George Zimmerman is in police custody

[EMom]

For the record, Florida defines 2nd degree murder as:It sounds like the central argument will be over whether Zimmerman's approaching (if that's what happened) of Martin, against the advice of the dispatcher, was an "imminently dangerous" act by a "depraved" mind. In another words, would it be reasonable to believe that it would be likely necessary to kill someone if you approached them in that situation.

Under that definition, and according to the facts that have come to light thus far, I do not see a strong winning case for 2nd degree murder. That is not to say a prosecutor cannot win such a case, because seating a jury for this trial will be a nightmare. Get the "right" jury and you can get a conviction. If the defense gets the "right" jury, a hung jury won't be that far of a reach.

In the prosecutor's shoes, if I was going to charge, I'd include lesser included offenses. If the prosecutor hangs his/her hat on 2nd degree murder and that alone, the chances of a conviction go down.

But seriously.....with a Florida jury, who knows????

 

[Imzadi]

Under that definition, and according to the facts that have come to light thus far, I do not see a strong winning case for 2nd degree murder. That is not to say a prosecutor cannot win such a case, because seating a jury for this trial will be a nightmare. Get the "right" jury and you can get a conviction. If the defense gets the "right" jury, a hung jury won't be that far of a reach.

In the prosecutor's shoes, if I was going to charge, I'd include lesser included offenses. If the prosecutor hangs his/her hat on 2nd degree murder and that alone, the chances of a conviction go down.

But seriously.....with a Florida jury, who knows????

This could be what took them so long to come up with charges and whether they would have additional lesser charges.

What's with, "With a Florida jury, who knows????" Other than Casey Anthony, what other high profile cases have come out strangely? I'm more aware of California cases: O.J., Robert Blake, Rodney King, and a few others in which we now say, "With a California jury, who knows????"

 

[Chernabog#1fan]

It's probably not manslaughter because when he called 911 he was very deliberately asked if he was following Trayvon and told NOT to follow him. The moment he went against what dispatch told him, he went outside of the law - with gun in hand, so to speak, and there is now considered some premeditation to his actions.

Also, one can shoot a gun 10 - 20 feet away with some accuracy. He got close enough to get into a physical scuffle, so he said. He could have stopped approaching at any time IF his intent was simply to hold Trayvon in place until the police arrived. He deliberately escalated & got into an altercation with Trayvon.

Have you heard the entire 911 call and not the editted version? After he was told he did not have to follow him, he specifically said okay and was heading back to his car. Treyvon then approached him, so he would have been in close range.

Both parties share responsibility of what happened that night. Now it will be up to the court as to whether the living responsible party will go to jail. Sad story all the way around.

 

[EMom]

This could be what took them so long to come up with charges and whether they would have additional lesser charges.

What's with, "With a Florida jury, who knows????" Other than Casey Anthony, what other high profile cases have come out strangely? I'm more aware of California cases: O.J., Robert Blake, Rodney King, and a few others in which we now say, "With a California jury, who knows????"

I have even less faith in a California jury. No, really, it may come down to whether a case is high profile, no matter WHERE it is. High profile cases do not make for smooth jury selection.

Texas has had its fair share too. The Durst guy that killed a neighbor, chopped him to pieces, deposited the parts in Galveston Bay.....a charmer. But also a multimillionaire who hired the best attorneys in Texas. He got off on self-freaking defense! There was no evidence of self defense, he just used that and essentially his lawyers said, "You can't prove the other guy DIDN'T start it." And chopped up dead guy was not talking.

Then there was T. Cullen Davis. Back then, THAT was the trial of the century. He eventually walked. Let me just say I met the guy once, and he had eyes like a shark. He was trying to turn on the charm (he liked 'em young and blonde ) but he gave me the willies so bad that I unintentionally insulted him and bolted from his presence. Except for a man who turned out to be a serial killer, T. Cullen gave me the worst case of heebie geebies ever.

So Texas can screw up too, especially in high profile cases. The Casey Anthony case was especially egregious, because even with the lesser included offenses, the jury gave her a pass. Not even child abuse/neglect. That boggled my mind. I have often said every jury summons in that case must have been sent to The Pinellas County Home for Mental Defectives.

 

[LisaR]

This could be what took them so long to come up with charges and whether they would have additional lesser charges.

What's with, "With a Florida jury, who knows????" Other than Casey Anthony, what other high profile cases have come out strangely? I'm more aware of California cases: O.J., Robert Blake, Rodney King, and a few others in which we now say, "With a California jury, who knows????"

I think it is just part of Florida's reputation now. This will always be the state with the incompetent juries and incompetent voters (hanging chads). It doesn't take much to ruin ones reputation.

 

[Imzadi]

Have you heard the entire 911 call and not the editted version? After he was told he did not have to follow him, he specifically said okay and was heading back to his car. Treyvon then approached him, so he would have been in close range.

Both parties share responsibility of what happened that night. Now it will be up to the court as to whether the living responsible party will go to jail. Sad story all the way around.

No, I hadn't. Good grief. Off to Google. . .

 

[Albort]

curious, is Al Sharpton still doing the protests?

 

[Robinrs]

It's about d'ed time. I hope he has FUN in jail.

Glad to see so many people who trust the justice system. I lost that trust YEARS ago.

 

[jujube]

It's about d'ed time. I hope he has FUN in jail.

Glad to see so many people who trust the justice system. I lost that trust YEARS ago.

He'll bond out tonight and, as I understand it, he'll be in protective custody.

 

[Geoff_M]

Under that definition, and according to the facts that have come to light thus far, I do not see a strong winning case for 2nd degree murder.

I agree that if it comes down to a claim that Zimmerman should have known that there good chance that someone was going to end up dead if he continued to pursue Martin, then I agree it might be a tough sell as a depraved act. If a jury is allowed to consider lesser charges then it would be a gamble with little downside, but if not... this could get very interesting.

 

[Wall-E1]

Have you heard the entire 911 call and not the editted version? After he was told he did not have to follow him, he specifically said okay and was heading back to his car. Treyvon then approached him, so he would have been in close range.

Both parties share responsibility of what happened that night. Now it will be up to the court as to whether the living responsible party will go to jail. Sad story all the way around.

I've heard the unedited 911 call.

He didn't say that he was heading back to his car. You are speculating that he was.

You're also speculating that Trayvon approached him at that point.

So, listening to the unedited 911 call really doesn't shed any new light on this for me.


One additional thing about the unedited 911 call that I find interesting...

The dispatcher is trying to arrange for a car to meet up with George Zimmerman. At the end of the 911 call, George asks, "Actually, can you have them call me, and I'll tell them where I'm at."

To me, (and I am speculating), it seems George wasn't sure where he was going to be when the police got there. I think this is because he was still planning on finding Trayvon. If not, why wouldn't he just agree to meet the police at the clubhouse, his truck, the gate; etc?

 

[doxdogy]

Angela Corey stated that the trial will be held in Seminole County. One of the prosecutors working on the case (Bernie de la Rionda), is a good prosecutor. When I served my jury duty, he was the prosecutor.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Have you heard the entire 911 call and not the editted version? After he was told he did not have to follow him, he specifically said okay and was heading back to his car. Treyvon then approached him, so he would have been in close range.
Both parties share responsibility of what happened that night. Now it will be up to the court as to whether the living responsible party will go to jail. Sad story all the way around.

Where the incident took place on the property is not remotely consistent with Zimmerman heading back to his vehicle. He specifically said ok and then disregarded the advice.

 

[Geoff_M]

Angela Corey stated that the trial will be held in Seminole County. One of the prosecutors working on the case (Bernie de la Rionda), is a good prosecutor. When I served my jury duty, he was the prosecutor.

Let's hope so... but some observations by an associate law prof from Cornell Law School reported some troubling things about today's events:

We learned nothing new about the facts of the case. What irked me was to hear the prosecutor thank the Martin family attorneys — that seems a little close for my liking in a prosecutor, and in fact the Martin family attorneys have acted irresponsibly in the media as I have addressed before.

I saw on Twitter that the Martin family held a press conference with Al Sharpton by their side, but I didn’t get to see it. Although Zimmerman now is charged, and the case is in the courts, I expect the Martin family attorneys, Sharpton, and others continue to work the case in the media from a racial angle and to inflame passions in the community as a means of tainting the jury pool.

For the prosecutor to embrace the Martin family attorneys with thanks at the press conference, and for AG Eric Holder verbally to praise Sharpton today, tells me that a case which should be about facts of who did what to whom is going to turn into an even bigger racial narrative for a variety of purposes which have nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of the accused.

 

[Art 1]

It's going to be interesting. Zimmerman has a top notch attorney. Unless there is evidence that has not been released this thing may not even make it to trail.

 

[EMom]

Let's hope so... but some observations by an associate law prof from Cornell Law School reported some troubling things about today's events:

Don't get me started on Eric Holder.

 

[Art 1]

curious, is Al Sharpton still doing the protests?

Sure. I don't remember seeing him rile people up when OJ was found not guilty.

 

[ols386]

It's going to be interesting. Zimmerman has a top notch attorney. Unless there is evidence that has not been released this thing may not even make it to trail.

That's possible, but I'd be very surprised if it didn't make it to trial.

 

[torinsmom]

I've heard the unedited 911 call.

He didn't say that he was heading back to his car. You are speculating that he was.

You're also speculating that Trayvon approached him at that point.

So, listening to the unedited 911 call really doesn't shed any new light on this for me.


One additional thing about the unedited 911 call that I find interesting...

The dispatcher is trying to arrange for a car to meet up with George Zimmerman. At the end of the 911 call, George asks, "Actually, can you have them call me, and I'll tell them where I'm at."

To me, (and I am speculating), it seems George wasn't sure where he was going to be when the police got there. I think this is because he was still planning on finding Trayvon. If not, why wouldn't he just agree to meet the police at the clubhouse, his truck, the gate; etc?

So, listening to the 911 tape, when the operator asks Z where he is located, he says he doesn't know; he'll have to find a street sign or something like that. He is breathing hard, and the operator asks him if he is following the person. He says yes, and is told he doesn't need to do that. He says okay and then he is talking normally, no hard breathing for the rest of the call. That, to me, says he stopped following. He had said T was running, so if he was following, he would have been running and the hard breathing would have continued.

The operator says they will meet him by the mailboxes(I believe. I am going by memory) but Z asks if they can call him to find out his location. Since he doesn't know where he is, I assumed he was going to figure out where he was vs. going all the way to the mailboxes. This would put him closer to where he last saw T when the police came.

It will be interesting for sure. I don't think second degree murder will stick, and I am sure they will include lesser charges. I hope to hear all the evidence. If he had injuries, I would hope the police would have taken still photos. That video is just too grainy to tell anything definitive, IMHO. Or maybe the paramedics would have a report on the extent of any injuries. That and the angle of the shot are important to figure out what was going on at the time of the actual shot.

 

[TLSnell1981]

WTH? Youre going to let FACTS get in the way of a good dose of spin? Get with the program.

Was there EVER a doubt, an arrest was coming? He's already been convicted in the MSM. Regardless, this will be used for political purposes. Sadly, it's not about justice. IMHO