Hey, shit happens UPDATE...Zimmerman lawyer: "Fairly simple but tragic case of self-defense"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Tell that to Trayvon's parents, motherfucker. Oh wait...you just DID.

Zimmerman lawyer: "Fairly simple but tragic case of self-defense"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57409953-504083/george-zimmerman-lawyer-fairly-simple-but-tragic-case-of-self-defense/

Attorney Craig Sonner told 'CBS This Morning' correspondent Anna Werner, "Everyone is jumping the gun, wait, everyone wait...and then let's see what happens."

New Zimmerman lawyer Hal Uhrig told CBS News there's been too much emphasis on race in discussions surrounding the deadly Feb. 26 shooting in Sanford, Fla.

"This is not a guy who has a racial bone in his body," Uhrig said. "Take out issues of race, take out political preferences and so forth, just look at the law and what actually happened - this was a fairly simple but tragic case of self-defense."

Sonner said Zimmerman, who is staying at an undisclosed location and hasn't been seen publicly since the shooting, is "very stressed. This whole incident he has taken it very heard. He's in hiding he can't show his face anywhere because of the death threats against him."

[Ecumenist]

1. Wonder how stressed Trayvon and his family are? Oh wait, Trayvon's dead because some self

important prick hunted him down AND MURDERED HIM after being told not to follow him. zimmy the giggling sociopath is stressed? That's the least he deserves

[Wait Wut]

2. Trayvon didn't get the opportunity to go into hiding...

...when he received a death threat.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. When you are told by dispatch not to follow

Self defense kind of falls appart.

[Junkdrawer]

4. Fairly simple but tragic case of racist Dirty Harry....

He closed with gun drawn and when the kid started to scream, he freaked and fired.

At best...AT BEST... 2nd Degree Murder:

Second Degree Murder in Florida: Murder with a Depraved Mind

Murder with a Depraved Mind occurs when a person is killed, without any premeditated design, by an act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind showing no regard for human life.

http://www.richardhornsby.com/crimes/homicide/second-degree-murder.html#Definition

[anti-alec]

9. No. First degree murder - depraved indifference.

SYG law is not going to save Zimmerman's ass no matter how much he embraces it.

His career and life is over - he's doing life in prison or facing the needle.

[Junkdrawer]

10. At best from Zimmerman's perspective......

Should have been more clear. Especially when Zimmerman defenders are thick as flies.

[spin]

20. I suspect you are right but ...

so far I am unaware of any evidence to back my suspicions up.

Brandishing a weapon is illegal in Florida. A new law does allow the inadvertent flashing of a concealed weapon such as occurs while walking through a parking lot and a wind catches the jacket covering your concealed weapon.

[jwirr]

5. Stalking is not a racial or political issue - it is an action that threatens someone. It was not

the young boy walking down a sidewalk that was stalking anyone.

[Vincardog]

6. Zimmerman's mouth piece has to say this shit in court. WE don't have to pay any attention

to his lies.

[WI_DEM]

7. Well why did your client stalk Trayvon? What laws were Trayvon breaking?

Why did your client go after Trayvon when 911 clearly told him not to? Who brought on this tragedy? your client!!!!

[Zookeeper]

8. Zimmerman is "stressed?'

Well, boo-fracking-hoo...

[frylock]

11. oh, the humanity

[jp11]

12. If only he'd gone into hiding when he spotted the scary

kid in the hoodie with the ice tea, skittles and cell phone instead of stalking him, confronting him then killing him.

[surrealAmerican]

13. He should be stressed ...

... he killed an unarmed 17-year-old. A person who is not stressed by that has a lot wrong with them, even if they think it was "justified".

[Marrah_G]

14. Of course he is going to say that

It's his job.

[rustydog]

15. The Attorney is dead-on correct. Trayvon was defending himself and was murdered

as a consequence.

[amandabeech]

16. Most people here at DU ardently believe that Zimmerman is guilty of 1st degree murder or a high

order manslaughter, and will be extremely upset if Zimmerman is found not guilty by reason of self-defense or is convicted of a lesser included offense that will point toward a light sentence.

Personally, I don't think that it looks terribly good for Zimmerman, but I do not see 1st degree, which would require a well thought-out plan to murder Trayvon. I think this looks like someone with a short fuse acting quickly, and with little or no advance planning.

However, I am an attorney. I have never practiced criminal law (preferring to help small businesses, who by and large were not crooks, carry on their businesses.) Nonetheless, right out of law school, I signed up as an assistant or clerk to a very, very busy judge, and I saw a lot happen from behind the scenes.

I saw so much evidence that looked good on TV fall apart in a court of law. TV sensationalizes many things, but the court system, which goes back to 14th century England or there about, desensationalizes a lot of evidence. And, smart attorneys will leak less to the press than dumb ones, which results in a very different view of the crime by the jury than on TV. Sometimes attorneys will deliberately put out evidence that looks good on TV, on the internet or in the papers in an effort to convince prospective jurors of their case, hoping that one of two of the prejudiced jurors to make their way to the 12 citizen panel and either convince others of the attorneys' "spin" on the case or to refuse to agree with the majority so as to get a mis-trial, and then a trial on a lesser included defense. All games that can be played by either side will be played. Only a good, very experienced judge should sit in this case because he or she will not put up with all the diversionary plays by both the prosecutor and the defendant's attorneys.

All I'm asking is that people here wait to make their judgments based on how things go in court. The court will apply law and precedents that go back a long way and may not always be immediately understood by the viewing public. Nonetheless, in this case, all those laws and precedents will be applied as well as the judges and the lawyers can manage. High interest cases tend to draw the best attorneys and tend to be assigned to highly qualified and highly experienced judges. It would be best if this case went to an African American judge who may have an extra bit of understanding and whose rulings will be seen as legitimate for a large percentage of those interested in the case.

i guess what all this thrashing about on this thread is to encourage DUers to differentiate between trial by TV and internet, which doesn't mean a lot in our system of laws, from trial by jury in the best tradition of American jurisprudence.

[uponit7771]

17. No, people are upset because of the APPERENT racial disparity in the way ZMan is treated

...if this was a black man killing a A-\B+ tall skinny white young male we would NOT have heard about this.

I do NOT understand why people can't see the slap in the face racial implications of ZMan not being arrested at the sight or us even talking about this issue right now.

There was LESS....LESS hard evidence against OJ Simpson at this point in his investigation.

[amandabeech]

19. Please re-read my post.

I was suggesting that people not expect that all of the current assumptions circling the internet and being pushed by the media to look the same once this case is tried.

People can talk about this issue all they like, but evidence often looks different when challenged in court than it does on the internet and on most of the internet newstalk shows who make lots of money from controversy.

I don't like racially motivated crime one bit, but I do like to see cases tried in a court of law rather than on the internet and the media.

[Kaleva]

18. Zimmerman doesn't have to prove anything. The burden is on the state to prove it wasn't self defense