We have all been following it. It's the new "Trial of the Century!" They have evidence, they don't have evidence. Zimmerman was on top now he wasn't on top. It was Trevon yelling help, now it is Zimmerman yelling help, or vice-versa. There are so many media spins and attempts to sell newspapers and advertising time by manipulating the "facts" that everything is getting convoluted.
My take on it is that they need to let the police and prosecution do their job. The prosecutors are put into the position to determine if justice is done by prosecuting Mr. Zimmerman, if it isn't in the interest of justice then they should not prosecute him. A prosecutor should not fall prey to the media machine and the whims of the uneducated and unknowing public. The prosecutor gets the evidence and makes a determination as to whether justice is done by
prosecuting a defendant. You don't take the input of the general public who do not know the totality of the evidence. The general public knows nothing of the evidence aside from what the sensationalist media tells them. The media's job is basically to inflame the public so that they keep interest and keep buying newspapers or watching their news program. That is it.
I don't know if Zimmerman is guilty or innocent. But it doesn't seem that anyone really knows. So why are they going forward with the case?
Here is an article that the
Kansas City Star put out about the lack of evidence.
What the evidence in Trayvon Martin case doesn't show
By SCOTT HIAASEN, AUDRA D.S. BURCH AND FRANCES ROBLES
McClatchy Newspapers
The stack of evidence released last week in the second-degree murder
case against George Zimmerman is notable, legal experts say, for what's
not in it: firm evidence that Zimmerman acted with malice when he shot
17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Special prosecutor Angela Corey
charged Zimmerman last month, alleging that Zimmerman, a neighborhood
crime-watch volunteer, acted with ill will when he shot Martin, who was
black, after a Feb. 26 scuffle behind some townhouses in a gated
community in Sanford, Fla., where Martin was staying with his father. But analysts say the evidence released so far contains little
information to support the prosecutor's contention that Zimmerman acted
with a "depraved mind" when he shot Martin - a standard the prosecution
must meet if the murder charge is to stand. "I still don't
see any evidence yet of the elements of
second-degree murder," said
Miami defense attorney John Priovolos, a
former prosecutor. The special
prosecutor "has to prove ill will, hatred or spite. I don't see any
evidence of his state of mind," he said.
The new evidence
also includes photos of injuries to Zimmerman that could bolster his
self-defense claims, and statements from witnesses that appear to
contradict some key conclusions made by investigators in an affidavit
supporting Zimmerman's arrest. The new information "tends to
support what Zimmerman is saying, that he was being assaulted," said
former Miami-Dade prosecutor David Waksman. "This case was
never a second-degree murder case," said longtime Miami
defense lawyer
Jeffrey Weiner. "If anything, it was an overreaction in a
self-defense
situation." Zimmerman was monitoring his neighborhood on a
rainy evening when he first noticed Martin walking behind a row of homes
on his way to his father's apartment. Zimmerman called the police to
report a "suspicious guy" - the kind of complaint Zimmerman made
routinely in his role as neighborhood watchman.
A dispatcher
advised Zimmerman not to follow Martin. Prosecutors believe Zimmerman
did so anyway. At some point, the two struggled, and Zimmerman shot the
unarmed teenager from close range. Several witnesses in the
community said they heard sounds of a struggle and cries for help. But
no witnesses could provide evidence showing whether it was Zimmerman or
Martin who started the altercation. Prosecutors have
described Zimmerman as a frustrated and overzealous watchman who
"falsely assumed" that Martin was a
criminal prowling his neighborhood. "These a-holes, they always get away," Zimmerman complained to the police dispatcher.
An unidentified girl, described by Martin's family as his
girlfriend, told investigators she was on the phone with Martin in the
moments before the shooting, when Martin told her he was being followed
by a man while on his way home. Her statement suggested that Martin was
first attacked by Zimmerman. "He said the guy was getting
real close to him. Next thing I hear, 'Why are you following me for?'
And I hear this man: 'What are you doing around here?'" the girl told
prosecutors. The girl said she could then hear somebody
"bump" Martin before hearing Martin say: "Get off, get off." Then the
phone went dead.
A witness in the neighborhood told
police she saw one man running after another before the fight ensued, but the
witness "couldn't tell who was in front or who was behind," the new
records show. Prosecutors have suggested it was Zimmerman chasing
Martin. Zimmerman, however, has said it was Martin who first
attacked him - and that he shot Martin in self-defense after Martin
smacked his head repeatedly on the pavement. During a bail hearing last
month, Dale Gilbreath, an investigator for the prosecution, said he had
no evidence to contradict Zimmerman's description of the fight. Prosecutors on Thursday released photographs of bloody scrapes on
Zimmerman's head, and police reports mentioning medical records that
showed he had a fractured nose following the altercation."If there were
no injuries, Zimmerman would have a very different case," Weiner said.
The evidence of injuries could be pivotal if Zimmerman seeks to
have the charges dismissed under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, under
which a person may not be prosecuted for using deadly force if the
person "reasonably believes" he or she is in life-threatening danger. A judge must review a Stand Your Ground defense before trial, and
the case must be dismissed if the evidence shows it is more likely than
not that the person was acting in self-defense - a lower standard of
evidence than the one prosecutors must meet to get a conviction. Even if
Zimmerman's conduct sparked the confrontation, he could still be
protected under Stand Your Ground if he did not strike the first blow,
experts say. "Whether he started it or Trayvon started it, we
don't know," Weiner said. "There's a real chance the case will be
tossed out." Even if the case is not dismissed,
at trial Zimmerman can invoke Stand Your Ground along with a traditional
self-defense claim.
Other evidence released Thursday
appeared to cast doubt on assertions in the arrest affidavit prepared by
investigators and prosecutors.
The arrest report notes that
Martin's mother identified her son as the voice heard crying for help in
the background of 911 calls. But Martin's father reviewed the
recordings with police and said the voice was not his son's, the new
records show. An FBI analysis of the recordings could not identify who
was crying for help. Weiner said the special prosecutor
"clearly overcharged" by pursuing a murder charge against Zimmerman
instead of a lesser charge of
manslaughter. The lead detective in the
case originally thought that Zimmerman should be charged with
manslaughter, the records show. "That's going to be, in some ways, the defense's best witness," Priovolos said.
