George Zimmerman Case: Charges Should Be Dropped

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://gma.yahoo.com/george-zimmerman-case-charges-dropped-080020734--abc-news-topstories.html

By MATT GUTMAN, SENI TIENABESO and KEVIN DOLAK | Good Morning America – 21 hours ago

Two prominent U.S. lawyers are among the skeptics questioning whether evidence in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin supports the second-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman, given the confessed shooter's apparent injuries and freshly released eyewitness accounts.

"There is no second-degree murder evidence in this case," Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said. "It's a very close case."

Details released in the past week add to the picture of what might have transpired on that rainy Feb. 26 before Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in the Sanford, Fla., community where Martin, 17, was staying with his father's fiancée, shot the teen dead.

Previously unknown particulars, including the scrape on Martin's knuckle and photos of Zimmerman's battered and swollen face -- which were taken moments after he shot and killed Martin in what he says was self defense -- coupled with eyewitness accounts that back up Zimmerman's story, suggest for some that the prosecutor overreached.

"I'd rather play the defense than the prosecutor, because there's no way you get a murder-two conviction," journalist-attorney Geraldo Rivera said on Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" last week.

Zimmerman, 28, whose father is white and mother Hispanic, had volunteered for the neighborhood watch committee. He has said that he shot Martin, an African-American, in self-defense after the teen knocked him to the ground, banged his head against the ground and went for Zimmerman's gun.

The release of evidence by the prosecution Thursday also included potentially damning eyewitness accounts of the tussle between the two. One man at the scene told police he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman, pummeling him mixed martial arts-style.

With more of the prosecution's evidence now public, legal experts like Dershowitz are blaming what they're already calling "the failure" of this racially charged case on Special Prosecutor Angela Corey.

"If there are demonstrations, the finger of responsibility will point directly at the prosecutor," Dershowitz said.

Corey, the state attorney in Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit Court, was assigned to the case by Florida Gov. Rick Scott nearly a month after the shooting. Corey said this weekend that evidence released so far is not the sum total of her case.

"What the general public has to remember and the media has to remember is that there is a lot we cannot release by law," Corey said.

Zimmerman's attorney Mark O'Mara apparently agrees with Corey.

"[it is] way too early to tell," he said. "That's me not only commenting on evidence, but the weight of all the evidence. And I don't even have all the evidence."

One key to the case is which of the two men instigated the clash that left Martin dead. The prosecution says Zimmerman initiated the altercation when he "profiled" Martin that night, and then got out of his car to follow him. In the newly released documents, lead homicide officer on the case, Chris Serino of the Sanford Police Department, called the shooting "avoidable" had Zimmerman remained in his vehicle.

What has yet to be seen are two main pieces of evidence: Zimmerman's statement on the night of the incident, and his reenactment of the events of that night, which could prove vital when and if the case is heard in court.

[sandinista! 1,816]

What's Geraldo going to offer to shave this time if he's wrong?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Geraldo Rivera. There's someone to go to for logical opinions.

Geraldo Rivera, after the incident took place, had this gem to say:

“I believe that George Zimmerman, the overzealous neighborhood watch captain, should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law, and if he is criminally liable he should be prosecuted. But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies,” Rivera said.

Yeah, I'm not gonna take much of what he says too seriously.

[^_^ 5,021]

POC common sense. You're allowed to be a POC (if you must) but please act and talk white if you want your white overlords to be nice to you.

[Darnell 8,478]

if Dershowitz said it, then it's gospel.

Let's see if the gospel can be spread in that enclave in Florida.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[Karee 4,190]

The state of Florida is going to spend so much cash on this mess and the guy is gonna walk. If they couldn't get a guilty verdict on Casey Anthony, there's no way in hell this guy get's convicted.

[james&olya 1,121]

Geraldo Rivera.

Prominent lawyer? Perhaps.

Credible legal opinions?

[james&olya 1,121]

The state of Florida is going to spend so much cash on this mess and the guy is gonna walk. If they couldn't get a guilty verdict on Casey Anthony, there's no way in hell this guy get's convicted.

They were able to get a guilty verdict and 20 year sentence on that woman who fired a warning shot in an encounter with her abusive ex. Nobody even got a scratch and she is going down! Then again, she is black and this is Florida!

[SMOKE 1,426]

They were able to get a guilty verdict and 20 year sentence on that woman who fired a warning shot in an encounter with her abusive ex. Nobody even got a scratch and she is going down! Then again, she is black and this is Florida!

yah she is black! it had nothing to do w/ her having a restraining order against him, going to his house, going back outside to get the gun, coming back inside to scare him with the gun, or there being a 20 year mandatory sentence for firing a firearm during the commision of a felony. its because she was black.

[james&olya 1,121]

yah she is black! it had nothing to do w/ her having a restraining order against him, going to his house, going back outside to get the gun, coming back inside to scare him with the gun, or there being a 20 year mandatory sentence for firing a firearm during the commision of a felony. its because she was black.

He was not supposed to be there at the time, she was there to retrieve her personal belongings after their split. What she did was wrong, stupid, no question. But 20 years?!!!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

He was not supposed to be there at the time, she was there to retrieve her personal belongings after their split. What she did was wrong, stupid, no question. But 20 years?!!!

No she was not suppose to be there without a police standby that you only get when you make an appointment ahead of time and both parties are agreeable to the time and place. She has 20 years now to think about how to correct her evil ways.

[james&olya 1,121]

yah she is black! it had nothing to do w/ her having a restraining order against him, going to his house, going back outside to get the gun, coming back inside to scare him with the gun, or there being a 20 year mandatory sentence for firing a firearm during the commision of a felony. its because she was black.

By your logic, if the law is that simple regarding the firing of a firearm while committing a felony, by that alone, regardless of the fact that the firing of the gun was a homicide, Zimmerman could get 20 years! If the prosecution can convince a jury that Zimmerman verbally or physically threatened Martin (assault, a felony!) he too should get at least 20 years in a Florida prison!