Posted on 04/12/2012 6:43:08 AM PDT by shortstop
George Zimmerman is guilty.
Of something.
But I’m not sure it’s second-degree murder.
Unless there is some bit of evidence we don’t know about, unless there is some smoking gun out there, there is nothing in the Florida statute on second-degree murder that sounds like what happened that night.
The special prosecutor got to strut for the cameras last night, but if she can’t deliver the goods, and there is an acquittal, there is going to be hell to pay – and riot police are probably going to get called out.
In a case that has turned out to be more about race politics than the events on the sidewalk of a Florida subdivision, you wonder what last night’s announcement was really about. Was it mollification? Was it the considered opinion of a veteran prosecutor? Was it the first step in a political lynching?
Time will tell.
But here’s what the law book says.
In Florida, there are two ways a person can be guilty of second-degree murder.
In the first, someone has to be killed by someone showing “a depraved mind.” There must also be the perpetration of an act “imminently dangerous to another.” If those two factors exist, without premeditation, in Florida, that’s second-degree murder.
In the second, someone has to be killed by someone who is committing another felony crime. That list of specified felony crimes runs from arson and kidnapping to aircraft piracy and aggravated stalking. But none of the specified crimes – including terrorism – is anything like what George Zimmerman did that night. Specifically, he has not been accused of any other felony crime, so he could not be charged under this part of Florida’s second-degree murder law.
Which gets back to the first part.
Did George Zimmerman commit an act “imminently dangerous to another” and did he do so with “a depraved mind.”
It is clear that shooting a gun at someone is an act that is “imminently dangerous.” But did George Zimmerman fire the gun with “a depraved mind?”
That’s harder to say, and maybe impossible to prove.
Was it “depraved” for a Neighborhood Watch guy to follow a young man down the street? Unwise and ultimately tragic, yes, but depraved?
Not in most dictionaries.
And then there is the aspect of self-defense. If George Zimmerman makes the argument that he was repelling an attack he thought endangered his life or limb, the whole situation changes. The prosecution would have to not only show that George Zimmerman was not in danger, and that no reasonable person would consider themselves endangered in that situation, but that he had a depraved mind.
Unless there’s evidence that we don’t know about, that goes to Zimmerman’s state of mind, that’s a very high standard for the prosecution to meet.
That phrase “beyond a reasonable doubt” is a purposefully difficult level of evidence.
In this case, we only have one version of events – George Zimmerman’s. We can’t presume he is being truthful, but the prosecution will have to affirmatively prove that he is being untruthful. And that will be hard, largely because Trayvon Martin is not here to tell his side of the story.
According to press accounts, a witness verifies Zimmerman’s claim that Trayvon was on top of him hitting him. The enhanced video from the police station shows an injury on the back of his head.
Those things, though not conclusive, are supportive of George Zimmerman’s version of events.
And in the absence of another theory, and evidence to support that theory, you’re not getting to “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
There are practical aspects of trying this charge that will be difficult and disruptive.
How, for example, do you seat a jury?
And what will the racial makeup of that jury be and will that ratio be satisfactory to the people and activists who have been shouting for justice? In the blood lust that is masquerading as justice, how does a trial on this charge lead to anything but chaos?
If George Zimmerman is acquitted, as there seems to be a fair chance he will be, is there a possibility of racial upset or riot? It’s happened before, more than once.
Have we just found this generation’s OJ trial? Have we just found this generation’s Rodney King?
I will trust that this prosecution is not political. But I will have my doubts.
Don’t get me wrong.
It’s George Zimmerman’s fault that Trayvon Martin is dead. If Zimmerman had stayed home or in his vehicle, none of this would have happened.
There is clearly reckless endangerment here, and maybe there is some species of criminally negligent homicide or maybe even a manslaughter. But murder, that’s unlikely, and even less likely of being proven.
So we got headlines last night.
And a show trial sometime down the road.
But after that we may have uncorked hell.
If you are getting your head beaten on concrete, might that give you a “depraved mind”?
Jared Lee Loughner wore a smirk too. It goes with mental illness.
That's standard for prosecutors, especially when they have a middle-class defendant who's family would be financially ruined by legal fees if the case went to trial, and whose life would be effectively over if convicted. They go for murder-2 and say they will allow a plea of manslaughter with under a year in jail.
Lonsberry makes some truly idiotic statements in this article. I take it Zimmerman doesn’t have the right to defend himself with a firearm.
Political Charge? This May Be Prosecutor’s Biggest Mistake
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=204615
This prosecutor is a hack.IMHO she gave in to public and political pressure and overcharged him with second degree murder and avoided putting it in front of a grand jury for fear of a no bill. At most he should have been charged with manslaughter which more does not involve intent and covers use of excessive force in instances of perceived self defense. Even Trayvon Martin’s mother said today she thinks it was an accident after the situation got out of control. Apparently she has more sense than this cowardly prosecutor.
They have no intention of getting a guilty verdict.
She's doing a repeat of the R king trial where charges were filed against the cops that the evidence didn't support.
There was never any intention of finding the cops guilty, and the left used it as a excuse for race riots.
Doing the same thing here.
I just wonder if any of the know-it-all on the radio will be smart enough to figure it out or will they be idiots and get sucked into the lefts trap.
You can't go to the OED, or Webster's, or Mirriam-Webster and expect to find a definition that is the legal definition. If you're going to rely on a dictionary, then you need to go to Black's Law Dictionary and look up a 'depraved mind' or 'depraved indifference.'
Essentially, what that means is that Corey is going to claim that Zimmerman had enmity or malice toward a person or group such that he was indifferent to the face he was endangering the life of the individual or the member of a group.
Although she could claim it was Martin, individually, or blacks, I think it's more likely she'll claim he had enmity toward 'punks' and people who were suspiciously going around his neighborhood. She'll point to his 911 calls, he claims about how these punks always get away, how he was concerned that Martin was running, how he set himself up in neighborhood watch, etc.
To most of us, these sound like reasonable sentiments by Martin - although he may have carried his neighborhood watch interests to a point of obsession. To Corey, she'll present everything he can to show he was obsessed and this created an enmity to suspicious looking people strolling around his neighborhood, to the point that he carried a gun and followed them around endangering their safety even if they were doing nothing wrong. That's what was 'depraved' in her view, IMO. It's not using the word in the sense you or I would use it in common conversation.
It wasn't pre-meditated, but it was something along the lines of instant combat.
What it will boil down to is whether Zimmerman was perceived by Martin as an aggressor and attacked, or Martin decided to attack unprovoked. I think more of the first rather than the second.
I still believe it will reduced Man 1, time served, probation.
Change of venue won't work, because of all the media.
This is false, flat on it's face. This pre-supposed that George Zimmerman went out of his house with the intent to kill someone. This is demonstratably false, as he has no previous convictions, and was a respected member of his community, and was Captain of his Neighborhood Watch group.
I submit that the fault for Trayvon's death lies 100% on Trayvon. If Trayvon had taken the option to behave as a civilized person is expected to behave, instead of a 'Thug', Trayvon would be alive and well today, albeit perhaps behind bars for some other crime (given his propensity to walk abound with a bag of women's jewelry and a "Burglary tool" (screwdriver).
In law, acting with a "depraved mind" means committing great harm as a result of ignoring the rules normal people live by. If the jury decides that Zimmerman shot and killed Martin without legitimate justification, that would be a textbook case of "depraved mind".
It boils down to whether or not the jury believes Zimmerman's self-defense claim (as we already knew).
A neighborhood watchman following a person is not stalking. That person following the watchman with plans to take him down is stalking.
No matter what is said or done here, the Revs and the black panthers have done their groundwork. The fire is set with kindling on top. One spark is all it takes.
Meanwhile, all sorts of atrocities have happened black on white and not a murmur from the media or (no)justice dept.
vaudine
They must produce WITNESSES...WITNESSES and more credible WITNESSES. That is going to be very very hard to do.
It’s the Chicago Way, to try and bring enough chaos to Florida that the vote is suppressed among non-democrat voters thus swinging the state to little barry bastard. This ‘prosecutor’ is working for her master, little barry dunham, aka Barry Soetoro, aka Barry Obama, aka Batack Hussein Obama, aka son of perdition.
THIS IDIOT PROSECUTOR SHOULD BE DISBARRED
ZIMMERMAN’S LAWYER SHOULD DEMAND A GRAND JURY
THERE IS NOTHING TO SUPPORT MURDER 2
AND IF HE IS TRIED AND FOUND NOT GUILTY THERE WILL BE L.A. SIZED RIOTS
I think it is because the prosecutor is simply FEARFUL for her life.
The jurors can claim to be unbiassed when selected, but once they get to the deliberations stage, what's to stop them from ignoring the evidence presented in the trial and going by what they initially heard on TV?
It could be like the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird.
When will be suppressed very quickly, police in FL not like L.A.
No... it is Trayvon's fault Trayvon is dead. If he was home where he should have been, instead of out in the dark in the rain walking between houses casing the joint, and if he had not attacked the wrong (armed) man... he would be alive
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