Posted on 07/13/2012 9:40:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Discovery documents released yesterday shows that the special prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin shooting case has a difficult task in front of her. The presumed motive for the shooting, which defendant George Zimmerman claims was necessary to save his life, was racism. The FBI investigation ruled out that motive, NBC's Miami affiliate reports --- but that doesn't mean Zimmerman is out of the woods yet:
View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.
The FBI found no racial bias behind George Zimmerman's shooting of Miami Gardens teen Trayvon Martin, according to dozens of documents related to the case released Thursday.
The second round of discovery documents released by prosecutors include reports from the FBI, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney's Office as well as photos of the crime scene, aerial photos, police calls and surveillance video related to the shooting.
Zimmerman, 28, is charged with second-degree murder for the killing of Martin, 17, in a Sanford gated community in February. He claims he shot Martin in self-defense.
The documents from the State Attorney’s Office include memorandums of interviews between investigators and witnesses, family members and officers who responded to the scene and worked on the case.
This may doom a second-degree murder case, in which there has to be some malice present prior to the killing. It doesn’t negate the possibility of a manslaughter charge, though, which doesn’t necessarily require a showing of malice. If the government has evidence that the use of lethal force was not a reasonable choice, Zimmerman could still be found guilty of manslaughter, as lethal force in self-defense can only be used when a reasonable person would conclude that it was the only way to save himself from death or grave bodily harm.
However, changing the charge from second-degree murder to manslaughter might be tough under the circumstances for the special prosecutor in this case. Technically, the FBI was working on a civil-rights case for the DoJ and not for the state’s special prosecutor, but the defense will certainly produce the FBI’s conclusion that racial bias played no part in the shooting during a second-degree murder trial. Having led with the second-degree charge, the special prosecutor’s credibility will be seriously undermined by the FBI report, and an attempt to shift the charge downward will undermine it even further. Unless the state has overwhelming evidence that the FBI missed, their case is in serious trouble.
FYI
Seems like the prosecution should be forced to prove the charges they so spectacularly rolled out at the outset, not adjust it to something more realistic as more evidence is introduced.
Since the FBI has taken racial discrimination off the table, the special prosecutor will now claim that attire discrimination was the real motive —
BOOIIINNNGGGGG!!! The prosecution is losing ground everytime they release discovery documentation.
So far, all they are doing is proving Zimmerman's story!!
Assuming that he ends being acquitted (still a 50-50 shot, IMO! Sometime juries can surprise you), Zimmerman will be set for life after he sues the alphabets, New Black Panther Party and NBA Player's Association for all accusing him of racism. In addition, he should go after the alphabets for doctoring "evidence" trying to make the charge of racim stick!!
Whats-her-face, the prosecutor, should not be sleeping well, these days. She made a big splashy accusation on TV and, increasingly, it appears that she won't be able to prove it!!
What's that saying - "better to keep your thoughts to yourself and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and erase all doubt"??
I’d say he was ALREADY suffering grave bodily harm. So he didn’t just prevent it, he STOPPED it
I think the liberal case that is left is:
Zimmerman lied, therefore he deserves to die.
AND, even blood clots in the face, head are can constitute grave bodily harm, and have caused death in more than a few cases
Why again is the FBI involved in this case?
Do they make similar useless pronouncements in each case involving the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of cross-racial crime, which is of course, black on white?
Wow! I thought I knew mt facts in this case, but I just wnet to the same story at Fox (http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/13/zimmerman-not-racist-fbi-report-states/) and found this:
“When asked by a dispatcher, Zimmerman said the suspect was black. His wife, Shellie, is heard in the background telling Zimmerman not to go outside to follow the suspect.”
Did everyone know that his wife was in the truck with him, or what?
At least the FBI did its duty.
I’m still thinking that Zimmerman will be acquitted of all charges the friday before the election. So all the feral occupants of cities will explode into riots and destruction and marshal law will be called.
I can't help thinking that the fix is in--that no matter how much evidence comes out that supports Zimmerman's version of what happened, he'll be found guilty of something entailing a prison sentence. The judge in the case might as well be Nifong.
Different call: The full context is:
In August 2011, Zimmerman called Sanford Police’s nonemergency line to report a man in the neighborhood who his wife thought was responsible for an earlier burglary.
“If you’ll let the officers know they typically run away quickly and I think they head to the next neighborhood over,” Zimmerman said in the call.
When asked by a dispatcher, Zimmerman said the suspect was black. His wife, Shellie, is heard in the background telling Zimmerman not to go outside to follow the suspect.
I’m still thinking that Zimmerman will be acquitted of all charges the friday before the election. So all the feral occupants of cities will explode into riots and destruction and marshal law will be called.
The trial won’t be held till after the election. It will then be implied that there will be riots unless he’s found guilty. Jury intimidation will be in play.
Thanks. I guess I was reading that too fast. It seemed like bullet points as I was reading, not connected to the preceding paragraph.
He also fails to mention that statute 776.012 permits use of deadly force in defense of another person or to stop the imminent commission of a forcible felony (which includes aggravated assault and aggravated battery).
So, it appears that homicide charges would be unlikely to stick either given current evidence.
It was trick in the case I was in as the party had broken into the rear screen enclosure, the prosecutor was going after felony breaking into a dwelling. By definition of the law the "dewelling" had to be a covered structure. Was the screen enclosure a covered structure...
woops, typed “homicide” and meant “manslaughter”
“Why again is the FBI involved in this case?”
I think the big 0 called them in.
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