After all of the courtroom haggling over whether Trayvon Martin’s marijuana toxicology report would be admitted or would not be admitted in the 2nd degree murder trial of George Zimmerman, the defense attorneys that argued for the right to introduce the evidence closed their case without introducing the evidence.
Perhaps Zimmerman’s attorneys felt trying to characterize the dead teenager as some sort of violent menace to society because he smoked marijuana would be a little hard to swallow. The judge would have to pound the gavel to bring order to a courtroom overcome with giggles from anyone who had ever smoked herb, seen people smoking herb, or ever heard Afroman’s Because I Got High. Then maybe someone might bring up the Temazepam and Adderall that were in Zimmerman’s system, drugs with side effects like “aggression”, “hostility”, and “impaired judgment”.
Nobody was more shocked by the defense’s failure to portray Trayvon Martin as a dope-smoking thug than George Zimmerman. As the judge hears the conclusion of Zimmerman’s defense, she asks if Zimmerman had any other witnesses to testify on his behalf. A confused Zimmerman says he does not and the trial goes to recess, with just one last appearance to determine if Zimmerman himself will take the stand (he decided not to.)
Then, just before the microphones are cut, you hear Zimmerman ask his defense attorneys, “Where’s the marijuana?” Listen for yourself:
I’m old enough to remember Where’s the Beef? – the Wendy’s burger campaign with elderly Clara Peller (I pulled that up from memory; take that, pot-makes-you-stupid people!) – and if I just thought of it, there is already somebody putting a Zimmerman profile and a “Where’s the marijuana?” quote on a t-shirt that I’ll see at Hempfest in five weeks (I wear an XL – hint hint).
Have we reached a point where trying to use marijuana as a form of character assassination is more likely to backfire? Could the jury be more likely to empathize with Trayvon Martin, knowing it is likely that one of their kids or their kids’ friends may smoke marijuana? We shall see. This time, it seems some defense attorneys think so.
