It's Watch!... Neighborhood Watch. Not shoot.

Zimmerman was told by the police to meet the police at the mailboxes and to stop following Martin.

Unless Martin approached Zimmerman at the mailboxes or outside his apartment, I don't think it is that tough for the State to show that Zimmerman's contact with Martin was from his not following the clear instructions of the police.

Was Zimmerman inside his SUV when he called the police?

 

Did you hear the testimony of the state investigator at bail hearing?

 

A police dispatcher telling Zimmerman "you don't need to do that" is not the same as an officer of the law giving him some kind of order.

It was a recommendation. Zimmerman was under no obligation to take their "advice". He did not break any law by following Martin.

And, even though the Neighborhood Watch guidelines say you should be unarmed, and should call the Police rather than pursue someone, that still doesn't mean he broke any law by being armed and/or pursuing Martin.

It's unquestionable that Zimmerman following Martin is step one in a series of events that led to Martin's death.

We don't know what happened between step one and the trigger being pulled.

And, even if Zimmerman did act unlawfully, we don't know if the State will be able to prove it in a Court of Law.

 

If I weas a juror, that sounds like a lot of tap dancing.

Even if Martin threw the first punch, that was the only thing he did wrong if he did and he did not feel cornered by Zimmerman.

The list of things Zimmerman did out of line, and if he gets one of them right Martin is still alive, is pretty long.

 

"Wrong" and "criminal" have very different definitions.

The State needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman acted criminally when he killed Martin.

And, since Zimmerman is claiming self defense, they're going to need to overcome his side of the story as well.

With no motive, and (apparently) no witness, that's not going to be easy.

It's not going to be enough to show that Zimmerman acted "wrongly" or "stupidly" or even "over-zealously". His defense can concede all of those things.

 

Depends.

If Florida includes 'negligent homicide' and/or 'manslaughter' as possible outcomes for any murder charge, he can still be found guilty.

 

OK, that's fair. But, they would still need to prove that he acted in a way that was criminal. His "stupidity" would have to be such that he acted negligently in a way that resulted in a death.

And, I'm no lawyer, but...

I'm not sure that's how this case is going to play out. Doesn't a conviction like that usually happen in a case where it was basically an accident, but that was so negligent, that it could easily have been avoided? Say, if you leave a gun out.

Zimmerman admits to killing Martin. It was no accident. The question is whether or not he was justified.

 

Honestly, this will end in a hung jury. I cannot see them finding enough people to agree upon anything when it comes to this case.

But, if Zimmerman does not spend time in prison, his life is still changed forever, and not for the better. I cannot imagine being hated as much as he is by so many people. I will be amazed if he lives to 50.

 

Well, this is where shoot-first-ask-questions-later becomes problematic for the prosecution. QTLaw, I'll ask you: if the presumption of the Florida law (at least as it's been interpreted) is that the prosecution has to prove it wasn't self-defense, and there are no witnesses (because the other person is dead), doesn't that make a murder case almost impossible to win? As the Tampa Bay Times stories have pointed out, gang members have been cleared of charges because they successfully claimed self-defense, which I'm not sure is what Florida legislators intended. I would think that in Florida, the murder rate is going to go down because there are suddenly all sorts of cases that are now justified self-defense.

Which gets me back to what I've said before: I get the feeling that, under Florida law, Zimmerman acted in "self-defense" when he stalked Martin, and if Martin did beat the shit out of Zimmerman, Martin was acting in self-defense by attacking a guy who was stalking him. Which then meant that Zimmerman was acting in self-defense when he shot Martin. So lots done wrong, but nothing illegal.

 

From bail hearing, a summary of Zimmerman's attorney questioning state investigator:

The defense attorney spent some of the time focusing on a single sentence from the affidavit, which said: “Zimmerman confronted Martin and a struggle ensued.”

The attorney wanted to know what evidence Gilbreath had to prove that Zimmerman was the one who initiated the confrontation. The investigator revealed he didn’t have any evidence that hadn’t already been made public. He said relied on two things.

The first was the 911 call that Zimmerman made before he killed Martin. In it, Zimmerman can be heard saying that he saw a “suspicious” person walking through the neighborhood. He said in the phone call that he was following the person, but he hung up before any confrontation took place. From the call, it wasn’t clear whether Zimmerman continued following Martin or had stopped.

The second was an interview investigators conducted with one of Martin’s friends five weeks after the shooting. The teenage girl revealed that she was on the phone with Martin when he was walking through the neighborhood that night and that she heard him being confronted by somebody. The call, however, went dead after she heard what she said she believed was the start of a scuffle.

O’Mara attacked the investigator, saying there was nothing about either of those things that proved Zimmerman was the one who initiated the struggle.

“You have nothing to support the confrontation suggestion?” he said.

Gilbreath struggled at first and finally replied.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I think I’ve answered the question.”

If this is how the trial goes Zimmerman will be a free man. His attorney has already showed the weak evidence of the state.

It was a smart move to get the state investigator to commit his story at bail hearing. It will be impossible to amend now.

 

I could less about what happens to the guy, but when that verdict is read and he gets let free it's going to make the Casey Anthony outrage look quaint.

 

Oh, yeah, Florida will burn.