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Trial of George Zimmerman Could Trigger Another Rodney King
The Daily Beast ^ | April 18, 2012 | Mansfield Frazier

Posted on 04/17/2012 11:27:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Trayvon Martin’s shooter has a new lawyer. Mansfield Frazier hopes he’s advising his client to take a plea, since a protracted murder trial is the last thing we need.

As George Zimmerman faces murder charges for shooting Trayvon Martin, it’s worth asking if America is in danger of facing Rodney King, Part II?

That’s what I see down the tracks: If this case goes all the way to trial, it’s a train wreck waiting to happen. The time is now for strong hands to take the helm and steady the ship of state—not to mention our national racial, political and legal discourse. The paramount concern has to be to avert a large-scale racial calamity.

As Touré recently wrote, if sane adults are not careful, deliberate and measured in the handling of the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman affair, a dark time could descend upon America.

Look what’s already festering on the streets of Sanford, Florida. On the one hand we’ve got the three stooges of the New Black Panther Party running around Sanford, spouting off crazy ideas and becoming a total embarrassment to more thoughtful and reasoning blacks who simply want justice. On the other we’ve got the equally clownish neo-Nazis, goose-stepping around on their self-appointed mission to protect the white race. In this environment it wouldn’t take much to ignite the racial power keg we’re sitting on. One false or ill-conceived move in this case could allow the loony inmates—not Zimmerman’s current neighbors, but those who are imprisoned by their long-simmering racial hatreds—to fan the incendiary flames of bigotry into full-blown conflagrations of violence across the land.

As someone who watched the King riots unfold from a Los Angeles motel window (and sometimes from the balcony, when we weren’t too afraid to venture out), I’m here to tell you it was a nightmarish time. Thick, acrid black smoke from hundreds of fires hung over the L.A. basin for days as young, armed blacks and Hispanics roared around in open convertibles and jeeps, wearing bandannas and brandishing all sorts of weaponry. We could hear gunfire both in the distance and nearby. Stores that hadn’t been set on fire the first day were looted by the second, and by the third day TV stations were warning of an impending food shortage. A body lay in the gutter on Crenshaw Boulevard for the better part of two days before National Guard troops removed it.

We don’t want to go back there. Fortunately Zimmerman’s new attorney, Mark O’Mara, appears to comprehend the broader implications and potential danger of the situation, and seems well qualified to negotiate a fair outcome for his client, and indeed for the rest of us. He has the calm demeanor of a law professor, and speaks in measured, but not calculating, terms. His first comments seemed designed not to convince anyone of his client’s innocence, but rather to take the heated rhetoric down a few notches. He cautioned that everyone should allow the justice system to work.

So what would a fair outcome look like? To my mind, the government offers Zimmerman a plea deal that has him back on the street within this decade, and he accepts it quietly. That seems like a conclusion most reasonable Americans could live with. Of course, no matter how long or short any sentence may be, there will be those who disagree, some vehemently.

If O’Mara were successful in brokering such a resolution, he should be viewed as nothing less than a savior. A protracted murder trial of George Zimmerman is the last thing this country needs right now. America can only dodge so many racial bullets, and a not-guilty verdict in this case could very easily turn the racial cold war into a very hot one.

Of course, for such a plea scenario to work, Zimmerman will need to listen more to O’Mara than to any of the other voices clamoring for a piece of him. He’s in isolation right now, presumably for his own safety, but a side benefit is that it keeps the more rabid right-wingers from getting inside his head and convincing him to take the case to trial, based on the belief that no matter what the evidence shows, in Florida at least one juror will never vote to convict. Unfortunately, this reasoning is not crazy. The South, after all, is still the South.

But after a few weeks of isolation and the counsel of O’Mara, Zimmerman may decide going to trial isn’t in his best interest. If O’Mara is as savvy as he seems, he will probably inform his client of the stark legal facts: The state overcharged him with murder 2 for two reasons: it’s a bargaining chip to force him to accept a lesser charge, and a means to keep him locked up pretrial. The way the legal system is designed, it’s difficult for someone being held in custody to win acquittal. Even if he went to trial and managed to get a hung jury, the state would surely retry him (multiple times, if necessary), until they get a conviction or he’s spent more time in the county lockup than he would have spent in prison if he’d just pleaded guilty in the first place. And even if he were acquitted, let’s not forget the specter of a federal indictment being handed down.

In all of this, the upcoming bail hearing is key: If the judge doesn’t grant bail, Zimmerman had better start listening real intently to his lawyer.

The wild card is his father, Robert, who has so far sounded like a knee-jerk far-right ideologue. In an interview he said, "I never foresaw so much hate coming from the president, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP," and this was before Obama said anything about the case! It will be virtually impossible to keep Robert Zimmerman away from his son, which means he’ll have ample opportunity to whisper Stand Your Ground rhetoric into his ear, possibly ginning up Zimmerman’s courage and convincing him to go to trial in spite of the danger of being convicted.

We all need to pray that Mark O’Mara is successful in bringing about a fair outcome for his client, for justice, and, more important, for America.



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cw2; cwii; florida; georgezimmerman; raceriots; racewar; trayvonmartin; zimmerman
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To: SamuraiScot
Is this a column or a blackmail note?

It's blackmail. Crucify anyone they name or they will riot.

121 posted on 04/18/2012 7:42:35 AM PDT by DNA.2012
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Sorry Mr. Frazier, you're a concern troll. You want Zimmerman to take a plea for fear there will be riots? As an American, you should understand that our system of justice doesn't work that way. If it did, OJ wouldn't have gotten off. How about you channel your “concern” into responsibility and go out into your community and teach your fellow man how to behave like a civilized people? Additionally, Florida is a State that relies heavily on its tourism industry. If you think my State will allow you and your people to drive that industry away because you need to railroad someone for the sake of your race hustling industry, you are mistaken. This ain't Kali.
122 posted on 04/18/2012 7:46:21 AM PDT by liberalh8ter (If Barack has a memory like a steel trap, why can't he remember what the Constitution says?)
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To: SWAMPSNIPER

In 2012, the word “justice” has been twisted to mean “whatever special protected groups want”.


123 posted on 04/18/2012 7:47:11 AM PDT by DNA.2012
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To: RWB Patriot
when was the last time anyone trembled in fear at the prospect of whites rioting over a simple court verdict?

Whites don't riot over court verdicts. To do so would be uncivilized, and only an uncivilized group would do that.

124 posted on 04/18/2012 7:52:23 AM PDT by DNA.2012
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"So what would a fair outcome look like? To my mind, the government offers Zimmerman a plea deal that has him back on the street within this decade, and he accepts it quietly. That seems like a conclusion most reasonable Americans could live with."

I reject your absurd, race baiting, threatening premise and you can consider me one of the "unreasonable" ones you POS.

125 posted on 04/18/2012 7:56:34 AM PDT by SZonian (Throwing our allegiances to political party's in the long run gave away our liberty.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
This is the problem when you have newspaper and media arschlochs thinking they are attorneys.

Mark O'Mara's job, and he'll tell you this himself, is to represent the best interest of his client. Anything else is malpractice. His job is not to satisfy you, me, or the peanut gallery. His job is to portray the different scenarios to his client and follow his wishes. If that means a trial, then go to trial. If that means a plea, then take a plea.

126 posted on 04/18/2012 7:59:42 AM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency)
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To: reagandemocrat
I personally witnessed courageous Koreans protecting their stores; I have a pictue of the LA riots on my wall.

I'm just sorry they didn't have Steyr AUG's to wave around instead of those Glocks and Rugers.

And maybe a Barrett.

127 posted on 04/18/2012 8:00:21 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: Billthedrill
To my mind, the fellow has the fair trial he's entitled to.....

Unless he's entitled to dismissal of the charges instead, on the strength of his self-defense right and the Stand Your Ground law.

128 posted on 04/18/2012 8:03:32 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: Quickgun

Black on White crime is not treated as a “hate crime”.


129 posted on 04/18/2012 8:08:58 AM PDT by DNA.2012
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To: RFEngineer
Zimmerman will walk and there will be untold numbers of Reginald Denny reenactments (that’s the only likely parallel to the LA riots) as whites are massacred by blacks as targets of opportunity.

Attack the wrong person, and they'll be picking out .45 holes from their carcasses.

130 posted on 04/18/2012 8:09:51 AM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The soldier at right in the portrait appears to be an approximation of a Roman soldier rather than a Herodian one .... in which case he'd be wearing traditional Judaean armor and headgear.

As a Roman, he'd be wearing (rather than as shown) a Coolus C or E helmet, in bronze, probably without crest on fatigue or garrison duty, and a dark-brown paludamentum (cloak) of semicircular pattern, in dark-brown wool, over his Gaulish-pattern thigh-length chain-mail hauberk with Greek-type shoulder doublings ("straps"). He probably wouldn't carry a pilum, but more likely a hasta longa while in garrison, and would wear a gladius Hispanus (short sword) from the right side of his swordbelt and a pugio (fighting dirk) or utility knife on the other side. He would be shod with caligae, military open-toed boots with hobnailed soles, and he would carry a semi-rectangular scutum with squared-off Augustan bottom and top, if he were a legionary, or a round or elliptical clipeus if he were an auxiliary infantryman. Underneath, he'd be wearing a subcingaculum or armored loincloth, with heavy ends hanging down fore and aft with metal studs, woven of a heavy byssos of tightly-weft linen, which would impart many of the qualities, and much of the protection against cuts and thrusts, of modern Kevlar cloth.

131 posted on 04/18/2012 8:17:11 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: Sir_Humphrey
The days of the docile Caucasian are coming to a close.

Technically I'm not Caucasian, but the docile white has only been around since the late 60's in some quarters, and the mid 1980's for Irish and Italians.

It can't end too soon.

132 posted on 04/18/2012 8:17:11 AM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency)
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To: Darren McCarty
It can't end too soon.

Let me get my shotguns patterned, okay?

133 posted on 04/18/2012 8:23:55 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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To: RFEngineer
Unfortunately for the idiot author, Zimmerman’s attorney represents Zimmerman. If somehow he tries to weigh the interests of anyone else over those of his client he should be disbarred.

Just on the strength of this liberal scribbler's mumbled hope that Zimmermann's lawyer will, ahem, "grow", and lift his eyes above the mundane to the necessary blah, blah, blah .... i.o.w. sell his client down the river, I would hope that Alan Dershowitz will show up momentarily with brief in hand -- as amicus curiae if nothing else. If the first chair won't take second fiddle to the more zealous and effective defender, then maybe an amicus would be the way to go. Are amici allowed in criminal trials?

Anyone?

134 posted on 04/18/2012 8:30:07 AM PDT by lentulusgracchus
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Zim should plead guilty to littering for failure to police his brass.


135 posted on 04/18/2012 9:01:55 AM PDT by Dedbone
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To: LadyDoc

According to the article and your statement, I am correct in saying that it is better for George Zimmerman to go to prison, even if he is innocent and killed Trayvon is self defense? Has this country come to the point to where all Americans would be willing to let an innocent man go to prison just to satisfy the radical blacks in this country? Is this country going to bow down to this? Then we would be no better than the citizens in the Middle East who let the Taliban and other radical Muslims take over their towns. How could we live with ourselves knowing we let such an injustice happen. Radical blacks such as the new black panthers will cause riots if they can no matter what. Their is no stopping what is coming. It may not happen this year or next, but this country is a simmering pot of hatred just boiling and waiting to explode. Sacrificing a man without a proper trial will not stop the inevitable. I wish it were not, but I see how our society is getting worse. All good Christians should pray for our country.


136 posted on 04/18/2012 9:06:58 AM PDT by PoesRaven2
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To: DNA.2012

Thank you. I fear for my family, not from other races, but because IF they were to ever be arrested, I fear they could be sacrificed and imprisoned even if innocent. If it happens to one person, than it could happen again. Why? Because the NAACP and all the others who signed the petition to arrest Zimmerman would know they have the power to control our legal system. We would no longer be governed by the law but by the fear that certain factions in our society will riot. I love this country but I would be ashamed to call myself an American if we bow to the masses on this matter.


137 posted on 04/18/2012 9:07:05 AM PDT by PoesRaven2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Does anyone else see the parallel between this situation and the Islamist threats? It seems to me that the race pimps are just trying to soften us up, and get us to lie down and take it to avoid riots, so that the Muslims can finish us off.

For what it's worth, I don't think it matters what the outcome of this is. There will be riots no matter what happens in the legal system.

138 posted on 04/18/2012 9:10:18 AM PDT by Aunt Polgara
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To: patriot08

An awful story, but when I went to the article, I didn’t see anything about about the woman being raped. What was your source on that part?


139 posted on 04/18/2012 9:10:54 AM PDT by Marko413
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Guilty or innocent of 2nd degree murder, Zimmerman has been chosen as a sacrifice to black America. A little less obvious than dragging him up to the top of a volcano, but the same result for him in the end.

The churning black underclass and those in the political class that subsist on that anger and resentment, must be fed.


140 posted on 04/18/2012 9:14:59 AM PDT by Jay Santos CP ("Idiocracy"... It's no longer just a movie.)
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