Posted on 04/12/2012 12:11:40 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer arrested yesterday in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, faced a judge for the first time this afternoon.
Meanwhile, a probable cause affidavit has been filed in the second-degree murder case. In the two-page document, prosecutors offer little new information about the shooting.
However, they said in the affidavit that "Zimmerman confronted Martin," an apparent contradiction of Zimmerman's version of the events that led to the shooting.
The document says Trayvon's mother identified the screams for help heard in a 911 call as those of her son. It also reveals that investigators interviewed a "friend" of Trayvon's who was talking to him in the leadup to the shooting.
Based on the description, it appears the friend was the girl described by Martin family attorneys as his girlfriend.
"During this time, Martin was on the phone with a friend and described to her what was happening," the affidavit said. "The witness advised that Martin was scared because he was being followed through the complex by an unknown male and didn't know why."
Martin tried to run home, the affidavit says, but was followed by Zimmerman. "Zimmerman got out of his vehicle and followed Martin."
The affidavit goes on to say that "Zimmerman disregarded the police dispatcher" who told him to stop, and "continued to follow Martin who was trying to return to his home."
Zimmerman, the affidavit says, "confronted Martin and a struggle ensued."
According to the affidavit: "Trayvon Martin's mother has reviewed the 911 calls and identified the voice crying for help as Trayvon Martin's. Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest."
Zimmerman's first appearance began just after 1:30 p.m. He faces a second-degree murder charge in the Feb. 26 shooting, which sparked international outcry.
(Excerpt) Read more at ctnow.com ...
Something significant that hasn't been brought up regarding two particular details. The Zimmermans claim of a struggle over control of the gun and evidence that the firearm didn't cycle properly.
If Martin had his hand(s) on the gun, there should be powder burns, cuts, bruising or residue on them.
You are so right in your post 98...I have been called so much worse than a DU plant. Gird your loins for battle if you are going to continue to go by the facts and common sense. Good luck to you. Nice to see someone like you on the board. We have no idea what the prosecutor has..but we do know she has enough to charge him with 2nd degree murder which surprised me. I was thinking aggravated manslaughter. Sorry to do this in mail. I still feel like I have been rode hard and put up wet after yesterday’s insults.
You do not become an "aggressor" simply for following a suspicious person to try to ascertain his location for the police -- which is exactly what Zimmerman was doing. This is abundantly clear from his recorded 911 call.
If he stopped Martin and said anything, he cannot reasonably claim self-defense for initiating the contact, and then begin losing the scuffle, and shooting Martin.
You appear to be purporting that "saying anything" to a suspicious person will negate any possible self-defense claim later on.
Do you realize how absurd that sounds? That if I say "what are you doing here" to a suspicious person, that person is now free to attack me, and I can no longer have any claim to self-defense, if I hurt my attacker while defending myself ????
(And as a sidenote, you appear to be assuming that Zim made the first verbal contact. No one, on either side, has yet suggested this scenario as far as I know.)
So much so that I stated to read it again.
Oh, boy....not good reading, is it?
Wow
Bad decision.
How long will it take Zimmerman's new lawyer to understand that his client's best friends are Conservative bloggers?
The ConBlogs have vigorously examined 100% of the public evidence against Zimmerman, and successfully challenged much of it.
Each day that record is sealed is just one more day for the Hard Left MSM to leak damaging new stories or re-spin old damaging stories.
What evidence would family members be providing, since they weren't at the scene?
lol...I do not know why your reaction was funny...but it was..thanks petitfour. Guess I grew weary of it.
Maybe.
But I bet the ones that want their faces covered are witnesses that support Zimmerman. Given real threats to Zimmerman's life and the lives of his family members, it is understandable why the witnesses want their faces covered. I'll bet you would want your face covered, too.
Any “witness” for the thug would not hide their face as they would be hero's to the race-baiters and criminals out to get Zimmerman.
And the “witness” (girlfriend) is no witness at all. At best, she was on the phone with the thug and she could (at best) only testify what the thug told her. . .not what was actually happening. She did not witness anything.
So why would the guy on top who broke the other guy’s nose, is sitting on top of him and slamming the head of the guy on the bottom against the pavement, and putting his hand over the mouth of the guy on the bottom screaming for help? Doesn’t make sense that the person holding the physcial advantage would scream for help for 40 seconds.
“This thing already reeks of prosecutorial misconduct.”
Just as “It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings”, it is also true that “It ain’t prosecutorial misconduct when the fat prosecutrix does it”.
Back that up with some actual Florida law or bit of jurisprudence, please.
Here you go, start digging.
Someone has to confront the criminals; the police sure don’t seem to want to do it.
This is a lie. First of all the sentence was a suggestion. Second of all Sanford authorities have stated in writing that that sentence was not a "lawful order". And lastly 911 operators have no police powers and can not issue lawful orders.
Isn’t it hearsay, and therefore inadmissible?
They should be able to verify the time and length of the girlfriend's call thru cellphone records and see how it coincides with the 911 calls. What I would be interested to learn is when were the contents of the girlfriend's call divulged to the police. If it was after the police released the 911 calls and the preliminary police report to the public, I would be very skeptical of her statements, which could have been taliored to the information already released.
It took a day or two before the Martin family even learned of the whereabouts of the son. Under the circumstances, I wonder why the girlfriend didn't alert the police to her concerns soon after she couldn't reach him again. The phone records should be ample evidence in that regard.
Really? I would think that Zimmerman would have to have been in a position to impede Martin's safe progress toward his intended destination before you could term his actions "aggressive." We don't know that he did.
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