Florida's Stand your Ground law

@hawkeye10,

hawkeye10 wrote:

Sotoday Holder

i thought his name was Eric, or were you thinking of Soledad O'Brien

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And here we go.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/report-prosecutor-to-charge-zimmerman-in-trayvon-martin

Quote:

Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to announce as early as this afternoon that she is charging neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, according to a law enforcement official close to the investigation.

It was not immediately clear what charge Zimmerman will face.

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@sozobe,

Very good news.

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agreed. About damned time.

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@Anomie,

It sounds like the UK legislators are as crazy as the US ones. I have heard of burglars sueing over injuries in the US.

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@RABEL222,

Yeah...burglars with lawyers.

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@sozobe,

Do you really believe that in a state where the legislators have passed a law allowing, any damn fool who wants too, to carry a gun Trayvon will get justice? I dont.

1 Reply

@RABEL222,

It's a report from the Telegraph. But even they write:

Quote:

Some have been warned by police that using wire mesh to reinforce shed windows was ''dangerous’’ and could lead to criminals claiming compensation if they ''hurt themselves’’

1 Reply

@RABEL222,

RABEL222 wrote:

Do you really believe that in a state where the legislators have passed a law allowing, any damn fool who wants too, to carry a gun Trayvon will get justice? I dont.

Justice belongs to all of us, not to the memory of Martin. What you refer to is revenge.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

It's a report from the Telegraph. But even they write:
Quote:
Some have been warned by police that using wire mesh to reinforce shed windows was ''dangerous’’ and could lead to criminals claiming compensation if they ''hurt themselves’’

What's your point, Walter?

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2nd degree murder. Sounds about right to me.

Cycloptichorn

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@Cycloptichorn,

That's about the highest that could have been filed, and surely the max a jury would convict on.

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@roger,

Minimum sentence is 25 years without possibility of parole.

CNN said only 6 jurors will serve on the jury at trial. I wonder why.

ETA: Found out why...

Quote:

In Florida criminal courts, only Defendant’s charged with first degree murder are entitled to twelve member juries.

1 Reply

@Irishk,

The news has confirmed that as of 90 mins ago (8:24 pm ET), he's in custody at FL's Seminole County courthouse. He apparently has new attorneys as his former attorneys quit the other day. He's behind bars charged with 2nd Degree Murder. The DA feels they now have enough evidence to convict Zimmerman.

Maximum sentence could be as much as Life Imprisonment. What lawyers have to prove is 2nd Degree murder, or lesser charges such as manslaughter ... or not guilty charge. There can be theose 3 options open to them.

Be aware that legal experts are saying that 2nd Degree is very tough to prove. The have to prove Zimmerman exhibited depraved indifference to life and/or (?) a motive such as hate ...etc.

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I just saw GW's new attorney interviewed. He strikes me as a pretty coolheaded professional, and he has a lot of class - His FIRST statement to the press was to offer Trayvon's family his deep condolences. Whether heartfelt or not, whether gamesmanship or not, that helped start to set a much needed tone of civility in this thing.

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@Ragman,

In FL at least you can always add lesser charges to a criminal charge at a later date. There's a lot of speculation that this is exactly what the prosecutor will do later on, for a variety of strategic reasons.

I believe that there may be a few witnesses - Martin's GF, who was on the phone with him at the time, and the witness who came forward to CNN with a pretty damning story against Zimmerman - who the prosecution feels can sew this case up for them pretty good, though. The motive such as hate will probably be established using his '******* coons' statement and his troubled history of calling and reporting 'suspicious black people' to 911 - including at one point a very dangerous looking 7 to 9 year old child.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

"In FL at least you can always add lesser charges to a criminal charge at a later date."

Yup! That was my ham-handed attempy at trying to explain the lesser charges.
it is reported on local news that this DA, Corey, has never buckled under pressure in any of her 'hundreds of capital cases'. She is fair and thorough!

Thanks for that info, Cyclo.

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@Ragman,

The right-wing blogs are already going for her throat.

The comment sections on some of those blogs are the most depressing place on the internet.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

And such is the nature of the right wing beast. How odd is that behavior of conservatives considering how they claim their interest is for law-and-order.

FWIW, reports are in that Zimmerman, formerly 250 lbs, has lost considerable weight due to the distress.

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@Ragman,

Glad that she is known to be fair.

Probably has some courage.

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Florida's Stand your Ground law

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