Posted on 04/02/2012 3:04:40 PM PDT by Cboldt
An "outraged" Florida prosecutor fired back on Monday at the family of Trayvon Martin, describing as "outright lies" their account that he and a local police chief met and decided not to follow a detective's advice and arrest the teenager's killer. ...
In the letter delivered Monday, the Martin family said that a Sanford police detective "filed an affidavit stating that he did not find Zimmerman's statements credible in light of the circumstances and facts surrounding the shooting."
The family said Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee and State Attorney Norm Wolfinger met the night of the shooting and disregarded the detective's advice, letting Zimmerman go.
Neither Sanford police nor prosecutors have confirmed the existence of such an affidavit, which ABC News first reported. Sanford officials and special prosecutor Angela Corey's office declined comment.
But Wolfinger, who stepped aside in the case last month, vehemently denies that any "such meeting or communication occurred" between him and Lee.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
See above it’s from
http://sanfordfl.gov/investigation/trayvon_martin.html
Read more tab of Faq letter
The State Attorney's Office confirmed to NBC 6 late Tuesday that Sanford Police spoke with the on-call prosecutor the night of the Martin shooting.There's more detail in the story. Wolfinger is not mentioned.
My impression is that there is a more local authority, and that if Wolfinger was involved on the 26th/27th, that involvement would be unusual.
Wolfinger is not the only person in the state with the authority to arrest.
The decision to press charges is separate from a decision to arrest, and need not be made in the several hours after the shooting. Grand jury and all that.
Whether and when it's reported in the media is of interest in this case. Not for deciding whether or not Zimmerman is arrested and charged; but to probe for media shenanigans.
There's a lot of BS out there, like 3 days in the morgue, unclaimed. Lee met with Wolfinger on 26/27 Feb may be another utter falsehood.
I have no problem with the question of timing of release of 911 recordings. That’s not at all the issue here.
At the time, it was determined that if revealed, the information may compromise the integrity of the investigation prior to its completion. has come true.
“Your remarks didn’t address the evidence, just the politics, and the process, in general terms.”
Yes, that is true. But you don’t really need much evidence to get an indictment. If the prosecutor says she wants the grand jury to indict, the mere fact that it was Zimmerman’s gun that fired the shot will be more than enough, I think.
More likely, the prosecutor would conclude that she doesn’t want to prosecute this case because she doesn’t think she can win. But since the family and the black community are pushing for it, they are going to let the courts and a jury decide this. The “we can’t win” thought is something you have when you don’t want to waste public resources bringing a case that you’ll ultimately lose anyway. But the public resources are going to be a secondary concern here. They are more concerned about preventing a riot, and preserving their own credibility with the black community. They are advocates, which means that they don’t have to pretend to be unbiased. It’s the jury that needs to be unbiased, and it’s the jury that needs to make the decision.
The issue is whether they consulted with the State AG office. They did. But it was simply over whether to release 911 calls. No big deal.
I thought there was a statement on the city of Sanford cite that disputed the Serino statement, saying, in effect, that that was erroneous.
Anyone else remember that?
Link at 77
The young man who committed the assault is named Justin Collison, and stories say his father was a police lieutenant. But since it was a video of teh assault that led to Collison's eventual arrest, I'm not sure who would blame Zimmerman for that. I've searched old news stories, and he was certainly not a prominent enough voice at the time to be reported in the newspaper.
“Wolfinger is not the only person in the state with the authority to arrest. The decision to press charges is separate from a decision to arrest, and need not be made in the several hours after the shooting.”
Yes, that’s true, but they had already arrested him. The question was whether to release him, and the obvious question was whether Wolfinger was going to file charges immediately, because if he was, then they certainly would not release him. I don’t see how they could have released him without discussing the matter with Wolfinger. In theory, I suppose they could have done it, but it seems very unlikely.
IMO the Martin team is reading in material that is just not there. Someone says they consulted with the state AG, a few sentences later they say “they” decided not to press charges and they family reads into it that the ‘they’ includes the state AG. There is even a name for it which I can’t recall just now.
Really don’t think there is more to the AG office consultation. Mole hill made into a mountain....Drama drama drama.
People who live their lives in denial are known to do that kind of thing. This family lived in denial big time....The young innocent pictures of their son was how they knew him. Head was in sand regarding his acting out/call for help.
Looks like they recovered from their sorrow and outrage in time to patent the Trayvon name so that they could profit from t-shirt sales and merchandise.
Stay classy, folks.
IMO the Martin team is reading in material that is just not there. Someone says they consulted with the state AG, a few sentences later they say “they” decided not to press charges and the family reads into it that the ‘they’ includes the state AG. There is even a name for it which I can’t recall just now.
Really don’t think there is more to the AG office consultation. Mole hill made into a mountain....Drama drama drama.
People who live their lives in denial are known to do that kind of thing. This family lived in denial big time....The young innocent pictures of their son was how they knew him. Head was in sand regarding his acting out/call for help.
Technically, they had Zimmerman in custody, but I think it was voluntary on his part, so he was not technically under arrest. Doesn't change the results any, just changes the terminology from "the question was whether to release him" to "the question was whether to detain (arrest) him."
I believe the police have the authority to arrest - I'm near certain of it. But in order to do so, they must have probable cause. Arrest without probable cause opens them up to suit.
I am also of the impression that, arrest and detain, or not, it would be routine to forward the report to Wolfinger's office for a decision on whether or not to press charges. IOW, that communication takes place no matter what.
Asked to confirm that the police recommended a manslaughter charge, special prosecutor Angela Corey said: "I don't know about that, but as far as the process I can tell you that the police went to the state attorney with a capias request, meaning: "We're through with our investigation and here it is for you." The state attorney impaneled a grand jury, but before anything else could be done, the governor stepped in and asked us to pick it up in mid-stream."A capias is a request for charges to be filed.
The Seminole County State Attorney's Office declined to comment on whether its prosecutors ever recommended against filing charges.
So, from that, I gather that the routine request for charges, plus arranging time before a grand jury, that was done - even though Zimmerman had not been placed under arrest and held in custody pending the outcome of the grand jury's action.
Right out of the Sharpton/Brawley handbook: Make the "conspiracy" ever larger. Eventually involve the mayor, the Highway Patrol and a State Senator. At least.
Did you also notice on that Herald story police said a doctor’s report confirmed Zimmerman’s injuries? I assumed there would be such a report, but hadn’t seen that reported elsewhere...
At this point I think only a federal Violation of Civil Rights
could get a conviction, you know, like with the Rodney King thing. The DoJ is there to rectify the political mistakes of state and local juries.
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