Tag Archives: Florida

Slate’s Bazelon Rightly Faults Florida Law For Botched Verdict

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Emily Bazelon at Slate has written an excellent piece on the Zimmerman verdict that finds the real villain in Florida’s ambiguous, easily exploited stand your ground law:

In Florida, a person “who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked” has no duty to retreat. He or she has the right to “meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself.” The jury could have faulted Zimmerman for starting the altercation with Martin and still believed him not guilty of murder, or even of manslaughter, which in Florida is a killing that has no legal justification. If the jury believed that once the physical fight began, Zimmerman reasonably feared he would suffer a grave bodily injury, then he gets off for self-defense.

Maybe that is the wrong rule. Maybe people like George Zimmerman should be held responsible for provoking the fight that they then fear they’ll lose. And maybe cuts to the back of the head and a bloody nose aren’t enough to show reasonable fear of grave bodily harm. After all, as Adam Weinstein points out, the lesson right now for Floridians is this: “in any altercation, however minor, the easiest way to avoid criminal liability is to kill the counterparty.” But you can see the box the jurors might have felt they were in. Even if they didn’t like George Zimmerman—even if they believed only part of what he told the police—they didn’t have a charge under Florida law that was a clear fit for what he did that night.

This is what Slate’s Justin Peters meant when he reminded us earlier this week that the state has to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. “That hasn’t happened,” he wrote. “And if the prosecution can’t prove its case, then Zimmerman should walk.” This is our legal system. It doesn’t always deliver justice, and this case surely points to several ways in which Florida’s version of law and police work should change. It may demonstrate that Zimmerman should face federal civil rights charges.

But what matters most is that Zimmerman was charged with Martin’s killing, even if he wasn’t convicted. The state was late to indict him, yes, and acted only after a sorry spell of botched police work that may have affected the evidence presented at trial. But Florida did try to hold George Zimmerman liable for Trayvon Martin’s death. Martin’s family and all his supporters get most of the credit. His father, Tracy Martin, wrote on Twitter tonight, “God blessed Me & Sybrina with Tray and even in his death I know my baby proud of the FIGHT we along with all of you put up for him GOD BLESS.” Yes, they did fight, and their battle meant something—meant a great deal—to so many parents of black boys in hoodies, and to the rest of the country, too. Tracy Martin is right to stress that fight for justice at this sorrowful, painful moment. No ill-conceived law, and no verdict, can take that away.”

Part-Time Cop Wannabe, Full-Time Wuss, Zimmerman Walks

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UPDATE:

I fully support the right to carry a gun and to fire in self-defense, as anyone who has read my pieces on V Tech knows. That is not the point. Nor do I suggest that the streets are safe. Or, that “mental toughness” always carries the day. My point is the better part of valour, or self-defense, is prudence.  Don’t follow people on the street at night. Mind your own business. It’s common sense.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
So you can walk drive around armed like a cop, following people around in the night, get down and stalk them, and when they get frightened and throw a punch at you, and you start quaking because you’re scared, you can blow them away and there’s no culpable negligence involved?

Hmm..mm.

Lila: Was Zimmerman really being beaten to death by Martin?

FoxNews.com

“An expert witness testified Wednesday that none of George Zimmerman’s DNA was found under the fingernails of Trayvon Martin, despite defense attempts to portray Zimmerman as only firing his gun in self-defense.

Crime lab analyst Anthony Gorgone testified no DNA samples taken from Martin’s fingernails matched that of Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing the teenager during a scuffle.”

Lila: Did Martin really grab Zimmerman’s gun, as Zimmerman testified?

“Gorgone also testified that two different DNA profiles were found on the pistol grip. One was Zimmerman’s but the other could not be identified. However, Gorgone said he was able to determine that it did not match Martin’s DNA sequence.”

Lila: Was Zimmerman a cop wannabe?

During questioning, Pleasants confirmed that Zimmerman had taken an online course he taught in the summer of 2011 called Criminal Investigation, and that Zimmerman had voluntarily attended optional in-person lectures. Pleasants also confirmed that Zimmerman posted on the class online discussion board that he wanted to pursue a career in law.

“He said his goal was to become an attorney and eventually a prosecutor,” Pleasants said.

Lila: Was Zimmerman exposed to militarized police tactics?

“Prosecutors called a military prosecutor who taught a criminal procedure class at Seminole State College in which Zimmerman earned an A.

“He was probably one of the better students in the class,”said Alexis Francisco Carter, an officer in the U.S. military JAG corps.

Lila: Was Zimmerman a wuss?

“Firearms expert Any Siewert testified that Zimmerman’s weapon had a full magazine plus an additional bullet in the chamber”

Trayvon Martin, we all know, was unarmed.

Lila: Zimmerman was armed and had a car. He initiated the encounter by stalking someone. Trayvon was unarmed, walking and just minding his own business.

Comment:

I am about five seven and range between 125 and 140 pounds. I’ve walked through bad neighborhoods in Baltimore, late at night sometimes, carrying school material, even radios, and have never been attacked. I’ve had twelve year old boys carry my things for me. An old man pushed my suitcase two streets one rainy night. People have given me directions and friendly warnings a lot of times.

I ‘ve been intimidated once or twice. A couple of people yelled racial insults (telling me to go home to my s***** country and asking if my dad had a corner store..that sort of thing).

I mostly ignored that kind of stuff, except once, when I returned the favor and the whole thing blew up. The guy, a homeless black guy, grabbed an iron rod from some construction material lying around (this was on North Charles Street, downtown), so I grabbed one too.  We faced off for about three minutes. Then I realized I was being foolish and ducked into a restaurant.

A couple of “r**-n****” have slammed doors in my face and given me dirty looks. They were carrying skinny shot-guns and had those mean slit-eyes.

I don’t know which was more dangerous.  The guns or the fists and rods.  I’ve never carried a gun ( there are several in the house), but I always carry mace, and except in the last few years, when there’s been the cyber-stalking stuff, I honestly don’t remember being all that scared.

Zimmerman is a wuss.

Once, I was stuck at the Greyhound at 2 AM in the morning and I heard some awful shrieking and carrying on and then two young black teens (guys) rushed out, followed by a big black girl who was throwing a fit and waving something. I was sitting on the bench watching, and one of the guys comes up to me and tells me quickly to get out, the girl’s got a razor, and she’s acting crazy. Then they ran away with the girl behind them.

I moved quickly but it didn’t scare me. Not really. I think if you’re centered in your body and your energy is positive, you mostly repel things like that. It’s like an invisible sheath. But when you feel broken inside or unhappy, then the sheath breaks and bad stuff gets through. Or, maybe you’re projecting something (not necessarily aggression) that’s attracting that energy in some way. It sounds a little far out. It’s not. It’s traditional yogic teaching.

What you are inside, your mental and emotional and spiritual world, that is what you create outside –  given your circumstances.  We often take that in a materialistic “prosperity gospel” way. But it’s not a materialistic teaching in origin (Hindu) or in its later instantiations (Christianity).

I taught some level-five kids once. Kids. They were half a foot taller and at least fifty pounds heavier and they would act up, every so often. They had to have a bouncer standing ready, just in case. We had to put on gloves to handle one of the kids, a girl. She was the daughter of a crack-addict and if she cut herself, her blood would be infectious. She’d go batty every so often, spinning around wildly, banging her head against the walls and glass,  so getting hurt was a real possibility. Never did, though.

I carried mace everywhere when I had to walk. I was lucky. No one attacked me.  No one raped me. No one molested me.  Baltimore streets are bad, but frankly I’ve had more real trouble on college campus. And the worst “assaults” and “looting” I ever experienced were perpetrated by people in button-down shirts and wing-tips.

Which is the best state to move to?

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Blacklisted News has a list of the best states to live in:

“This article will take a look at each of the 50 U.S. states and will list some of the pros and cons for moving to each one.

Not all of the factors listed below will be important to you, and a few have even been thrown in for humor.  But if you are thinking of moving in the near future hopefully this list will give you some food for thought.

A few years ago when my wife and I were living near Washington D.C. we knew that we wanted a change and we went through this kind of a process.  We literally evaluated areas from coast to coast.  In the end, we found a place that is absolutely perfect for us.  But different things are important to different people.

And if I gave your particular state a low rating, please don’t think that I am trashing the entire state or all of the people who live there.”

Michael Snyder, the author, gives California an “F”:

California

Pros: Disneyland, warm weather, Malibu

Cons: high taxes, Jerry Brown, earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires, gang violence, crime, traffic, rampant poverty, insane politicians, ridiculous regulations, bad schools, political correctness, illegal immigration, not enough jobs, air pollution, multiple nuclear power plants, possible tsunami threat along the coast, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Stockton, Sacramento, huge drug problem, high population density, the state government is broke, many more reasons to leave California right here

Overall Rating: F

He gives Idaho an “A”:

Idaho

Pros: awesome people live there, great potatoes, low population density, high concentration of liberty-minded individuals, low crime, Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene, north Idaho has plenty of water compared to the rest of the interior West, beautiful scenery

Cons: cold in the winter, wildfires, short growing season, not enough jobs

Overall Rating: A

Florida comes in at C:

Florida

Pros: University of Florida Gators, oranges, low taxes, southern hospitality, Disneyworld, Gainesville, warm weather, beautiful beaches, Daytona

Cons: hurricanes, most of the state is barely above sea level, high population density, not enough jobs, multiple nuclear power plants, crime, gang violence, illegal immigration

Overall Rating: C

I would give Florida an A.

[I mean, Idaho? Potatoes? Who checks out the potatoes before they move somewhere? Say, I was thinking of flying to Hawaii, but when I checked out the potatoes, they didn’t look so good, so I canceled….]

What about the snow?

And Snyder has clearly never lived in Asia, if he thinks a roomy, uncrowded state like Florida has “high population density.”

I’d like to drop him in Calcutta.

As for gang violence, any Northern city has Florida beat.  If you don’t like humidity, insects, bungalows, and bad drivers, stay away. Otherwise, Florida deserves its reputation as a physical paradise and the perfect place to retire.

On the other hand, he is spot on about Maryland, which he gives C-.  It should have been a D, really, only its proximity to the DC jobs market, its colleges, and a few gorgeous Baltimore suburbs like Guilford save it.  Otherwise, Maryland’s disastrous policies, corrupt politicians, drug-eaten inner cities, gangs, edgy interracial relations, and high-rate of CIA-related assassinations make it another unattractive North East state.