Federal Grand Jury Scheduled To Hear Evidence On George Zimmerman

Frank Taaffe

The other day, a photo of a subpoena made its way around Twitter  from Frank Taaffe to Nancy Grace. I decided to wait for confirmation before reporting it. Today, Orlando Sentinel reports that the federal grand jury is scheduled to hear witnesses, and that Frank Taaffe has indeed, been subpoenaed to testify.

For those not familiar;

Trayvon Martin

On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman killed 17-year old Trayvon Martin, shooting him in the heart. It started with Zimmerman making a “suspicious person” call to the non-emergency number (NEN) of the police department.   While Zimmerman was on the phone, Trayvon ran. Zimmerman got out of his truck and followed Trayvon. Minutes later, Trayvon was dead with Zimmerman claiming self-defense.

Frank Taaffe became the main advocate for Zimmerman, alleging that Zimmerman had rights to racially profile Trayvon because there was a group of Black teens in the community committing crimes.

A jury of 5 White women and 1 Latina acquitted Zimmerman. The initial aggressor part of self-defense law was omitted from the jury instructions. During deliberations, Taaffe told Nancy Grace where the jury stood on voting, and it turned out to be true. Taaffe did not say how he obtained the information.

Subsequently, Taaffe changed his opinion about George Zimmerman, saying that Zimmerman is guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.

When Taaffe was originally interviewed by federal investigators in the weeks following the shooting, he did not tell them about a phone call he had with Zimmerman. Taaffe has since stated that in an interview he had with FBI Agent John Weyrauch, he told about that phone call, which he had with Zimmerman in the days following the shooting but before Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

The federal grand jury is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. this coming Wednesday.

Personally, I never felt that the FBI investigation rested on Frank Taaffe testifying. At Zimmerman’s first bond hearing, Assistant Prosecutor Bernie de Rionda spoke of texts and/or emails by Zimmerman that referenced Trayvon’s dad and a “reverend.”   With State prosecutors having that information, they were bound to have more as Zimmerman boastfully spoke out before he was arrested.

I’ve also watched other things, such as the case against Adam Pollock for assault being placed on hold. Pollock testified at Zimmerman’s trial that there was no way Zimmerman could make that shot into Trayvon’s chest while on his back. Zimmerman attended Pollock’s gym.

There were also two significant witnesses that were not called to testify during Zimmerman’s trial, the most significant being the witness who was outside and said he came back into the house to get a knife. Additionally, there was information that Zimmerman’s defense attorney, Don West, promised the jury, such as ping logs for the cell phones, that was not produced at trial.

It also puzzled me how Zimmerman knew that the gate cameras were not working at the gates of The Retreat at Twin Lakes on the night that he killed Trayvon. After his acquittal, we learned that Zimmerman outright lied about what he did that evening before leaving his townhouse and seeing Trayvon. Shellie Zimmerman revealed that she and George were in an argument and that she had left him that Saturday and went to her dad’s house. On the other hand, George said that he cooked dinner for her that Sunday before leaving for Target to get groceries for the week.

The other item missing from the state’s case was the video from the bank that was released in discovery material. Many are of the opinion that Mark Osterman is in the video, conducting a transaction at the bank, leaving it around the same time that Trayvon left the 7-Eleven just down the road.

Justice For Trayvon!