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Posted on 04/21/2012 3:29:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Not only will it be impossible to find a jury without preconceived opinions in the Trayvon Martin case—it will be impossible to find one that will convict, says Mansfield Frazier.
An editor I used to work for had a favorite saying: “Predicting the future is usually as easy as stating the obvious.” In the upcoming trial of George Zimmerman, the “obvious” is this: there’s little, if any, chance to avoid not only a mistrial, but a series of them if the state continues to reindict him, which it has the right to do and no doubt will, but with the same result over and over again.
At some point in the future, after endless retrials, it will seem as if this case—like the racial discord that will cause it to hang around our nation's collective neck like an albatross—has always been a part of American life, like Mount Rushmore, the Liberty Bell, or the Washington Monument.
The problem for the Florida legal system is that at this juncture, the case really isn’t about points of guilt or innocence that a jury can make reasoned decisions on. The case has become a referendum on the Stand Your Ground law and, more importantly, a referendum on the thorny issue of race in America. How to bridge the chasm that divides the races in America (which, amazingly, seems to both widen and narrow at the same instant in this country) is not only a question we don’t have the answer to, it’s a question we don’t even like to ask.
However, the case at hand is forcing our hand—it quite simply won’t allow us to duck the issue of race, at least for a while. Whether this is a good or bad thing is yet to be seen. Will this forced confrontation of racial attitudes help to solve our national problem, or will it only be made worse?
Voir dire is the process whereby attorneys from both sides get to ask potential jurors questions. Under Florida law six jurors (not 12) will hear the case against Zimmerman. In the state’s code of criminal procedure, the section that outlines the “grounds for challenge to individual jurors for cause” (Section 913.03) is the longest and most detailed by far, and for good reason. All criminal-defense lawyers (and prosecutors, as well) know cases can be won or lost during jury selection. In addition to striking a juror for “cause,” each side has six “preemptory” challenges, which means a potential juror can be dismissed without a reason being given. After Jim Crow laws were abolished, these preemptory challenges were the tool used to keep blacks off of juries.
But all-white juries are a thing of the not-too-distant past, and there’s no way to impanel a jury in the case at hand that doesn’t have at least one or two blacks on it. And with Florida’s liberal use of cameras in courtrooms (unless the judge rules them out in this case or instructs that the jury not be shown), everyone in the country is going to know who is sitting on the jury, and therein lies the rub.
The facts of this case, no matter if they are for or against Zimmerman, ultimately will have very little to do with the outcome. Jurors, when it comes to voting on guilt or innocence, are most likely going to break down along racial lines. Try as they might to be good citizens and follow the instructions of the judge to put their personal feelings aside and make a decision based only on the facts of the case, the odds are that they will deadlock. This is not to say they are weak people; rather, it indicates how strongly race factors into decisions in American life, and it’s hard to see how this case will be an exception. Jurors are not superhuman.
Because of this, no matter how many times the state puts Zimmerman on trial, the outcome will probably be the same: a hung jury. Few, if any, whites in the South are going to want to be forever known as a member of a jury that voted to convict Zimmerman, and conversely, no black is going to care to be known as the person who voted to acquit him. It’s a recipe for deadlock.
Talk is already circulating of a change of venue, but a change to where? The moon? There’s no place in the country where potential jurors haven’t heard about the case, and most folks (black and white, rightly or wrongly) have already formed opinions that by now are virtually intractable.
Besides, the cult of celebrity worship that’s developed in this country virtually assures that the good folks in the state of Florida, who are about to participate in what promises to be the most high-profile court case of the century so far—perhaps even eclipsing the Casey Anthony trial—are not about to let their shot at fame (and a potential book deal somewhere down the line) slip through their fingers. There will be no change of venue—bet on it.
This trial will afford us the opportunity, albeit by way of force, to deal with the skeleton of race that’s been hanging in the national closet for centuries. How well or badly we use it is really up to us.
Get ready for the Amish to throw a real snot-slinger.
Since he composed what amounted to an extortion note, I've made the decision not to listen to or believe anything else the man says. He has demonstrated that he has no morals and no brains.
"Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people."
Seemed like a veiled threat of violence against white jury members if they fail to convict George’s skin to the liking of the racist mob.
The judge should probably gag some of the racist violence inciters starting with the Martins and their attorney. The President and Holder are responsible for letting the racist idiots go this far.
Whoever in the Nation of Islam is responsible for putting a bounty on Zimmerman’s head and calling for racial violence against whites (which has been carried out by black racists dozens of times now in the name of Trayvon) before he was arrested should be dealt with in the justice system. They have violated the civil rights of a lot of people. Obama and Mooochelle are personally responsible for anyone harmed as a result of this communist political game aimed at disarming Americans.
I think this was only a bail hearing.
I've read that under Florida's stand your ground law, Zimmerman is entitled to another hearing before a judge (no jury yet), who will decide if the case should be dismissed on SYG grounds.
If Zimmerman loses in that hearing, he then gets another chance with a trial before a jury. That's my understanding anyway.
I imagine that you’re right. I don’t really know how court proceedings usually go. It seems strange that they would have a bail hearing first when there is the possibility the case could be dismissed. That’s sort of a waste of time and an imposition on the accused when a decision to dismiss would obviate the need for a bail hearing.
For some time I have been predicting a hung jury.
Because of this, no matter how many times the state puts Zimmerman on trial, the outcome will probably be the same: a hung jury. Few, if any, whites in the South are going to want to be forever known as a member of a jury that voted to convict Zimmerman, and conversely, no black is going to care to be known as the person who voted to acquit him. It’s a recipe for deadlock.
Talk is already circulating of a change of venue, but a change to where? The moon? There’s no place in the country where potential jurors haven’t heard about the case, and most folks (black and white, rightly or wrongly) have already formed opinions that by now are virtually intractable.
Get a load of this guy. It's interesting, in a forensically fascinating and simultaneously repugnant sort of way, to see that this 'Rat troll thinks is reason and thought.
It's more like a warm souffle' exploding against a kitchen wall.
Oh, hell, no, FRiend! And spoil the _Resident's political race-drama?
< / smoking sarc >
If they're white, the New Black Panthers will hang 'em. Unless they vote to throw Zimmermann to the wolves.
The Boers will promptly accuse us of genocide against them.
Better idea: Trade the ghetto welfarists for the Boers, twenty-for-one.
Then send the rest of them to Senegal and Sierra Leone and Liberia, to jerk those places up straight.
If he can't get a directed guilty verdict, Obama might go to a Plan "B", of "pardoning" GZ (i.e. offer him something less than complete acquittal) and pressure him to take it, thereby blackening himself. That would be my guess.
If that doesn't work, the _Resident will go to Plan "C", sounding grace notes all over the place and playing Mr. Oil-on-Water and seeking credit for having staged a Super Beer Summit. But that's only as a last, capitulatory resort, if GZ is fully acquitted or no-billed or his case is dismissed, and there is no chance of getting GZ to admit fault -- and the threat of riots becomes too real, and too much a palpable liability to _Resident, to try to slip past any longer.
Before there is any trial there will be a motion to dismiss based on the SYG law providing for IMMUNITY from prosecution for valid self-defense. The same law provides for immunity from civil liability as well.
The depths of idiocy in this article begs for a lawsuit for racial incitement to riot by a writer without a clue.
The arrest affidavit is clinging by a thread - wait til the motion to dismiss. We do have law here in FL that judges must follow.
If Mr. Z can establish he was reasonably in fear of grievous bodily injury or death the judge will dismiss all charges at the hearing.
Motions to dismiss on SYG have been successfully done on paper (exhibits, affidavits, depositions, etc.) or with paper and actual live testimony.
The judge is both the trier of fact and law. Unique for pre-trial motions. Usually if there is question of fact you have to go to trial to establish that.
If the motion to dismiss fails its a toss up as to whether you go to trial or appeal the failure to dismiss. As the Peterson case established on appeal the law provides for an actual IMMUNITY - not just an affirmative defense.
Please note that Zimmerman need only establish his self-defense actions by a preponderance of the evidence - more likely than not (50% + 1) that he feared for his life or serious bodily injury.
That this is unknown to many at this point is truly astounding. Gang bangers having it out with rival gangs have gotten off in late night shoot outs with each other on self-defense grounds.
The only consideration here is to what extent the MSM and race baiters can threaten the area/nation with chaos and rioting if charges are dismissed. That threat is really the only real question here. Trust me. ;-)
I don’t think “Stand your ground” applies. According to Zimmerman, Martin was on top bounding his head on the sidewalk. That’s straight “Self Defense” anywhere in the country.
“All white jury and he has a chance for a fair trial...”
Ditto with an all-Hispanic jury.
It’s a forgone conclusion, not guilty / hung jury with some of Holders people. Let the fireworks begin.
GZ is presumed innocent. He is entitled to a bond hearing. Are you suggesting he simply rot in jail while it all gets sorted out? Read also about habeas corpus.
No, I was suggesting the opposite. That the hearing that would lead to a dismissal should come before the bond hearing. That way he would spend less time in jail.
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