Posted on 07/11/2013 3:02:57 PM PDT by Biggirl
SANFORD, Fla. (AP) - In an unmistakable setback for George Zimmerman, the jury at the neighborhood watch captain's second-degree murder trial was given the option Thursday of convicting him on the lesser charge of manslaughter in the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Manslaughter is always an included lesser charge in Florida.
Yep and those who commit intentional manslaughter always call 911 first and wind up bloodied from a beating.
My dog is offended, sir.
Bingo. I don’t bother explaining this much, but if the jury finds that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Z’s actions were NOT self-defense, Z walks on all charges. Period.
Yes but that’s besides the point too!
The POINT is SELF-DEFENSE. If the jury agrees with self-defense for one degree, then they MUST say self-defense for all of it.
It’s a psychological bait and switch. It’s like a car dealer talking up a $70,000 car then showing you one almost as nice for ONLY $40,000. Suddenly $40,000 doesn’t sound so expensive.
YES!!! Thank you! This is not a standard trial where the defendant has pled not-guilty. GZ does not dispute he shot Martin. He says he DID shoot him, in SELF-DEFENSE. So the whole degree is besides the point.
Manslaughter is always an included lesser charge in Florida.
Once again the media goes for the sensational...
” a major setback for Z “
How about the truth once in awhile
Yep and those who commit intentional manslaughter always call 911 first and wind up bloodied from a beating.
Or let the cops know they will meet them
That is correct. But the reason was that 3rd degree was entered with "child abuse" and both got slapped down. But the judge allowed manslaughter to be given to the jury as an option. That moots the intent part of the testimony yet that was mostly what the prosecution talked about.
You haven’t offended me for- further I’d say you’re too kind.
Freepers also self moderate and try not to involve the mods. If you want to call on them feel free.
I know what to call the riots following acquittal:
Civil War Z
amen, post trolls need to find something to do. some of us cant be on FR all day and might miss the first post. no crap about bandwidth either....
If the jury finds self-defense for the 2nd degree murder charge, that same self-defense applies to the manslaughter charge.
Example of King Obama interpretation of justice. Nothing but nothing will upset justice to my kind of black that he considers like a son.
I wonder if the jury will be instructed that the sentence for manslaughter of a child, with a gun, is up to 30 years? If not - they may think that the manslaughter is an easier sentence, and think they are dropping him into prison for 2-4 years because “Well - we had to charge him with SOMETHING!”
True. What the prosecution and judge are hoping for at this point is that the jury will still find Zimmerman criminally culpable in Martin’s death, just not under depraved and indifferent circumstances. They know they haven’t made a murder 2 case, but maybe there are one or two jurors who’ll hold out on murder 2 to get a compromis conviction on manslaughter.
Giving the lesser charge as an option makes it sound like the state is compromising - find him guilty of this lesser charge, because you know he did kill someone.
But the greater problem is that the state isn’t recognizing the right to kill in self-defense.
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