Wednesday’s decision by Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey to charge George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in connection with February’s fatal shooting ofTrayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager, raises numerous troubling questions. Among the least considered, but perhaps most vexing: In the quest for justice in this case, were progressive and other well-meaning white people?
We must remember that this problem is must bigger than Zimmerman. What about the Sanford Police Department that let Zimmerman go free? What about the continuing systemic and nationwide problem of racial profiling? What about racial differences in charging and sentencing? What about those ridiculous “stand your ground” laws in over 20 states?
BREAKING — The attorneys for George Zimmerman, the community watch volunteer who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, said today they have lost touch with their client and are withdrawing from the case.His former lawyers lost contact with him after he set up a legal defense fund website, spoke with Sean Hannity and the Special Prosecutor...so when is the slow speed chase going to start?
Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig said at a news conference outside the Seminole County Courthhouse in Sanford, Fla., that they have not talked to Zimmerman, whose location is not known, in person in at least two days but in the past had spoken with him over the phone. “We can’t represent him unless he comes forward and asks us,” Uhrig said.
"We have a pretty good idea where he (Zimmerman) is," Uhrig said, but added that Zimmerman is not answering the phone.
Sonner and Uhrig said they were concerned that Zimmerman had telephoned the special prosecutor probing the case directly, set up a legal defense fund website and may have spoken with Fox Television commentator Sean Hannity, all without their knowledge.
God grant that we wage the struggle with dignity and discipline. May all who suffer oppression in this world reject the self-defeating method of retaliatory violence and choose the method that seeks to redeem. Through using this method wisely and courageously we will emerge from the bleak and desolate midnight of man’s inhumanity to man into the bright daybreak of freedom and justice.No, black folks will not resort to violence, nor will we sit around waiting on the government to take care of us, because we've learned from experience, that just ain't going to happen. Black folks know how to make a way out of no way.
Trayvon Killing Eyewitness On CNN: I Offered To Show Police Scene Of The Crime, They Declined
The Special Prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin murder case, Angela Corey, has announced that she will not convene a Grand Jury tomorrow, as she had the option to do. Instead, she will make the key decision whether or not to arrest George Zimmerman. Her statement contained two significant items.
The decision should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the case. The Grand Jury, set to convene on April 10, 2012, was previously scheduled by the former prosecutor.
MSNBC is reporting that a website to solicit contributions to fund the Zimmerman family's living and defense expenses is being set-up, but isn't yet live.
Its establishment raises another issue: what happens to those donations if the federal investigation establishes the Trayvon's murder was a civil rights violation? Should Zimmerman decide to write a book or movie script, "Florida has taken yet another approach, creating a statutory lien on the proceeds of certain accounts of felonious crimes," according to a case cited on the DOJ website.
News continues to break in the Trayvon Martin murder case. Tomorrow Trayvon's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, will ask the federal Justice Department to review the interactions between the office of the former local prosecutor in the case, State's Attorney Norm Wolfinger and Sanford's Police Detective Chris Serino. Detective Serino pursued a manslaughter charge for two weeks against the shooter, George Zimmerman, because Serino "was unconvinced by Zimmerman’s version of events in which he claimed self-defense," ABC News reported.
The State's Attorney said there wasn't enough evidence to lead to an arrest or a conviction.
Lack of evidence is another very troubling aspect of this murder case. The Old Gay Lawyer explains it this way in his blog titled "On the Lynching of Trayvon Martin:"
Sanford's police department became judge, jury and prosecutor none of those functions are properly within the job descriptions of police officers. The obligation of a policeman is to observe and report and to testify if called to do so. The Sanford PD failed its duty. It didn't even collect any forensic evidence. It didn't even ask Zimmerman for a blood sample for forensic analysis. It didn't examine his hands for evidence that he had fired the gun used to kill Martin. They didn't forensically examine his clothes. They didn't do anything that would cause a independent observer to conclude that the Sanford cops were competent or qualified to do their jobs. They just insured that Zimmerman was cool and will go down in history as just another good citizen doing his best to protect himself and his home. This amounts to the coverup what can only be described as a 21st century lynching of a black kid obviously on his way to commit a crime armed with an Arizona Ice Tea and bag of Skittles.
The owner of Facebook's Keith Olbermann Fan Page (I emphasize here that this not a quote from Keith Olbermann himself) offered an interesting speculation. "I have the sense, that Zimmerman had the advantage over that kid from the start....outside of the fact that he also had that gun. Zimmerman could easily have taken that gun, butted his own nose w/the barrel, and the back of his head. I have yet to hear of any evidence whatsoever of blood on the concrete where Zimmerman claims Trayvon slammed his head several times in the so called scuffle he claims he had w/him."
But even if the investigation is thorough and not compromised as is the case in the Trayvon Martin murder, the conviction rate in murder cases is low.
"The difference between solving a crime and clearing a case is a fine one. The crime is solved when the real criminal is arrested, tried, and convicted. The case is cleared when an arrest is made, regardless of whether that person ends up being convicted or not. Once an arrest is made, the police officer's job is done and the court system does its thing. An arrest is made 70% of the time in a reported murder case (remember only in those where a body or other evidence of murder has been found, which as we all know, doesn't always happen), however the murder conviction rate of this 70% is less than half, meaning in roughly 65% of the reported murder cases in the country, the murderer gets away scot-free, either acquitted or never even arrested."Rev. Al Sharpton of Politics Nation made breaking news Friday when Ken Padowitz, a Florida former homicide prosecutor, explained that under the rules of Florida criminal procedure, Zimmerman has to be charged within 175 days of the arrest (he said that occurred on the day of Trayvon's murder when Zimmerman was in handcuffs), or otherwise Zimmerman is forever barred from being charged in this case. In addition, the video contained the statement of an eyewitness who said that when the man got off the boy, he (Zimmerman) didn’t appear hurt or anything else. And the funeral director who cared for Trayvon's body said there were no bruises on his face, neck or hands, which seems to discredit Zimmerman's alibi of a struggle in which he feared for his life.
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Zimmerman's alibi is further undercut by the analysis of two forensic voice identification experts who analyzed the 911 tape of someone screaming in the background. They both independently concluded that the voice screaming for help on the 911 tape is not George Zimmerman, as he claimed, so it must be Trayvon.
Tom Owen, forensic consultant for Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, used voice identification software to rule out Zimmerman. Another expert contacted by the Sentinel, utilizing different techniques, came to the same conclusion. Zimmerman claims self-defense in the shooting and told police he was the one screaming for help. But these experts say the evidence tells a different story.
This is a critical finding because it refutes the Sanford police department's publicly announced rationale for not arresting Zimmerman as described by Chief Bill Lee in the video above - that there was not probable cause to arrest Zimmerman on the day of the murder because he claimed self-defense. But now we know factually that probable cause exists. The case clock is ticking, but the question remains the same.
Will George Zimmerman be arrested in the Trayvon Martin case?
