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Jury weighing Zimmerman's fate asks question about manslaughter option
CNN ^ | 7/13/13 | Mariano Castillo and Greg Botelho

Posted on 07/13/2013 3:17:06 PM PDT by Clint N. Suhks

(CNN) -- After more than 12 hours of deliberation, the six women deliberating George Zimmerman's fate asked the court Saturday evening for clarification on the instructions regarding manslaughter, the judge said.

That couldn't have even been a question a few days ago: Judge Debra Nelson ruled Thursday, over the defense's vehement objection, to include manslaughter as an option for jurors, in addition to the second-degree murder charge. Their third option would be to find Zimmerman not guilty.

The question -- which was read out in court, without the jurors present, shortly before 6 p.m. -- was the first posed by the jury since late Friday afternoon, when they requested an inventory of evidence. Afterward, lawyers from both sides approached Nelson's bench; their comments could not be heard.

How long other juries deliberated for in other high-profile cases One of 1,009 fatal shootings in Florida in 2012, Trayvon Martin's death stood out -- the various threads of the story helping to capture the public imagination.

There was, for instance, the fact that an adult had fired on an unarmed teen, soon after police told him not to follow the 17-year-old. And there was the accusation of racial profiling: that Zimmerman -- the son of a Peruvian mother and a white American father, who identifies as Hispanic -- had singled out Martin, at least in part, because the teenager was black.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: blackkk; florida; georgezimmerman; kangaroocourt; martin; trayvonmartin; zimmerman
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To: 3Fingas

What if Zimmerman had not done what he did and the black guy acting suspiciously broke into a house and killed someone? Zimmerman was trying to keep Martin in sight until the cops got there. I’m sure if he had it to do over, he’d let Martin do whatever the hell he wanted to do.


141 posted on 07/13/2013 4:43:48 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (If you vote for evil because you can't see evil, you ARE evil!)
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To: Clint N. Suhks

If they asked about Manslaughter, it means 2nd Degree is out


142 posted on 07/13/2013 4:45:07 PM PDT by AppyPappy (Obama: What did I not know and when did I not know it?)
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To: VerySadAmerican
782.04(2) Second degree (depraved mind) murder Manslaughter — 782.07 Third degree (felony) murder — 782.04(4) Vehicular homicide — 782.071 (Nonhomicide lessers) Attempt Culpable negligence — 784.05(2) Aggravated battery — 784.045 Aggravated assault — 784.021 Battery — 784.03 Assault — 784.011 782.04(3) Second degree (felony) murder None Third degree (felony) murder — 782.04(4) Manslaughter is a lesser included offense for second degree/depraved mind. [RTF] schedule of lesser included offenses - Florida Supreme Court www.floridasupremecourt.org/jury.../schedlesserincludoffens.rtf‎
143 posted on 07/13/2013 4:45:12 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: ilovesarah2012
I was troubled as to why Trayvon did not have any of Zimmerman’s blood on his hands.

Do you have any alternate theory for why Zimmerman had an obviously smashed nose and multiple lacerations on the back of his head?

And do you have any alternate theory for why John Good testified that he saw a black guy wearing a hoodie on top of a lighter-skinned guy wearing red, with the black guy's arms pumping downward?

If you do, I'd like to hear it.

144 posted on 07/13/2013 4:48:35 PM PDT by Jeff Winston
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

Great post! See my tagline. It’s not just talking about liberals.


145 posted on 07/13/2013 4:52:27 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (If you vote for evil because you can't see evil, you ARE evil!)
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To: JayGalt; ilovesarah2012
Hands were not swabbed, only one sample was taken from the finger nails.

Pretty darn hard to find DNA evidence on the hands if you don't actually take a swab, isn't it?

146 posted on 07/13/2013 4:55:06 PM PDT by Jeff Winston
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To: Jeff Winston

Do you have an alternate theory for why no DNA on Trayvon’s hands and/or clothing? I just find it strange.

I don’t doubt Trayvon was beating Zimmerman. But what if Trayvon felt threatened by Zimmerman and was defending himself?


147 posted on 07/13/2013 4:57:20 PM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: ilovesarah2012

Are you suggesting the GZ wounds were not inflicted by TM?


148 posted on 07/13/2013 5:02:02 PM PDT by Ray76 (Do you reject Obama? And all his works? And all his empty promises?)
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To: mikrofon
this obsession with trying to please everybody cannot be done at the expense of individual freedoms.

This works on Orwells Animal Farm

149 posted on 07/13/2013 5:02:10 PM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever.)
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To: 3Fingas

I would think Zimmerman also wishes he had never gotten out of his car. My concern is what this case means for neighborhood watch in general


150 posted on 07/13/2013 5:03:23 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: 3Fingas

Where is the evidence that Zimmerman sought out a confronation. I must have missed that.


151 posted on 07/13/2013 5:03:41 PM PDT by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: ilovesarah2012
But what if Trayvon felt threatened by Zimmerman and was defending himself?

Defending himself from what exactly? Words? Eyeball-contact? From being "dissed"?

152 posted on 07/13/2013 5:04:35 PM PDT by USS Johnston (Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be bought at the price of chains & slavery? - Patrick Henry)
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153 posted on 07/13/2013 5:05:39 PM PDT by RedMDer (When immigrants cannot or will not assimilate, its really just an invasion. Throw them out!)
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To: ilovesarah2012

I believe that it was established that the body was left out for three hours. It was raining and the bags that are used for preserving evidence on the hands were not put on the hands. That could have something to do with lack of evidcnce on his hands.


154 posted on 07/13/2013 5:06:20 PM PDT by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: Clint N. Suhks

One of Zimmerman’s friends said on Fox that he has the inside track??? on the jury (don’t know if I believe this), and they are 5-1 for acquittal, 1 holdout for manslaughter, thus the question.


155 posted on 07/13/2013 5:06:39 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Fawn
They could also be ‘compromising’ between Murder 2 and manslaughter....

It won't make much difference from a sentencing perspective. A manslaughter conviction (with a firearm) is a first degree felony and could garner 30 years with a 9 year + minimum - so it could essentially be a life sentence.

156 posted on 07/13/2013 5:06:48 PM PDT by RobertClark (My shrink just killed himself - he blamed me in his note!)
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To: ilovesarah2012

Tha was why the defense made an issue of Trayvon’s hands not being covered to preserve evidence.


157 posted on 07/13/2013 5:08:38 PM PDT by meatloaf (3)
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To: plain talk
I would think Zimmerman also wishes he had never gotten out of his car.

Or gotten out of bed??

My concern is what this case means for neighborhood watch in general

It MIGHT mean no neighborhood will be safe from organized thuggery, threats, intimidation, drug sales, open prostitution, and of course, arming yourself in self-defense from all of it.

158 posted on 07/13/2013 5:09:08 PM PDT by USS Johnston (Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be bought at the price of chains & slavery? - Patrick Henry)
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To: GrootheWanderer
Does anyone know if they have to find him not guilty of murder before moving on to manslaughter?

No, it is one or the other.

159 posted on 07/13/2013 5:10:35 PM PDT by PistolPaknMama
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To: Clint N. Suhks

The LAW should still be on GZs case on the charge with manslaughter, but sadly I doubt they are going with what the law is.


160 posted on 07/13/2013 5:12:54 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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