Some news from the George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin case this morning…

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, at a hearing on motions ahead of the trial, also ruled that lawyers can’t mention Martin’s school records, past fighting, marijuana use, ownership of gold teeth, or any photos or text messages found on the teen’s phone.

Nelson said she reserves the right to change the ruling during the trial if lawyers open the door to such issues. However, she said that she can’t imagine that any of these issues would be relevant.

She also said witnesses can’t mention whether they think George Zimmerman’s prosecution is politically motivated.

She ruled that any hearsay statements to help Zimmerman is admissible. She ruled that a toxicology test showing Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system the night of his killing is not admissible.

Zimmerman’s defense has uncovered all kinds of interesting information supporting the case that Trayvon Martin was a violent maniac likely to have killed him if he hadn’t shot Martin dead that night last year. To wit…

– Martin had weed in his system the night he died.

– Pictures from his phone show guns and marijuana plants.

– He texted regularly about fights he’d been in, and other violent behavior.

– Martin had been suspended from school at the time he was killed because a marijuana “baggie” had been found in his bookbag.

Martin’s camp says all this is irrelevant. But when eyewitnesses have him on top of Zimmerman doing an MMA “ground and pound” maneuver, and Zimmerman’s nose was broken and the back of his head a bloody mess, it’s hard to imagine how somebody who’s in the middle of getting beaten to a pulp is supposed to just take a trip to the hospital rather than use whatever they’ve got available to defend themselves.

Which, in Zimmerman’s case, is a gun.

This was a classic case of it being better to be judged by 12 than carried by six. When you’re violently attacked, you should have the right to defend yourself.

And all the evidence which indicates who exactly it was that had Zimmerman on his back and was beating his head into the concrete ought to be available to the jury.

Or better yet, since this was an open-and-shut case of self-defense – a sad story, to be sure, and an unfortunate example of why it’s important to supervise our kids lest they involve themselves in situations such as this one, but nevertheless self-defense – justice ought to demand that Zimmerman be cut loose.

Had Trayvon Martin politely replied to Zimmerman’s queries that he was walking home to his father’s apartment, what happened wouldn’t have happened. Instead he broke Zimmerman’s nose and tried to beat him to a pulp. Was Zimmerman supposed to just take the beating? Did he owe that to Trayvon for the sin of offending his sensibilities? Is that where we are in society?

The judge’s rulings on the evidence dictate that we might very well be there.

The longer this trial goes along, the more the pressure will build to convict Zimmerman from the “civil rights” crowd, which wants retribution rather than justice.

It’s going to be a long, hot summer down in Central Florida this year. And based on the judge’s rulings, George Zimmerman is likely to get cooked.