Tag: Trayvon Martin

The Department of Justice has announced the closure of its civil rights investigation against George Zimmerman. No charges will be filed due to insufficient evidence.

After a thorough and independent investigation into the facts surrounding the shooting, federal investigators determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt a violation of these statutes. Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed. This decision is limited strictly to the department’s inability to meet the high legal standard required to prosecute the case under the federal civil rights statutes; it does not reflect an assessment of any other aspect of the shooting.

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Christi O'Connor, the reporter who conducted the ABC Shellie Zimmerman interview, does not work for ABC. She is a freelance investigative journalist.

She says she is writing a book about the trial. I don't recall her reporting on the case prior to now, and with the exception of a reference to her in a video clip on CNN the night on July 13, Lexis.com has no record of articles or media transcripts with her about the case.

She says her book will reveal new information that could have resulted in a different verdict. Here's what she is peddling: A story about a white Sanford police officer's alleged misconduct in tasering an African American male which she is self-publishing on her weblog. On her blog, she writes: [More...]

At BloggingHeads TV, Glenn Loury and Ann Althouse discuss whether George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin was the right case for to pick as emblematic of racial profiling and race relations. I've been reading Ann's view of the case for months at her blog, so her view is not surprising to me. (While our politics are different, we have similar views of the evidence and legal aspects of the case.)

But I think some people, particularly those who view themselves as liberal, will be surprised by Loury's view. (The clip above is a one minute capsule of his position.)

In addition to agreeing this wasn't the right case to use to highlight problems with racial profiling and racial injustice, he questions whether Zimmerman should have been charged at all and says he would welcome an investigation into whether the prosecution was politically motivated. [More...]

Looks like our recent George Zimmerman posts have maxed out at 200 comments, which is the limit. Here's a new thread.

Over at Slate, William Saletan breaks down the Juror B-29 interview pointing to ABC's phoney-baloney editing job, which appears to be designed to produce the maximum salacious effect. Three versions are here, here and here. [More...]

Juror B-29, the sole minority juror in the George Zimmerman trial, and her attorney flew to New York to be interviewed by Robin Roberts of ABC News.

ABC identified B-29 as Maddy and said she is Puerto Rican.... Maddy tells ABC that the case was never about race for her.

In fact, Maddy says she doesn't believe the case should have gone to trial. "I felt like this was a publicity stunt," she tells Roberts. "This whole court service thing to me was publicity."

In other reports of the interview, "Maddy" says she wanted to convict Zimmerman but the jury instructions didn't allow it, and she thinks he "got away with murder." [More....]

The Seminole County Sheriff's office today released a statement confirming that last Wednesday, four days after being acquitted of murder and manslaughter, George Zimmerman helped free a family of four from a rollover accident. [Added: Here are the 911 calls.]

After spotting the vehicle on the side of the road, George grabbed a fire extinguisher from inside his truck, thinking a fire might break out, and with another man, freed the trapped family before first responders arrived at the scene.

The driver of the vehicle identified Zimmerman as the man who pulled him to safety. Officers spoke with Zimmerman who then left the scene. [More...]

The Constitution is not a rough draft. You don't get to edit or erase parts of it to delete rights for an unpopular or hated defendant.

The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the rights of the citizen accused from the awesome powers of the Government. It was not enacted to protect the rights of crime victims.

The presumption of innocence is a bedrock of our criminal justice system that applies to the person charged with a crime, not the victim of a crime.

Self-defense is an affirmative defense that may be raised by a defendant in court in response to a criminal charge. [More...]

There must have been some heated discussions going on behind the scenes at the ACLU for it to do a 180 degree u-turn on whether the Department of Justice should investigate George Zimmerman to determine whether a hate crime prosecution was appropriate. I'm not surprised, just relieved the organization came to its senses.

On July 14, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero issued a statement on behalf of the organization that was titled, "Honoring the Memory of the Trayvon Martin (Next Steps for Systemic Reforms.) It called on the DOJ to investigate whether George Zimmerman's committed a federal civil rights violation or a hate crime by shooting Trayvon Martin.

Update: George Zimmerman's lawyers respond to President Obama's remarks on race today.

TalkLeft just crashed from the number of people viewing the last thread at the same time. We've rebooted the server and closed that thread. You may continue the discussion of President Obama's remarks today on the George Zimmerman verdict and race (transcript here).

What I agree with:

The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury has spoken, that's how our system works.

Keep in mind that the trial is over and the evidence is of record. The public's opinion of the evidence is not the topic. Comments that misstate the evidence in the case, or speculate as to their personal theory of guilt that was not disproved to their satisfaction have no place here. [More...]

Here's the transcript of President Obama's remarks on the George Zimmerman verdict today.

Here's what I agree with:

The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury has spoken, that's how our system works.

The rest of his remarks, on the topic of race, would be welcome following an incident involving racial profiling by police. In case he hasn't noticed, the practice is rampant in New York City. They do not fit in the context of this case. [More...]

Alternate Juror No. E-54 would have voted to acquit George Zimmerman. He was interviewed by Fox News. Here is the video.

Juror E-54 says the non-emergency call was the best evidence for George Zimmerman. There was no evidence Zimmerman profiled Martin. There was no evidence of ill will.

Zimmerman's injuries were a significant factor in his conclusion GZ should be acquitted. [More...]

Former President Jimmy Carter:

JIMMY CARTER: "I think the jury made the right decision based in the evidence presented because the prosecution inadvertently set the standard so high that the jury had to be convinced that it was a deliberate act by Zimmerman and that he was not defending himself and so forth. It's not a moral question, it's a legal question and the American law requires that the jury listens to the evidence presented." (WXIA-TV)

Rachel Jeantel now says she thinks Trayvon threw the same punch. She also thinks, although there was no evidence presented to support it, that GZ tried to detain Martin.

Rachel now has a reason to extend her 15 minutes. A radio host has given her a full scholarship to college.

How many times is CNN going to replay juror B37's interview? Has anyone not heard it?