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Law of Self Defense

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I think things are looking good, the jury wants to carefully go over the evidence. If they were making their decision based on the emotional plea that the State made, they'd be done by now. There's really only one conclusion to make if you really go over all the evidence. The Defense made a fantastic case, the State was grasping at straws and straining to pluck heart strings.
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I think things are looking good, the jury wants to carefully go over the evidence. If they were making their decision based on the emotional plea that the State made, they'd be done by now. There's really only one conclusion to make if you really go over all the evidence. The Defense made a fantastic case, the State was grasping at straws and straining to pluck heart strings.

 

Meh. I've heard this argument used both ways. Not Guilty can be quick as well. If they are "going through the evidence" they may be looking for a reason to convict, rather than acquit, just as easily. Or maybe they are split and can't agree. Hasn't really been much time yet.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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I read in some news story that both sides in this trial agreed to a 5-1 majority decision. I am sorry I can't find it, but I read it somewhere. This seemed odd to me, too, because I was always of the understanding that jury trials required unanimous verdicts.

That is correct, both sides agreed to allow 5. I posted that earlier in the thread and it was said by the commentators.

 

I can't even fathom this. If it is 5-1 against then clearly one person had reasonable doubt. Sorry, but I'm not buying this.

I can't find anything else about it, and unless I misheard that is what the commentators said. It sounded strange to me also. They made it sound like if was long and drawn out deliberation they would accept it.

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Any case where politicians and the media are trying to manipulate the outcome is of interest to me. They should broadcast more trials, so the public has the opportunity to see how much of this crap really goes on.

 

I was on Branca's blog this morning and it looks like the state has fired a whistle blower over this case:

 

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-07-13/story/state-attorney-angela-corey-fires-information-techonology-director-who

 

...straight as an arrow.

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When I first heard of this incident shortly after it happened, my first reaction (based on how it had been reported) was that this guy (Zimmerman) was toast. His reported behavior seemed to exemplify the worst of "concealed carry gone wrong." Beyond that, I had no particular interest. That changed as it gradually came out how the mainstream media had intentionally skewed their reporting, including doctoring audio tapes and releasing only selected photographs in an attempt to portray Z as the villian. That's when I got interested. Clearly some other dynamic was at work with nothing less than the integrity of the justice system at stake when principals in the case began to resign or be replaced.

 

Realizing that the media can not be trusted as a reliable source of factual information I intentionally formed no opinion of Z's guilt or innocence until facts began to come out at the trial. Then it became apparent that the prosecution's narrative was wildly speculative and completely unsubstantiated by the facts. IMO, charges should never have been brought.

 

Lately it has come out that the Justice Department sent people and money to help organize protests after Z was not initially charged. That fact, combined with Obama's "If I had a son..." comment indicate that the O administration is up to it's hips in this. The police were pressured to bring charges. The judge has acted strangely. The whole thing has been fishy since day one.

 

The implications go way beyond the trial itself. And Z could be any one of us.

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I think things are looking good, the jury wants to carefully go over the evidence. If they were making their decision based on the emotional plea that the State made, they'd be done by now. There's really only one conclusion to make if you really go over all the evidence. The Defense made a fantastic case, the State was grasping at straws and straining to pluck heart strings.

 

Meh. I've heard this argument used both ways. Not Guilty can be quick as well. If they are "going through the evidence" they may be looking for a reason to convict, rather than acquit, just as easily. Or maybe they are split and can't agree. Hasn't really been much time yet.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

The lead defense attorney, Mark O'Mara spoke of and demonstrated with some charts that the tables are kind of turned in self-defense cases where the burden of proof is concerned and I think it's similar in this case. Usually it's the defense putting on the emotional pleas and the prosecution piling on the evidence, but it's completely the other way around in this case. Yes, I've been following the whole thing and it would be easy for me to have my decision ready walking into the deliberation room, but I think jurors feel an extra burden to make sure things are done right, especially since two of the jurors are wives of lawyers. I think the more they push in that direction, the more the emotion will wear off and the clarity of the amount of evidence in Zimmerman's favor will grow. It doesn't take long to go in there and say, "Oh that poor boy, his mother will never see him again, we need to [as the state closer said] listen to our hearts" (gag) There is no evidence that was presented that convicts Zimmerman beyond a reasonable doubt, that was made clear by the state's closing arguments.

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It sounds like the jury has already decided he wasn't guilty of murder. I'm guessing there are some on the jury who want to convict on manslaughter but there is at least one holdout for GZ arguing that there isn't evidence for that either.

 

The prosecution wanted the jury to ignore the self-defense argument. The prosecution made it out that when two people get into a fist fight and the loser pulls a gun and shoots the other person - that's manslaughter. If the jury is buying that and ignoring that GZ was in fear for his life - they may find for manslaughter. If they asked for clarification on what constitutes self-defense I'd feel better about GZ's chances right now...

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It sounds like the jury has already decided he wasn't guilty of murder. I'm guessing there are some on the jury who want to convict on manslaughter but there is at least one holdout for GZ arguing that there isn't evidence for that either.

 

The prosecution wanted the jury to ignore the self-defense argument. The prosecution made it out that when two people get into a fist fight and the loser pulls a gun and shoots the other person - that's manslaughter. If the jury is buying that and ignoring that GZ was in fear for his life - they may find for manslaughter. If they asked for clarification on what constitutes self-defense I'd feel better about GZ's chances right now...

 

If that's the case (I'm not watching), they just flat out lied. Their statute says that self defense can be claimed in cases of instantaneous combat. I hope the defense was screaming the whole time.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but if convicted of manslaughter, isn't the minimum sentence 9 1/4 years?

 

Because a gun was involved they said it could be up to 30 years

 

Yep. The one source I could find said that the minimum was 9 1/4 years and the max was 30. Also, in trying to get confirmation on this, I stumbled across information stating that in Florida you have to serve 85% of your sentence before being eligible for parole. That is a lot of years.

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