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NyPo sees it differently:
He “profiled,” “falsely assumed,” “disregarded,” “followed” and “confronted” — then he killed.
Florida prosecutors, in damning new court documents released yesterday, charge that George Zimmerman was an obsessive aggressor who targeted innocent, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin as a “criminal’’ from the start — and then relentlessly hunted him down, sparking the struggle that wound up with the teen being fatally shot.
Scoffing at Zimmerman’s tale of killing Martin in self-defense, the prosecutors said it’s now clear that the burly cop wannabe didn’t back off when a 911 operator told him to stop following Martin and instead continued to trail and harass him.
“These a--holes, they always get away. These f--king punks,” Zimmerman muttered in the 911 call, according to the probable-cause affidavit written by investigators.
During the ensuing fight, Martin was heard in the background of witnesses’ subsequent 911 calls “crying for help,’’ the document says, adding that the teen’s mother identified his voice.
I'm not a big Dershowitz devotee', but I think he's correct here. If getting a conviction, so GZ does some actual time, is the goal they should have gone for 3rd degree or manslaughter.
ReplyDeleteHe has *years* of interation with local police as a neighborhood watch, and you can be sure the defense will line those officers up to review GZ's history.
And once he's got that 'not guilty' verdict, like OJ Simpson, he'll be a free man (unless he screws up again).
I have a conspiracy theory.
ReplyDeleteI think the prosecutors are charging him with 2nd degree murder knowing that he won't get convicted. If they charged him with manslaughter he would probably go to jail.
Why would the prosecutors do this? To placate the rabble rousers who wanted Zimmerman arrested, and to prevent him from going to jail.
My guess is that there will be immense pressure from the prosecution, as well as his lawyer, for Zimmerman to take a plea. This was a huge overcharging, as AD pointed out. The reason for that is that GZ will be told he faces up to 30 years (or whatever 2nd degree murder can get), or he can plea to involuntary manslaughter, and be out in, say, 4. The pressure will be immense. What would you do, what with the lynch mob mentality out there?
ReplyDeleteIf he stands his ground, he walks (if the "evidence" we've seen and heard about is true). Remember, if the defense can present a plausible reasonable alternate scenaria to the prosecution, such as self-defense, then "reasonable doubt" exists. The prosecution knows this, and will make it very enticing to take the deal.
Our justice system at work...
"there will be immense pressure...to take a plea."
DeleteYou're exactly right, and it's interesting that the prosecution might employ such a tactic, considering there is are absolutely *no* hispanic people in central Florida from which to draw a jury of his peers. /sarc
And a plea bargin will be a very unsatisfying outcome for all parties involved. Both want to see a jury foreman stand up & read the verdict they want to hear.
Personally, I think he'd be a fool to plea-out. And that 'special prosecutor' (*sheesh*) needs to be fired.
Anonymous @ 06:59 AM wrote, "or he can plea to involuntary manslaughter, and be out in, say, 4. The pressure will be immense. What would you do, what with the lynch mob mentality out there?"
DeleteAh, perhaps you forgot about the lynch mob mentality Inside the industrial prison complex?
If he gets 4, he gets a death sentence for sure via his fellow inmates.
- clark
Persecution wants to lose. Losing will spark race riots, exactly what the liberals want.
DeleteDon't forget people. We have ambitious prosecutors, a national story and a political establishment looking to create a polarized situation along ethnic lines.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened after Rodney King acquittal? Race war.
Stay tuned for more stories like this before November.