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.
All I can say is that for Zimmerman to have been assaulted the way reports indicate, he would've had to get out of the truck he said he was in, and he would have needed to approach someone he was told not to follow. Had he waited for police as he said he would do, none of this would have happened. There are so many things that Zimmerman did wrong, I can't see any reason he wouldn't be charged with something. If he had just done what he was asked, and what he said he would, kid would be alive, and he would have not killed someone for no reason.
It's also hard to see how Trayvon could have been pounding on Zimm without bruising his knuckles or anything (the funeral director said he didn't have any injuries that backed up the idea he'd been in a fight).
OK.
We don’t need you to do that. [2:26]
Zimmerman:
Um, if they come in through the gate, tell them to go straight past the clubhouse and, uh, straight past the clubhouse and make a left and then go past the mailboxes you’ll see my truck. [3:10]
911 dispatcher:
Alright, what address are you parked in front of? [3:21]
Zimmerman:
Um, I don’t know. It’s a cut-through so I don’t know the address. [3:25]
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That looks like about a minute to me, and to have been following him on foot, then respond to a question about where he is parked to say he doesn't know, rather than he is on foot is strange. What's the point in saying the officers would see his truck if he weren't in it? And if a minute prior,he was not in his truck, that means he got into the truck to follow Trayvon, which again, makes the notion of self defense ridiculous. I have listened to the audio and read through the transcript many times, and not one thing in it makes it seem like he is afraid of Trayvon, but that he is determined to get him arrested for something when he doesn't even know if he's done anything wrong. He follows a young man, while on the phone with a 911 operator, says he'll wait for officers, and doesn't. His case is hollow. There isn't a chance it was self defense, and as it was not an accident, it can't be anything less than a murder charge.
I've lived in condo communities for the past 14 years, and I know all the addresses more or less -- I think it's odd that he couldn't even make a guess about where he was. Most communities have a pattern to their addresses.
This marching IS a great idea...to lead to the shooting and burning.
Fact is, as far as evidence states, it was self defense. Which is 100% legal.
Why can't we take it case by case and forget color.. forget the damn marches and whining and crying .. No one wins this way and it just separates us further!
The marching and protests were required action to effect a more detailed investigation, and arrest. It is in the hands of the courts now, where it should have been from the beginning. Just because us Black people are marching, it is seldom about white people. In this case it was about standing up against a justice system which tried to sweep this under the carpet
The whole point is that there are QUESTIONS, and the Special Prosecutor assigned to investigating them decided they were serious enough to merit a charge, an arrest, and a trial to answer them.
It seems to me that that's our legal system working well. So far. I'm willing to wait and see what comes next (and I hope it's not more media circus).
I'm not saying that's what DID happen because I don't know. But if it did, I wouldn't be screaming "Bias alert! Bias alert!"
If you want me to change my opinion, you'll have to do a LOT better than frighten me with prayer.
And remember, she is up for election, needs all the votes she can get. Dirty bloody politics! No one is going to get justice here.. not Trayvon, not Zimmerman.. but maybe Mrs. Prosecuter will get herself reelected.. isn't that just lovely!