According to some people, Phoenix is home to the "other George Zimmerman," a label created by people who believe a Phoenix shooting last year was race-related.
The admitted shooter in this case, Cordell Jude, is black. According to one opinion from the Newsweek-owned Daily Beast, this is a "reverse Trayvon Martin" case.
See also:
-Cordell Jude Charged in April "Self Defense" Killing of Daniel Adkins
-Phoenix's "Reverse Trayvon Martin Case" Is Nothing Like Actual Trayvon Martin Case
In this case, a man with a mental handicap named Daniel Adkins was walking his dog on the night of April 3, 2012.
As Jude was pulling out of a Taco Bell drive-through near 51st Avenue and Baseline, he nearly hit Adkins, who was walking on the sidewalk, before Jude slammed on the brakes in time, according to police reports.
Adkins began yelling at Jude, and Jude would tell police that Adkins hit his vehicle with a bat, pipe, or some type of object of similar size. Jude told police that he shot Adkins after he took another swing at him from outside the car.
Somehow, the pipe or bat -- or whatever it was -- apparently either vanished into thin air or Jude made it up, because there was no such object found anywhere near Adkins' body. Police reports note that Jude's car sure didn't look like it had been bashed up by a pipe.
Race was never mentioned in any way in police reports, other than as an identifying attribute.
Having read these reports, we noted that we didn't really see the similarities between this case and the killing of Trayvon Martin, other than a man shooting an unarmed person of another race.
We'll let you be the judge: Is Cordell Jude the "other George Zimmerman"? Would you call this a "reverse Trayvon Martin case"?
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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
