Posted on 04/11/2012 3:19:09 PM PDT by pawpawrick
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – George Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, according to the Associated Press.
Additionally, Zimmerman has been taken into custody, but it hasn’t been revealed where he is being held.
CBSMiami has confirmed that State Attorney Angela Corey, who was appointed as a special prosecutor in the case, will hold an announcement about the charges at 6 p.m. in Jacksonville.
That press conference can be viewed LIVE starting at 6 p.m. by clicking here.
I was wondering what the penalties are for somebody changing their claims from what they previously swore. This Mary C in particular seems to me to be on dangerous legal ground. Wouldn’t the changes in the story at best make the testimony of those witnesses non-credible?
Thinking everyone is a suspect is a reason to call the police, or to follow, or to confront. But given that Trayvon’s girlfriend has said that Trayvon initiated the direct confrontation, the only “propensity” that comes into question is whether he has a propensity to shoot somebody he’s conversing with. I think she’d be pretty hard pressed to prove that propensity.
And even if the propensity was there, she’d also have to overcome recorded audio evidence, witness testimony, and the evidence of Zimmerman’s injuries and absense of any Trayvon injuries beyond the fatal bullet wound - none of which Zimmerman had any control over and all of which (according to the police) corroborate Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense.
Eric Holder has made it abundantly clear that he considers himself an advocate for “his people”, not for justice.
Everything he does is a conflict of interest because the oath he took as AG is diametrically opposed to everything he is and has ever done. He is the fox guarding the henhouse.
That's because he had counsel. If someone is under counsel, you can't talk to them except through the attorney.
Not if O'Mara does his job in voir dire. OJ trial was in south LA. Seminole County is 66% white, 17% Latin American and 11% black. Brevard County (same court system) is 77% white, 10% black, and 8% Latin American.
Zimmerman could have shoved Trayvon off of him with his pudgy, meaty arms instead of drawing his gun. Zimmerman had other options but as the prosecution will show through witnesses, Zimmerman lost more than one employment because he was too aggressive and they didn’t want to take the risk. That townhome complex is going to take a hit thanks to their Crime Watch volunteer. Glad I don’t live there. Insurance will skyrocket on the liability side because whatever occured, there was wrongful death in a civil sense. Twin Retreats is over.
Florida's full of murders and wrongful deaths. Casey Anthony and George Z. should get together. They could share living expenses hiding from their infamous selves.
That’s funny. I was thinking you and the Rev. Al should get together. You seem to have a lot in common.
You just don't get it, do you? That's NOT a "stand your ground law." It's the regular, ordinary old law on self-defense. What happened to my friend happened in the nineties... long before anyone had ever conceived of a "stand your ground" law!
See, the word "defense" in "self-defense" has a meaning. So long as you are defending against an attack or threat, you can claim self-defense. As soon as you begin attacking (note the difference between that word and "defense"), especially after gaining the advantage (let's say, to make up a random scenario, you were sitting on top of someone, slamming his head into the ground while he screamed for help), you have become the aggressor and the new victim can now legally defend himself from you.
It's a simple and logical concept that has been part of common law for centuries...
” I think Corey needs to be careful about suborning perjury from some of these witnesses who have changed their stories. “
Yep
” Zimmerman could have shoved Trayvon off of him with his pudgy, meaty arms instead of drawing his gun “
No bias here : )
Find any more communist radio shows to quote ?
LLS
To test your theory, would you be willing to have your nose broken and your head repeatedly banged against the ground by somebody on top of you so you can show us how you could use your “pudgy, meaty arms” to push off of you the person who was potentially giving you brain damage at the time - and get away from the tall, long-armed football-playing Trayvon so that you were out of his reach or speed and could get to safety before he caught up with you again?
I think what I just posted on my blog applies to what you’re claiming here, because it addresses the EVIDENCE:
The claim of self-defense is not just made by Zimmerman so his testimony is not all that has to be accounted for. There are 3 other forms of evidence that are outside Zimmerman’s control which also corroborate his claim of self-defense: the audio recording of the 911 call which has screaming right up to the time of the shot (which supports the story of a fight and not the story of a gun pulled on somebody randomly), the testimony of the person who made the 911 call (whose story has remained consistent throughout, compared with the stories of the witness who first testified that Trayvon was on top and then changed her tune after the race incitements of the media), and the documented injuries of George Zimmerman (which even the media has had to finally admit are shown on the surveillance video at the police station – video which the Martin family’s lawyer claimed was the “smoking gun” proof that Zimmerman lied and the police department fabricated its reports).
We don’t know all the evidence, but it would take a lot of evidence to refute those 3 pieces of evidence that Zimmerman had no control over.
Consider just the screaming on the 911 audio. In a post someone wanted to post here (which I won’t allow because the point being expressed was simply another an ad hominem attack ignoring the evidence I’ve cited in-depth and simply saying that I believe Zimmerman’s story because I’m racist; right now America needs to skip the race-baiting and concentrate on evidence – which you have done in your post so it is welcome here) it was claimed that Trayvon had to be the person who was screaming because the screaming ended when the shot was fired. Let’s just look at that.
If Zimmerman had pulled a gun on Trayvon, why would Trayvon be screaming for an extended period of time? Screaming would only make Zimmerman shoot to shut him up, or else send Zimmerman running away for fear of getting caught. The screaming makes no sense with the claim that Zimmerman pulled a gun on Trayvon out of the blue.
Does it make sense if Zimmerman was getting his head bashed in by Trayvon? Yeah, in that instance you would scream for help. Why would Zimmerman stop screaming when the shot fired? Because the head-banging stopped and there was no need to be afraid or call for help any more.
We could do the same kind of analysis on Zimmerman’s injuries and the funeral director’s statements that Trayvon had no injuries other than the fatal bullet wound.
If Zimmerman was having his head pounded by Trayvon who was on top of him and in control, Zimmerman would have head injuries and Trayvon would have no injuries. That scenario fits the evidence.
If Zimmerman pulled a gun on Trayvon and shot him point-blank neither one would have injuries except the fatal bullet wound to Trayvon. So that scenario doesn’t fit the evidence.
If Zimmerman attacked first and then shot Zimmerman when he was losing the fight, both would have injuries in addition to Trayvon’s fatal bullet wound. That doesn’t fit the evidence.
The two PHYSICAL kinds of evidence (the audio of the screaming and the injuries or lack thereof on each of the parties) just so happen to line up with the claims of the witness who made the 911 call – that Trayvon was on top and Zimmerman was screaming.
None of that relies on anything George Zimmerman claimed. Zimmerman could be totally non-credible and the evidence would still indicate that this was a shooting in self-defense.
The only way it wouldn’t be is if Zimmerman had managed to get away from Trayvon and shot him anyway, but that is highly unlikely because the screams were continuous right up to the time that the shot was fired. It wouldn’t make sense for Zimmerman to keep screaming as he pulled himself up off the ground to get away from Trayvon. Ballistics would tell us more, and the police have had access to the ballistics report and said that the evidence they have is all consistent with Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense.
Aren't juries allowed to downgrade to a lesser offense if the higher charge can't be proved? Don't think it's fair, but it's reality.
Excellent! However; I hope the people of Florida understand that indicting Mr. Zimmerman for second-degree MURDER when he was just defending himself is sending a terrible message to very dangerous people.
I wonder what the British think of this?
Thanks for the primer! California uses malice in the statute, then implies malice when the circumstances show an “abandoned and malignant heart”. Heart.. mind.. to each his own.
The way I had it explained to me once, a private citizen who pursues a fleeing criminal may be doing so at his own peril.
Let's say you catch Joe in the act of burglarizing your home. Joe flees. You pursue with a baseball bat and corner Joe. Joe could shoot you and claim self-defense, saying that he reasonably feared that you would kill him in your enraged state, and me might even get away with it.
OK, I’m thinking this through. Could Zimmerman have pulled a gun on Trayvon out of the blue and Trayvon screamed to try to scare Zimmerman away - but Zimmerman instead shot Trayvon, even though he knew the cops already knew he was at that scene and would be coming shortly?
Not very likely but possible.
However that wouldn’t explain Zimmerman’s injuries. Or why he didn’t even try to run away. Or the statements made by all the witnesses that night.
Interestingly, in the Federal trial, with a mixed jury, half the officers were acquitted, which is an indication that the case wasn't as solid as the media claimed. The other thing that's interesting about the Federal trial is that the jury opined that the section of the video shown repeatedly by the media actually portrayed a permissible use of force. Their conviction was based on the length of the use of force, not on the use of force itself.
The parallel here is the media getting so out of control that the case had to be moved out of town, then whipping up the mob with the help of several local and national race baiters so that “justice” became synonimous with conviction.
Yep. There’s lots of acts in this play, we’ve just gotten to the first intermission.
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