thoughts on the Trayvon murder

So that would make two separate prosecutors, from two different offices, who have looked at the entire body of information that the investigation has turned up and decided that, ethically, they would likely be unable to meet their burden of proof and declined to file murder charges, correct? That would also pretty much preclude the possibility of it being a hate crime, which would be the only invention of reason that the federal government could possibly come up with to interject themselves into the matter, so that too is pretty much withered on the vine. Looks like there is still at least one place in the union that takes innocent until proven guilty as a serious matter regardless of how much noise one political party wishes to make.

No, they've declined to use a Grand Jury to file 1st-degree Murder charges. Look for manslaughter charges any day now...and we WILL have our day in court.

Ahhhh yes - manslaughter. . . . .

In most jurisdictions, voluntary manslaughter consists of an intentional killing that is accompanied by additional circumstances that mitigate, but do not excuse, the killing. The most common type of voluntary manslaughter occurs when a defendant is provoked to commit the Homicide. It is sometimes described as a heat of passion killing. In most cases, the provocation must induce rage or anger in the defendant, although some cases have held that fright, terror, or desperation will suffice.

I see you are finally coming to accept that Trayvon provoked Zimmerman. If you think that Trayvon provoked his killer, why then is there so much resistance to accepting that it was also self defense? Or are you now of the opinion that Trayvon's provocation didn't merit the level of Zimmerman's response? What is apparent to all is that the pretense of an innocent black teenager being shot for no reason has had to be totally abandoned by you.

PrintSmith wrote: Ahhhh yes - manslaughter. . . . .

In most jurisdictions, voluntary manslaughter consists of an intentional killing that is accompanied by additional circumstances that mitigate, but do not excuse, the killing. The most common type of voluntary manslaughter occurs when a defendant is provoked to commit the Homicide. It is sometimes described as a heat of passion killing. In most cases, the provocation must induce rage or anger in the defendant, although some cases have held that fright, terror, or desperation will suffice.

I see you are finally coming to accept that Trayvon provoked Zimmerman. If you think that Trayvon provoked his killer, why then is there so much resistance to accepting that it was also self defense? Or are you now of the opinion that Trayvon's provocation didn't merit the level of Zimmerman's response? What is apparent to all is that the pretense of an innocent black teenager being shot for no reason has had to be totally abandoned by you.

The left lost the manufactured and dishonest narrative... they had to back off... they were looking like race-baiting idiots.

I'm not coming to any conclusion other than I want to see this man arrested and tried. Still having trouble with that concept? I never said he should be tried on 1st-degree murder; and I don't know of anyone else here who did either. You just make up this sh*t as you go along?

A man with a 9mm weapon got out of his car and stalked an unarmed kid with a bag of Skittles and can of ice-tea and killed him. As soon as he did, he became the aggressor. The videos still don't support his version of events.

When he's arrested and TRIED, I will have what I want. I still don't know what fantasy world you live in, but good luck in it.

Your opinions are not to be substituted for fact. The fact of the matter is that what you describe would be a murder - a homicide without justification or excuse. Two prosecutors have both come to the independent and same conclusion that this is not the case. If indeed manslaughter charges are filed against Zimmerman, then that would be an admission that it was Trayvon who provoked the incident and not Zimmerman. It would be an admission that Trayvon was the aggressor, not Zimmerman. It would be an admission that Trayvon's actions would result in anger or fear being felt by any reasonable person subjected to his provocations that night. It would mean that Trayvon himself, as a result of his actions, bears some of the responsibility for the events that led to his death.

I am skeptical that this reality gives you what you want. You seem to want Zimmerman punished for shooting an innocent teenager. The filing of manslaughter charges in lieu of murder charges would establish that Trayvon wasn't an innocent victim that night.

My theory, based on what I've read, is that Zimmerman started following Martin and at some point in the pursuit Martin turned around and confronted Zimmerman. Martin had just as much right to stand his ground as Zimmerman did.

And contrary to what you say about manslaughter showing Martin at fault, the facts could support that manslaughter is filed because Zimmerman pulled his gun and it accidentally went off in the scuffle. What hasn't come out yet, that I'm aware of, is what were the positions of the two when Martin was shot? Was Martin on the ground, was he on Zimmerman, were the two standing? How far apart were they? Which direction was Martin facing when he was shot?

The fact the special prosecutor has ruled out a grand jury indicates to me that the charge will be more serious than manslaughter and that there was no difficulty in reaching the decision to charge. If the prosecutor were at all unsure, the case would have been presented to the grand jury.

A circumstance of manslaughter as you describe would mean that Zimmerman had not intended to shoot Martin. That would not be consistent with the claim that Zimmerman has made that he shot Martin in self defense, which is why it was ruled out in my earlier commentary. I am speaking of this case in particular, not manslaughter in general, and in this case no one, not even Zimmerman, is postulating that the shooting of Martin was anything other than an intentional act by Zimmerman.

And while it might be possible that charges more serious than manslaughter could be filed by this prosecutor, I don't view that as likely. Murder generally only has two degrees - 1st, which is with malice and aforethought, and 2nd, which is willful, but not planned in advance. The absence of taking it to a grand jury pretty much eliminates a charge of 1st degree murder because all such charges must be presented to a grand jury in Florida. That leaves a lessor degree of murder and manslaughter as possibilities if Zimmerman is going to be charged. Murder charges generally include some other criminal element, that a person was killed during the commission of another felony crime. I am less sure than you are that Martin was killed during the commission of another felony act, which leads me to believe that if Zimmerman is charged at all, the charge will be the one appearing on the initial report that we have all seen - Unnecessary Killing to Prevent Unlawful Act - a manslaughter charge, not a murder charge.

You left out third-degree murder, which Florida has.

Yeah, I didn't mention it specifically like I did 2nd degree - but 3rd degree murder is still a murder committed during the commission of another felony under Florida law - so I covered it even if I failed to mention it.