with a complaint to the Florida Bar. What they have done is more than egregious knowingly to use false photos and pass them off as this is the portrait of who GZ murdered. It defies our judicial system at it's core. To misrepresent the evidence, to infer from some bogus photos that this is the real Trayvon Martin is more than just a shame, it's a sham and it needs to be halted, immediately.

Well they say if you can't over come the evidence, trash the victim and this is just what they are doing. I do hope it backfires big time, for GZ deserves to go to prison for as long as they can put him there. He's a danger and will be worse, if he's set free...