walking while black - Trayvon Martin

[Disciple]

I think Desciple is black.

What if I was?

BTW: WRONG!!!

You are, I can tell.

I shall be a little less polite than LC.

You obviously have your head up your ass.

I can tell.

Disciple, so far, to my knowlegde, you and Adub are the only ones at Mock who are 100% sure that Zimmerman is guilty of murder.

From what you've read, what leads you to believe this? Can you give point by point specifics?

I consider myself pretty open-minded and there's NO WAY I can come to that conclusion at this point of the investigation.

Please enlighten the rest of us.

Midwest, a fair question.

I'm assuming that by now everyone is familiar with the basic facts as reported by various sources on the internet.

So I will not do a complete marshalling of the facts.

In Florida, the Murder 2 statute under which Zimmerman is charged is as follows:

(All citations taken from the website of Attorney Richard Hornsby)

Murder with a Depraved Mind

Murder with a Depraved Mind occurs when a person is killed, without any premeditated design, by an act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind showing no regard for human life.

I won't recite the facts here, but let's just say we consider the totality of the circumstances:
- unarmed kid, minding his own business, walking where he had every right to be.
- insert prosecution portrayal of Zimmerman: cop wanna be, acting contrary to the training provided by neighborhood Watch, history of racism, violence (including assault against police charges and domestic violence), including excessive zeal while on Neighborhood Watch in the past, the warning from the police not to follow the boy,
etc.

Let's assume that the lead investigator testifies about why he was unconvinced by Zimmerman's story.

Expect Martin's girlfriend to testify about what she heard over the phone when Zimmerman initially confronted Martin.

I recommend looking at "Shooting of Trayvon Martin" on Wikipedia - very informative.

Note also that the prosecutor has a history of trying and winning "Stand Your Ground" cases.

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the prosecution presents a prima facie (legally sufficient for a conviction if the jury believes all of the prosecution's case) and it survives a defense motion to dismiss.

The defense, as a practical matter, HAS to put Zimmerman on the stand.

He would have the burden of proving that the homicide is:

excusable:

Excusable Homicide

The killing of a human being is excusable, and therefore lawful, under any one of the following three circumstances:
•When the killing is committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act by lawful means with usual ordinary caution and without any unlawful intent, or
•When the killing occurs by accident and misfortune in the heat of passion, upon any sudden and sufficient provocation, or
•When the killing is committed by accident and misfortune resulting from a sudden combat, if a dangerous weapon is not used and the killing is not done in a cruel or unusual manner

justifiable:

Justifiable Homicide

The killing of a human being is justifiable homicide and lawful if done while resisting an attempt by someone to kill you or to commit a felony against you

or self defense:

Self Defense in Florida

In Florida, Self Defense is referred to as the justifiable use of force. In simple terms, the defense allows a person to use force, sometimes deadly force, to protect one's self, one's property, or another person, so long as the force used is proportionate to the threat faced.

Florida's Stand Your Ground Law

Traditionally, if a person was anywhere but their home, the Self Defense law required a person to attempt to first retreat before engaging an aggressor. And to further complicate matters, the defense could only be raised at trial. But in October of 2005, Florida passed the Stand Your Ground Law, which dramatically changed the legal landscape of self defense law.

Under the Stand Your Ground Law, a person who is attacked has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand their ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if it is reasonably believed necessary to to prevent death or great bodily harm or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

Also, the Stand Your Ground Law now allows a person to raise the issue of Self Defense both at a Pretrial Hearing and at trial. As a result, if a judge finds that your actions were justified, the Judge is required to dismiss the charges and no trial is required. If the judge does not find your actions were justified, the defense can still be presented to a jury and they can make their own independent determination of whether your actions were justified.

Justifiable Use of Deadly Force

A person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:
•It is reasonably believed that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony (i.e. Robbery).
•It is being used against a person who is unlawfully and forcefully breaking in, or has unlawfully and forcibly broken into a dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle.

Exception to the Use of Deadly Force

Deadly Force cannot be used against:
•A lawful resident of the dwelling, residence, or vehicle, such as an owner, lessee, or titleholder (Unless there is a restraining order in place).
•A parent who is retrieving a child or grandchild for whom they have lawful custody (Meaning you can't shoot an ex-spouse who is picking up children for the weekend and then claim they broke in.)
•The person who uses defensive force is engaged in unlawful activity or using the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle to further an unlawful activity.
•A known law enforcement officer who is engaged in a legal duty

What is not clear on Hornsby's site is whether these are defenses (which the prosecution has the burden of disproving) or affirmative defenses (where Zimmerman would have the burden of proof).

Either way, suffice it to say that I expect Zimmerman will self destruct under a competent (which I think we can assume, given the history of the prosecutor) cross examination.

Some examples:

Zimmerman claimed that while he was in his SUV talking to the police, Martin circled his vehicle, frightening Zimmerman. Problem is, he didn't mention this to the dispatcher with whom he was speking at the time.

Good luck trying to explain the racial slurs on his MY Space page.

His racial profiling on the 911 tape.

I wish that I had the time to go into more detail, but I have an early morning. You get the general idea.