Transcripts For MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt 20130714 : com

Transcripts For MSNBC Weekends With Alex Witt 20130714

Zimmermans defense team reacted last night by expressing gratitude to the jury of six women that found their client not guilty. We are ecstatic with the results. George zimmerman was never guilty of anything except protecting himself in selfdefense. Im glad the jury saw it that way and give everyone thanks, particularly those who doubteded georges reasons and doubted his background now understand the jury knew, everything they knew, was enough for them to find him not guilty. That reaction came moments after the Prosecution Team expressed their disappointment with the verdict. We truly believe that the mind set of George Zimmerman and the words that he used and the reason that he was out doing what he was doing fit the bill for seconddegree murder. Want to go straight now to msnbcs craig melvin live for us in sanford. Youve been outside this courthouse throughout this whole thing and you were there when the verdict came down. What was the reaction like for those Court Observers that came out to be there for the verdict . Reporter by the time the verdict came out last night, thomas, roughly 250 in front of the courthouse. They spent the better part of the afternoon chanting at times, singing at times, yelling at times as well. Peaceful, by and large, we should note. No arrests or anything like that. But when the verdict came out moments before that verdict came out, there was a hush. Everyone was waiting with baited breath to hear that verdict. Moments after that the chanting started again, the yelling started again, the singing started again, some praying, some crying as well. In fact, i think weve got some sound from last night that we want to share with you. This is reaction right after that verdict was read. Take a listen. My biggest disappointment is the fact that the whole world knows that George Zimmerman committed a murder. Its the same system that let George Zimmerman walk in the front door of the Police Department and out the back that night without being arrested is the same system that just let him walk. Sometimes things dont always go your way. And you cant let yourself fall apart, but youve got to move on as best you can. Reporter thomas, one of the things that struck me about the crowd yesterday is the diversity of the crowd. Were talking young, were talking old, were talking black, were talking white, all types of races, the rainbow was here, if you will, in front of the courthouse. And despite the fact that many were predicting that it might turn ugly, so to speak, that never happened. No arrests. I talked to the mayor of sanford earlier this morning. He indicated that not only was that the case here at the courthouse, that was the case all over sanford. There were no emergency calls made last night that had any sort of direct connection to the verdict that was handed down. We were also told that was the case for the surrounding area as well. Hearing about the jurors, the six women impanelled in deliberations for 16 hours, are we expected for any type of remarks, to hear from them . Are they going to speed with ake media . Reporter thats the Million Dollar question right now. It was interesting last night because we expected at least one of the six would have something to say, some sort of statement. But we got word from the spokesperson for the court that they would not be speaking. They had a stack of requests from various Media Outlets throughout this country literally about that thick, were told, and they declined all of them. And in addition to that, judge nelson there was an anonymity order that was executed. The identities of these jurors had been sealed, obviously. And that is now going to extend past the trial, were told. For perhaps as long as six months. There will be another hearing to determine when these jurors, when their names will be made public. Meanwhile, the media has been told, reporters have been told, dont stake out their homes, dont try to find out where they work, do not try to contact these jurors. These jurors also very interested in getting back to their normal lives as well. We can imagine so. Craig melvin reporting in sanford, thank you. Reverend Jesse Jackson says hes frustrated with this verdict and he shared his reaction on msnbc earlier today. This tremendous miscarriage of justice. When the jury says not guilty, hes at least guilty of murder. An armed man, racially pursuing and profiling a young africanamerican boy and kills him. And in this case, the prosecutor denied should i say, ignored the matter of race and the defense denied it. But the fact of the matter is, this is a pattern of behavior toward young africanamerican men. Communities around the country, theyre reacting to this verdict as well. This was the scene in San Francisco last night. Hundreds of people marched in protests through the streets of the mission neighborhood. And then on the east coast, protesters gathered in washington, d. C. , marchers chanting, no justice, no peace, as they made their way through the streets. Police say the protests all remain peaceful. Joining me from sanford, florida, is Martin Family turn jasmine rand. Good to have you with us. First off, how are Trayvon Martins parents doing . The rest of the family certain members have reacted to the verdict today, but how are tracy and sybrina . Tracy and sybrina and the legal team are heartbroken right now, were disappointed but today we made a decision to stand up and continue fighting for the legacy of their son so that this doesnt happen to another child. I think certain Court Observers were curious as to why tracy and sybrina were not in the courtroom when that verdict was read. Can you tell us why they were not in attendance . They were not in the courtroom upon the advice of their legal counsel. Is the Martin Family now and theyre going by the advice of this legal team that theyve had in place, are they planning now a civil suit to be filed against George Zimmerman . Would that be the next tactic in trying to provide justice for trayvon . Im not going to talk about the civil suit today. What im focused on is the outcome of the jury last night, but im focused on the millions of people that we had that gave us support from all over the world, black, white, brown, christian, muslim. They know what George Zimmerman did was wrong. And a not guilty verdict does not mean that George Zimmerman was innocent. George zimmerman will forever have Trayvon Martins blood on his hands and it is it up to us now to peacefully and conscientiously object to this decision we got from the court yesterday. I want to play a portion of what zimmerman attorney don west said after the jury delivered its verdict. Take a listen. I think the prosecution of George Zimmerman was disgraceful. I am gratified by the jurys verdict. As happy as i am for George Zimmerman, im thrilled that this jury kept this tragedy from becoming a travesty. Kept this tragedy from becoming a travesty. Ms. Rand, what is your reaction to that . The travest is th travesty i child due to racial intolerance. George zimmerman profiled Trayvon Martin, with a loaded gun, put a round in my clients heart. Trayvon martin died because of ignorance. Thats the travesty here. What has happened here, the outcome of this, the situation in and of itself can be utilized to help the next trayvon, the next young child whos in this situation and that their death may not be considered disposable . Trayvon martins life is not and will never be in vein. Were calling on people to keep their hoodies up. Like i said earlier, we have white people, black people, brown people all come together for a common cause. If it were not for their efforts and attorney crumps belief for equality for all children, we never would have had the arrest for gom dpom. George zimmerman never would have been tried by a jury of his peers. I believe with all of the conviction in my heart, the next time this happens, we will get a convictions. Are you disappointed in the prosecutions case in the fact that they were unable to convince this jury of the guilt of George Zimmerman . Im disappointed so much hate lived in George Zimmermans heart. Im disappointed by the people that supported him. I will never say im disappointed in the prosecution. I believe that they tried their best. The cards fell where they did. We accept the rule of law. But i would never say im disappointed in the prosecution. And i think jon guy said it best in his closing statement when he said, if it was Trayvon Martin that killed George Zimmerman, what would your verdict be . Jasmine rand, attorney for the Martin Family. Thanks for taking time out for us. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. America the day after the George Zimmerman verdict, have we learned anything about the countrys system of justice. Melissa harrisperry will join me in a moment. [ male announcer ] fight pepperoni heartburn and pepperoni breath fast with tums freshers. Concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. Tums freshers. Tum. Tum. Tum. Tum. Tums fast heartburn relief and minty fresh breath. For their family. Thats why i created the Honest Company. I was just a concerned mom, with a crazy dream. A wish that there was a company that i could rely on, that did all of the hard work for me. Im jessica alba, and the Honest Company was my dream. [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped a million businesses successfully get started, including jessicas. Launch your dream at legalzoom today. Call us. Were here to help. Resoft would be great, but we really just need kidproof. Softsprings got both, let me show you. Right over here. Here, feel this. Wow, thats nice. Wow. The soft carpets have never been this durable. You know i think well take it. Get kidfriendly toughness and feetfriendly softness, without walking all over your budget. He didnt tell us it would do this. More saving. More doing. Thats the power of the home depot. Right now, get wholehome installation for just 37 bucks. [ slap ] [ male announcer ] your Favorite Foods fighting you . Fight back fast with tums. Calciumrich tums starts working so fast youll forget you had heartburn. Tum tum tum tum tums George Zimmerman is a free man after a jury found him not guilty. The front page of the Huffington Post describing itt this way, not guilty but not innocent. Reverend al sharpton reacted to the verdict on todays meet the press. The verdict came in. Does not exhaust the Legal Options of this family and the Bigger Community issues of civil rights. We now have a position on the books in the state of florida, where an unarmed teenager who committed no crime can be killed. And the killer can say selfdefense. That is dangerous. That is an atrocity. And i think that must be addressed. You can watch the full interview when meet the press reairs at 2 p. M. Eastern 11 a. M. Pacific time right here on msnbc. George zimmermans father reacted to the verdict through a tweet sent out by zimmermans brother and it read, our whole family is relieved today. Im proud to be an american. God bless america. Thank you for your prayers. Joining me, msnbcs melissa perryharris. Ladies, good to have you here. Melissa, i want your reaction out of the gate on that tweet because George Zimmermans father saying hes proud to be an american. There is going toob relief from the Zimmerman Family because of this verdict. There are some people here we need not ever go after, and one is the jury. I think the jury, as difficult as it is for me to say this, as much as i think this is the wrong decision as a question of justice, it does not strike me as the wrong decision as a matter of law for the six people, given the evidence they were presented. I think this is not an unreasonable conclusion youre saying judicially acceptable but socially problematic. And ethically and morally in a whole variety of ways. I also think had they been presented with different evidence and argument, it may have turned out the other way. But George Zimmerman is not a creature or animal. Hes a human. Imbedded in family and community as well. His family and community have a right to have their own positions. What they dont, i think, have a right to do, and as far as i can tell they have not done, is to vilify the child who was killed by because George Zimmerman did kill Trayvon Martin. That is not in question. It was a question of whether or not he murdered him. So at this point if they are saying, were happy our son, our brother is home, i sort of shrug. Sure, of course. Right. That does not mean George Zimmerman is not responsible for the death of Trayvon Martin. I guess what i would ask is if we can acknowledge George Zimmerman as a person with a family who cares and loves him, that maybe his family in their public statements, not just in their personal hearts, could acknowledge that Trayvon Martin was a person whose family is grieving and Whose Community is grieving as well. Angela, for the people out there that are infuriated with the fact that they feel that justice wasnt delivered with this verdict, and whether or not they fault the prosecution and whether proper evidence was brought, you know, people can go over that from here to kingdom come. But what can they do . They feel theres an injustice but we use this to move the ball forward. We have to do just that. I think before we get to that, to melissas point, his brother has vilified Trayvon Martin on another network. Its horrible. I want people to utilize their frustration, anger not just for this Trayvon Martin movement, but injustice with our Justice System, whether its federal, state or local, we do have to mobilize. We had a call at 4 a. M. This morning, a bunch of young folks that just said, i want to do something to make a difference. 180 people called in at 4 a. M. To say were having marches in l. A. , new york. We want to push the Justice Department not only just on the charges but also on reviewing how the criminal Justice System currently works. Maybe stand your ground was not used as a defense in this case but its problematic. We need to review it. We need to keep pushing. Rob zimmerman was in place to be on another network when the verdict was read. I wanted to play that clip of what he had to say this morning about race in this case. Take a look. Im not angry at the media. I think the media has to do a better job when you have people injecting race into things. A red flag has to go up right away, especially in a case like this, where two very crafty attorneys got away with fabricating a completely scripted narrative and selling it to the American People through the media. Melissa, your first reaction to that . I know you vaebt had a chance to see that yeah. The media, hes not too mad at the media, but the fact that race played a part. Well, there were two attorneys who injected race into the courtroom, that was the defense attorneys. They used it extremely powerfully and they used it in a vigorous way that the prosecution did not. Race was clear. From the moment George Zimmerman followed him, profiled him, got out of the car. All of that was racialized. The prosecution did not make that claim clearly enough. The defense consistently presented racialized arguments saying, basically, that because there were crimes committed by totally unrelated other africanamerican youth in that community, that it gave George Zimmerman the right to find Trayvon Martin suspicious. And so, yes, there was race injected into this. It was injected by the defense. I want you to understand the context of what zimmerman was talking about there was benjamin crump. Yes, i know. And the fact that he that crump basically used the 45 days in between the time this murder happened and the time the charges were finally brought up to make it a race issue and the fact that then there was evidence that supported the fact that George Zimmerman only called the cops on suspicious black people, doesnt that say race was an issue and sets the narrative i think the main thing that made race an issue is that the sanford police, had they showed up and saw an unarmed teenager dead and an armed man standing there right. With his weapon, race played a part in that that man was treated completely differently. George zimmerman was treated quite differently than we know an africanamerican assailant would have been treated. Thats where race entered. Lets talk about this awareness campaign. A lot of us have illconceived, misperceptions. Well look over this case for a long time to come, stereotypes, illconceived misperceptions. But this comes down to two americans, two human being and then all the semantics that go into about categorizing each one of them. What can we do about awareness . There are several things. I want to ackn

© 2025 Vimarsana