Breaking one of my rules! Well, if Bruce can do it umpteen times in every thread, I reckon I have a right to one cut and paste!

Extract from article in "The Nation".

""In Zimmerman's case, two pieces of character evidence never made it to the trial. First, a recorded statement from Witness No. 9, Zimmerman's female cousin, in which she said that he molested her for ten years when they were both children, beginning when she just 6 years old. Second, a report filed in August 2005, when Zimmerman's former fiancé sought a restraining order against him because of domestic violence.

The latter accusation is especially important because it provided the blueprint for Zimmerman's own claim of self-defense again Trayvon Martin. According to the Miami Herald, Zimmerman was also involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-fiancée, hair salon employee Veronica Zauzo.

Zauzo claimed Zimmerman was trolling her neighborhood to check on her. At her apartment, they spoke for about an hour when she asked him to leave. He asked for some photos and paperwork and she refused.

A pushing match ensued and her dog jumped up and bit him on the cheek, Zauzo claimed. Zimmerman, in a petition filed the next day, painted her as the aggressor, wanting him to stay the night. In her petition, Zauzo alleged that Zimmerman has previously slapped her in her mouth as well.

According to court records, the Orange County circuit judge ordered them to stay away from each other for more than a year, but no charges were filed.

During the bond hearing, Zimmerman's wife, Shelley Nicole Zimmerman, used the fact that that he filed an injunction against Zauzo as proof of his innocence.

Zimmerman's pattern for violence had already been established: trolling a neighborhood for his victim, pushing her when confronted, attacking her character, and arguing that she was the aggressor when charges were filed against him.

While the Assistant State Attorney Bernardo de la Rionda brought up both testimonies in bond hearing in April 2012, they were not presented as evidence during the trial. In contrast, the judge did rule that evidence of marijuana that was found in Martin's system was admissible.

Such differences led many (including myself) to conclude, as Mychal Denzel Smith wrote, that "Trayvon Martin and Black Manhood Were on Trial." But they also reveal a system of power that dismisses the experiences and voices of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence as invisible and untrustworthy.

Unfortunately, these gender and racial disparities are even further exacerbated by Zimmerman's non-guilty verdict and the conviction of domestic violence victim, Marissa Alexander, an African-American mother who was sentenced to twenty years in prison for firing a warning shot in 2010 to scare off her husband when she felt he was threatening her. Like Zimmerman, she claimed self-defense and tried to invoke Florida's "stand your ground" law. The result: a Florida jury found her guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

In our current moment of post-verdict protests, we should reflect on several moments in which the legal system failed Trayvon Martin. But, as his cousin's and former fiance's disclosures suggests, the system fell apart long before the fateful night that Zimmerman profiled and murdered this innocent teenage boy. And I cannot help but wonder if Zimmerman had been held accountable for the violence he had already inflicted on girls and women, that Trayvon Martin might be with us here today.""

From another source and posted without comment:

""Zimmerman's cousin also stated in her law suit that the Zimmerman family was very racist against african americans, especially his hispanic mother. Zimmerman not only profiled and murdered Trayvon Martin,but he also stalked him!!! His acquittal will only encourage the mentally unstable man that Zimmerman is to act in patterns associated with sociopaths.""

So Teflon George has used the same "blame the victim" excuse for his violence in the past and practice, as we know, makes perfect.

Add to that the fact that Zimmerman was the one who was a member of a mixed Martial Arts group, and much more likely to know about "ground and pound" than Martin.

In my experience, those youths who join martial arts groups and learn about martial arts tend to lose their thuggish inclinations and become engaged in the philosophy of the art.

It is often wannabe cops (failed, unsuitable) and neighbourhood vigilantes who learn a smattering and use it offensively.

That experience comes from six years membership in my youth and a black belt in Karate. That was a long time ago admittedly and things have changed.

I hope they haven't changed that much.

Don T.