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Before knocking someone else's legal knowledge, consider taking a few minutes to find and read the Fl. statutes and jury instructions. 'Reckless disregard for human life' is part of the Manslaughter definition, not murder 2.
IMO, 'state of mind' is relevant to both gz's self defense claim and the state's murder 2 charge. After you've read the laws we can discuss the issue if you'd like.
What's the difference between "disregard for human life" and "regardless of human life"?
Oh and uh...hey you race baiters, reverse discrimination xenophobes, CNN reanalyzed the tape and now agree z did not say "f'n Coon"...he said "fn cold".
So there you go again, no federal case here. Z walks, should be able to sue the city for false imprisonment and hope he does get rich for having to be victim of a racist witch hunt. Maybe he can afford a prettier wife than that bowser he has now.
I would say pretty much anyone who has attended voice or diction classes and heard their voice on tape was surprised and didn't recognize the voice as being their own. I'm always amazed at how husky my voice sounds on tape.
No, but he agreed with me that the state lacks a murder two 2 case. In FL murder 2 requires a depraved state of mind by the defendant, and nothing in the state's affidavit (or even the wildly speculative theories on here) evinces that. The most generous interpretation is that Zim picked a fight, got his butt kicked badly, then shot Trayvon to stop the butt-kicking. That's not depraved mind murder.
If the state had evidence Zim was trying to shoot Trayvon when the fight started there would be murder 2 case. But they do not have that evidence.
Let me elaborate. Depraved mind in FL means:
A "person of ordinary judgment" would know the act, or series of acts, "is reasonably certain to kill or do serious bodily injury to another";
The act is "done from ill will, hatred, spite, or an evil intent"; and
The act is "of such a nature that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life."
Clearly the dirt component is met - shooting someone is reasonably certain to kill or do serious bodily injury to another. However, the last two components are missing here. It is very difficult to prove somebody who is getting their butt badly kicked for a minute shoots the other person out of hatred, spite, evil intent, etc. Of course it's *possible* he did. But remember the state has to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. If the gunshot range was farther away, the state would have something to latch onto. That could be interpreted as a revenge killing. But the phyisical evidence is that the shot happened in the midst of the struggle. Plenty of people would shoot someone in such a case, which is why here you cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman killed Trayvon with the kind of mens rea required under Florida law.
Keep in mind the above is assuming *the* most generous interpretation of the facts for the prosecution.
Remember George's own arrest records, including an assault on a police officer. Not only does that show Georges propensity towards violence, his is the only account blaming Trayvon for punching him....Trayvon was standing his ground after being followed by an "unidentified man"....not George."
Do you have to stand your ground after being followed in a public space? Does it give you the right to confront? All TM had to do was to go home.
Do you have to stand your ground after being followed in a public space? Does it give you the right to confront? All TM had to do was to go home.
The folks here that make the case for Trayvon based strictly on race, which is practically all of them simply ignore all facts except the convenient "facts of the imagination" that support any other conclusion except the guilt of Z.
Fact is thes adolescents do not realize that the conviction of Z will place into question any effort toward self defense and will weaken the ability of the innocent to defend against the thug. Anyone that has looked objectively at the facts here would have done none other than the police chief did and released Z pending investigation of all facts. The police chief is a hero of all freedom loving people everywhere. This case is juiced up by leftist ideologues presenting angelic pictures of twelve year olds before the thugs of Miami wrested him from his mothers arms.
Then no less than our racist treacherous President comes on board with his junk! He himself a juvenile pot head and coke snorter beguiling the fools of the nation which are considerable.
No, but he agreed with me that the state lacks a murder two 2 case. In FL murder 2 requires a depraved state of mind by the defendant, and nothing in the state's affidavit (or even the wildly speculative theories on here) evinces that. The most generous interpretation is that Zim picked a fight, got his butt kicked badly, then shot Trayvon to stop the butt-kicking. That's not depraved mind murder.
If the state had evidence Zim was trying to shoot Trayvon when the fight started there would be murder 2 case. But they do not have that evidence.
Let me elaborate. Depraved mind in FL means:
A "person of ordinary judgment" would know the act, or series of acts, "is reasonably certain to kill or do serious bodily injury to another";
The act is "done from ill will, hatred, spite, or an evil intent"; and
The act is "of such a nature that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life."
Clearly the dirt component is met - shooting someone is reasonably certain to kill or do serious bodily injury to another. However, the last two components are missing here. It is very difficult to prove somebody who is getting their butt badly kicked for a minute shoots the other person out of hatred, spite, evil intent, etc. Of course it's *possible* he did. But remember the state has to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt. If the gunshot range was farther away, the state would have something to latch onto. That could be interpreted as a revenge killing. But the phyisical evidence is that the shot happened in the midst of the struggle. Plenty of people would shoot someone in such a case, which is why here you cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman killed Trayvon with the kind of mens rea required under Florida law.
Keep in mind the above is assuming *the* most generous interpretation of the facts for the prosecution.
Though I agree that the probable cause affidavit didn't support murder 2, I think he was wrong to jump to the conclusion that the state didn't have a murder 2 case. There was too much yet to be released for him to go berserk.
The bullet shot evidence will help gz. Not only did the ME conclude it was intermediate range, but the FDLE stated the holes in tm's clothes were consistent with a contact shot.
IMO, the state will try to establish the mens rea with gz's many prior calls; his comment that the f'in aholes always get away; showing conflicts between his purported state of mind vs his behavior; testimony about his frustration with crime in the neighborhood and who he blamed; his alleged blase, casual demeanor after the killing; and other things.
Innocence of thought will generally create "casual demeanor". If you have me on the ground trying to kill me "your gonna die tonight mf", I'm not going to feel necessarily disturbed about the fact I didn't die and you did. The total lack of empathy for Z is astounding to me.
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