Jury in Zimmerman case asks about manslaughter charge - The Globe and Mail
All based upon race and not evidence, split along racial lines same as the OJ trial. Is the jury worried about riots?
“My guess is that they are looking hard at it to settle on manslaughter, that’s what that usually means,” said Teresa Sopp, a Jacksonville-based defense attorney.
Mr. Zimmerman, 29, said Martin attacked him on the night of Feb. 26, 2012, in the central Florida town of Sanford. Prosecutors contend the neighborhood watch coordinator in his gated community was a “wannabe cop” who tracked down the teenager and shot him without justification.
Judge Debra Nelson responded to the note by asking the jury to pose a more specific question about manslaughter.
To convict Mr. Zimmerman of second-degree murder, which carries the possibility of a life prison sentence, the
jury must find Mr. Zimmerman acted with ill will, spite or hatred.
In the case of manslaughter, according to the instructions read by the judge, jurors must find that
Mr.. Zimmerman committed an act “that was not merely negligent, justified or excusable and which caused death.” The crime carries a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
The jurors, who are sequestered, heard 12 days of testimony and two days of closing arguments before entering deliberations.
Although small compared with the protests that erupted after the killing last year, about 100 demonstrators braved the blistering Florida sun to gather outside the Seminole County courthouse as the deliberations proceeded.
Only a handful, including one brandishing a sign that read, “George You Got Hit, You Must Acquit,” appeared to support Mr. Zimmerman.
Carrying placards reading: “Jail the Killer” and “Justice 4 Trayvon,” many called for a murder conviction. Some wore T-shirts with an image of Mr. Zimmerman in the crosshairs of a gun, with the words “Yes Sir ... Creepy *** Cracker” on the back.
“Creepy *** cracker” were the words Martin’s friend Rachel Jeantel told the court he used to describe Mr. Zimmerman on a cell phone call moments before he was shot.
In an interview on CNN, defense attorney Mark O’Mara said Mr. Zimmerman supporters had sent contributions to help pay his legal costs,
which have topped $1-million. He made clear donations identified as coming from white supremacists or obvious racists were not accepted.
And here is where the stink of a Kangaroo Court smells to high heaven
Officials confirmed on Saturday that the office of the special prosecutor fired her information technology director, Ben Kruidbos, who had testified he found evidence on Martin’s cell phone that defense lawyers say the state never turned over.
He received a termination letter from the state attorney’s office on Friday, saying he was “completely untrustworthy” and that he could never again “step foot in this office.”
Mr. Kruidbos testified last month that he found embarrassing photos on Martin’s phone that included pictures of a clump of jewelry on a bed, underage nude females, marijuana plants and a hand holding a semiautomatic pistol.
