George Zimmerman Charged With Second-Degree Murder: Fair or Foul?
SodaHead News
2012/04/12 13:00:00
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It took prosecutors a month and a half to charge George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, but Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey announced the charge on Wednesday, just days after dismissing the grand jury. He's being charged with second-degree murder, and could face life in prison. This doesn't mean he's guilty, but it does mean he's in prison for the time being.
Zimmerman arrived at the Polk Correctional Facility in Florida Wednesday night after the 28-year-old surrendered to law enforcement. Lawyers on both sides of the case anticipate a long and arduous trial. Zimmerman's new lawyers says he is "not concerned about [Zimmerman's] mental well-being" and expects "justice in the end." Martin's mother just wants to "ask him if there were another way that he could have settled the confrontation." Do you think the charges against George Zimmerman sound fair -- or foul?
Zimmerman arrived at the Polk Correctional Facility in Florida Wednesday night after the 28-year-old surrendered to law enforcement. Lawyers on both sides of the case anticipate a long and arduous trial. Zimmerman's new lawyers says he is "not concerned about [Zimmerman's] mental well-being" and expects "justice in the end." Martin's mother just wants to "ask him if there were another way that he could have settled the confrontation." Do you think the charges against George Zimmerman sound fair -- or foul?
Top Opinion
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Foul
+66Prosecutor will have to get all twelve jurors to vote to convict to get this silly murder charge upheld. She knows that is hopeless. The charge carries some lesser homicide charges as "included lesser charges" (like manslaughter) which they can compromise on. The hope would be that by asking for murder 2, they can get Zimmerman to agree to accept something like negligent homicide. If he does, he is being gullible, for they can never get twelve Floridians to agree he is culpable. Even if they get an all black jury, getting twelve of us to agree he did not have the right to defend himself just because his attacker is black would be very unlikely. Too many of us have had family or friends who have been attacked by young men like Trayvon. Having worked with victims of abuse for many years, my sympathy for the victim of the attack (Zimmerman) far outweighs my identification as a Florida black.
I think it was totally fair that he was arrested and charged with a felony but I don't think it should have been Second Degree Murder. I don't think it was fair to the victim that he was charged with the more difficult crime to prove. The prosecution will have to prove his intention to murder Trayvon Martin and I don't believe he intended to.
I think he is guilty of either Manslaughter, Homicidal Negligence or Assault With a Deadly Weapon Resulting in a Homicide. Either of those would be easier to prove than Second Degree Murder.
You don't have to lean toward innocent until all of the facts are out. In our system of justice, Mr. Zimmerman IS ALREADY innocent until prosecutors prove to 12 of his peers in open court that he is guilty of a crime, beyond a reasonable doubt. If they do not find him guilty, he will be found "not guilty."
The distinction is: Mr. Zimmerman's present legal status is INNOCENT; after a completed trial, his status will be either GUILTY or NOT GUILTY.
Zimmerman stalked him and and the phone operator told him not to follow martin he would still be alive today
Martin is dead zimmerman killed him there is no question he did
I have photos of me on facebook
Does it mean im a bad person
Doesn't matter. Zimmerman will be on a private jet outta there as soon as a few details are taken care of and will never spend another minute in custody.
Right about now Zimmerman is meeting this man
He is being well protected from the animals and they'll just have to fight over each others bung-holes.
he needs the police to protect him
may be he should have thought about that before murdering someone
An attempted murder took place that evening but Zimmerman exercised his lawful options to ensure the attempt was unsuccessful.
its called neighboor hood watch
you see something suspicious you call the cops
he followed martin harrassed him the operator told him not to follow martin
what happened next nobody knows till trial
but if he didnt bother martin then he wouldnt be in jail right now
Have you not heard that nbc and abc have already apologized for editing the recordings?
Why would they post a picture of Trayvon at 13, when there are hundreds of photos of him when he is clearly older? (Mislead the simple minded I guess).
If you hear the entire 911 call that zimmerman made, you hear the operator suggest that he not follow, and moments later you can hear Zimmerman knocking on doors (I assume to tell people there why the cops are soon to be in the neighborhood)
Have you not seen the tattoos that this 17 year old has? Means nothing really. But he is 17, and paints a personality, that has been hidden.
Why would his family delete travon's twitter account? Many people saw it before it went down. Many screenshots. You might want to Google some of this stuff so you can keep up with the big boys.
Or sit on the porch with the rest of the runts who just like to bark for no reason at all.
Ten minutes of research and you will be a better little boy.
He was acting in the capacity of a resident, concerned citizen who was himself on the way to the store and not on a any 'watch or duty'.
Zimmerman was following in the general direction to keep a visual, but indicates numerous times that he's gone and finally says. "I don't know where this kid's at.
Martin first bolts and starts running at 7:11:40, which is 2:06 into Zimmerman's call.
The gunshot occurs at 7:16:56.
Brandy's condo is about 100yards from where Martin is when he takes off.
Zimmerman is on the phone for two more minutes.
How long does it take a terrified 6'-2" , 17-yo to run 100yds?
15 seconds?..... 20 with candy and a beverage weighing him down?
Where was Martin for FIVE minutes from 7:11:40 to 7:16:56?
Since when is it legal to attack someone just because they called the cops and reported you as suspicious? Why was Martin anywhere near where he was shot, if he was just Skittlin' down the road? He could have done the moon walk on his belly backwards and covered 100yds in 5 minutes.
Use your brain.
The fact that Trayvon "attacked" Zimm would be a mitigating circumstance in charges by BOTH of them about who did what to whom when. The intro of lethal force changed everything. Don't you see that? Now Trayvon can't tell his side EVER, and the PEOPLE in every state in this country say when that happens, the victim needs an advocate, and the advocate gets ALL the info s/he can to find out what really happened.
You don't do that by saying "You shot him, but it's ok because..." You do that by saying "You shot him, and a jury of your peers should decide whether it was ok because..."
That's where we are now. A jury may say "It was ok," or "It wasn't ok, but it wasn't as bad as the State says," or "The State has proved its case 'beyond a reasonable doubt.'" Or other alternatives at trial. Or the case may be resolved before trial.
The problems in THIS case arose because the original advocate (Wolfinger) said SYG applied, and a LOT of people (including Jeb Bush) disagreed, AND because the SPD has a reputation of being easy on interracial crimes where the victim is Black.
Isn't it interesting that as more of the REAL evidence is revealed, people are distancing themselves including Sharpton.
He clearly doesn't want another Brawley on his hands, now that he's milked it for all he can.
According to what witnesses said that evening, reviewing the 911 tapes, listening to Zimmerman's call over and over, there were no legal grounds to arrest Zimmerman, and according to Gilbreath's testimony yesterday, they STILL don't have grounds.
Zimmerman's weapon and the issue of lethal force in self defense didn't even come into the equation until AFTER he was getting his head bounced off the sidewalk.
How long was he supposed to wait without getting any response from his yells for help?
Voice experts said it wasn't his voice, and Trayvon's mother said it was him. That's the kind of thing that makes this whole thing so fuzzy. For every person who says A there's another who says B. And they're both equally sure of themselves.
I think the reason "people are distancing themselves" is they got what they wanted. People thought letting Zimm go without answering questions like "Who was screaming" was wrong. Now he's been arrested and charged, and the process will go forward.
Tracy Martin indicated at that time that he KNEW it was NOT his son's voice and wanted to know what happened.
They then played Zimmerman's call to SPD.
It wasn't until Crump and Sharpton got involved that anyone doubted that it was Zimmerman screaming on the tape.
I can understand that nobody wants to remember that their son's last action on this Earth was such a violent act and inflicting pain on another human being, but both of the parents KNOW it was not their son and have been played and manipulated by some who were more concerned with National recognition and inflating their egos.
Crump is a civil rights attorney and the one who contacted Sharpton to get some media coverage.
As we've seen in the past, Sharpton can be very persuasive in getting people to make public statements that aren't necessarily true.
First it was "he was going for my gun." Then it was "he was banging my head on the ground." What's next? "He was giving me the Evil Eye?" "He was performing the Vulcan Mind Meld to learn about my secret vulnerability to Kryptonite?"
Denny lived, but sustained life long injuries even after extensive surgery. He took a far worse beating than Rodney King ever came close to, and for what?
How about this clown from the same High School Martin attended? Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Miami.
April 6, 2012
This 16 year old 'kid' chokes and stabs his own Mother to death, then throws a party four days later while her corpse is rotting in the next room. It happened just a few weeks ago while Sharpton was howling through his bullhorn, but they made sure it was buried in the news. After all, a 'child' wouldn't do such a thing. He was just angry 'cause she scolded him.
"He waited, and then attacked her by wrapping his hands around her bare neck and choking her until she lost consciousness, the police report said. But his mother, who was face down, would not go easily."
Dayum, He looks just as innocent as Martin.
http://globalgrind.com/news/h...
"How many times have you heard, and when was the last time you heard, and have you in fact ever heard of a 6'3" 140 pound teenager killing an adult or anybody over the age of 3 with his bare hands in hand to hand combat?"
I gave you an example and any rational person would see it fits your question like a glove. Did you also miss the date and location of the article above? It didn't take any digging, it was reported on April 6, 2012.