Dec 15, 2021 · The attorney that defended George Zimmerman in the deadly shooting of Trayvon Martin will represent an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University student accused of plotting a mass school shooting. Mark ...
Jul 16, 2012 · A lawyer for accused murderer George Zimmerman said today that a woman who claims he molested her for years as a child was Zimmerman's cousin and said his legal team would "vigorously defend" him ...
Jul 15, 2013 · (CBS News) Defense attorneys for George Zimmerman Monday staunchly denied the allegation that former neighborhood watch volunteer was the first to initiate contact with Trayvon Martin, 17, the ...
Dec 16, 2013 · Defendant Defense attorney Mark O'Mara, right, has George Zimmerman stand in the courtroom for the jury during closing arguments for the defence in Zimmerman's murder trial July 12, 2013 in ...
Jul 17, 2013 · Zimmerman's defense team is quoted in the L.A. Times as saying, "using social media in a high-profile lawsuit is new, and relatively unprecedented, but that is only because social media itself is ...
Zimmerman was acquitted because the state couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman started the fight. The allocation of the burden of proof exacerbated the racial tensions in this case.
And since the burden of proof on self-defense rests with the defendant in a civil case, Zimmerman would have to prove that he did not start the fight that resulted in Martin’s death, and that his own fear of deadly force was reasonable.
Much debate about the jury’s decision Saturday to find George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin has focused on Florida’s Stand your Ground law, which allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense even if they can safely retreat. One juror even cited Stand Your Ground as the basis for his decision.
If you are the first person to draw a gun in a fight in a public place, you should at least have to prove that you did not start the fight , and perhaps you should also have to prove that your fear of deadly force was reasonable.
Having Stand Your Ground laws is a bad idea because the law can too easily turn into a license to kill when bad blood, not fear, motivates the killing. But the big problem for the prosecution in the Zimmerman case wasn’t really Stand Your Ground.
There is a better way of getting at the truth. Martin’s family could sue Zimmerman in civil court for Martin’s wrongful death. That’s expensive and risky for the Martins, because another bad part of Florida’s Stand your Ground makes the plaintiff pay the defendant’s costs if the plaintiff loses.
Zimmerman only gets to stand his ground, under the jury instruction the judge gave, if he was behaving lawfully in the first place—if he did not attack Martin. And this is a general principle of self-defense.
But Florida State Attorney Angela Corey said the allegations “fit the bill” for the second-degree murder charge. George Zimmerman is congratulated by members of his defense team, Don West and Lorna Truett, after the not guilty verdict is read on Saturday, July 13, in Sanford, Florida. A jury of six women found him not guilty in ...
Prosecutor Angela Corey defends the decision to charge Zimmerman with murder. A lack of witnesses who saw the entire incident made the case hard to prove. Attorney: Trials are not always about the truth; "It's about what you can prove in court".
Jeantel testified that Martin told her he was being chased by a “creepy-a** cracker.”. “This was a disaster,” criminal defense lawyer Mark Geragos told CNN’s Anderson Cooper the day Jeantel testified. “This was the star witness, the star witness. The wheels came off and it was a train wreck.
Second-degree murder is defined as a killing carried out with hatred, ill will or spite, but is not premeditated. To convict Zimmerman of manslaughter, jurors would have had to believe he “intentionally committed an act or acts that caused the death of Trayvon Martin.”. A verdict and more: Get caught up.
2. The evidence presented. Zimmerman’s account of what happened the night of the shooting was a central part of the trial. He was the only living person who witnessed the entire incident, and there wasn’t much physical evidence for either team to fall back on.
Mary Altaffer. Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, is joined by her son Jahvaris Fulton as she speaks to the crowd during a rally in New York City, Saturday, July 20. A jury in Florida acquitted Zimmerman of all charges related to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. View photos of key moments from the trial.
If the screams were Martin’s, as the prosecution contended, Zimmerman was the aggressor. If the screams were Zimmerman’s, as the defense said, Martin was the aggressor. On July 5, in a packed courtroom, the prosecution played the recording for Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton.
The prosecution's statement focused on the lack of evidence of bodily harm to both Zimmerman and Martin, and portrayed Zimmerman as a liar who would be contradicted by witnesses and evidence. Guy also compared Zimmerman's and Martin's physical size, and commented on how small Martin was.
Judge Debra S. Nelson of the 18th Circuit Court of Florida was the fourth judge to preside over the case. Nelson had been a judge for thirteen years, much of it handling criminal matters. Before becoming a judge she had worked in civil litigation. Nelson succeeded Judge Kenneth Lester on August 30, 2012, after a Florida appeals court ruled that remarks he made about Zimmerman could make a reasonable person believe Lester was biased against Zimmerman. Lester had taken over the case in April 2012, after Judge Jessica Recksiedler recused herself due to a potential conflict of interest involving her husband's work.
State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda opened his closing argument on Friday, July 12 by telling the jurors that "a teenager is dead through no fault of his own" because Zimmerman had made assumptions about Martin and acted on them. Rionda stated to the jury that Zimmerman profiled Martin as a criminal and assumed certain things, that Martin was up to no good, and that's what led to Martin's death. De la Rionda argued that Zimmerman took the law into his own hands, accusing Zimmerman of following Trayvon Martin because Zimmerman wanted to be a policeman and take down someone whom he "profiled" as a criminal. The prosecutor also focused in on inconsistencies in Zimmerman's statements, calling the defendant a "liar".
George Zimmerman. State of Florida v. George Zimmerman was a criminal prosecution of George Zimmerman on the charge of second-degree murder stemming from the shooting of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. On April 11, 2012, George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Noffke said that when he told Zimmerman "We don't need you to do that," he was making a suggestion, not giving an order. He said that dispatchers do not give orders because of liability issues. During cross-examination, Noffke testified that Zimmerman did not seem angry during the call, and that he wanted the police to come to his location. Noffke also testified that he asked Zimmerman which way Martin was going, and that his question could be interpreted as a request to go and see which way he was going. He clarified his statement that dispatchers do not give orders, but suggestions for the safety of the caller. He testified that Zimmerman's swearing and comments about Martin did not raise any particular concern, but under redirect said that Zimmerman's language could be interpreted as "hostile." The defense then asked if Noffke actually heard hostility, and he said "no". The defense asked about the statements regarding Martin's race and appearance, and Noffke testified that all of the discussion was for the purpose of identification of the suspect, and did not seem unusual.
In July 2012, evidence released included: FBI interviews with people involved in the case, including Sanford police officers, family, friends and associates of Zimmerman.
On April 11, 2012, George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. In support of the charges, the State filed an affidavit of probable cause, stating that Zimmerman profiled and confronted Martin and shot him to death while Martin was committing no crimes.