Miami – Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey likely has an uphill climb to prove that George Zimmerman acted with the malicious intent required to convict him of second-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, legal experts say.
Experts also expect Zimmerman’s new lawyer, Mark O’Mara, to rely on the state’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law to try to have the murder charge dismissed by a judge without a trial.
Zimmerman, 28, was acting as a neighborhood watch patrolman in a townhouse community in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando, on Feb. 26 when he and Trayvon got into a confrontation behind a row of homes. Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon, who was unarmed and had been in Sanford visiting his father’s girlfriend.
It’s unclear who started the confrontation. Zimmerman told police that Trayvon attacked him and began pounding his head on a sidewalk before Zimmerman fired his gun.
Legal experts said the circumstances of the shooting suggest that prosecutors will have a hard time proving that Zimmerman was acting with a “depraved mind” when he pulled the trigger – the standard for second-degree murder.
“Based on the available facts, it’s a huge overreach,” said Miami defense attorney John Priovolos, a former prosecutor, who said Corey will be hard pressed to show Zimmerman had “ill-will, spite, malice or hatred” needed to prove a “depraved mind.”
Former Miami-Dade senior prosecutor David Waksman cautioned that the public must wait for all the evidence to be unveiled, but acknowledged that “this is not going to be an easy case.”
“I think if (Zimmerman) had a bloody nose and some sort of injury to the back of his head, that’s going to be pretty good corroboration to whatever story he came up with,” Waksman said.
Some experts said the prosecutor may have made a tactical decision to charge Zimmerman with the highest possible crime. One reason: The more severe charge keeps him behind bars for now. In Florida, someone facing a murder charge cannot post bond unless a judge holds a hearing and allows bond to be set.
And even if the evidence against Zimmerman isn’t strong, prosecutors can hope he strikes a plea bargain for a lesser charge such as manslaughter – or risk losing at trial, where he could be slammed with a long sentence.
“Now, he’s in a position of having to throw all his eggs in one basket and risk going to trial, and if he’s convicted, his life is over,” said veteran South Florida defense lawyer Jack Blumenfeld.
The difference between second-degree murder and manslaughter is significant. A conviction for second-degree murder with a firearm can carry a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison; manslaughter carries no minimum sentence.
But Zimmerman’s case may never get to a jury.
Under Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, a person may not be prosecuted for using deadly force if the person “reasonably believes” he or she is in life-threatening danger. Zimmerman’s lawyer could ask a judge to dismiss the charges if he can prove that it was more likely than not that the defendant was acting in self-defense – a lower standard of proof than the prosecutors must bear at a jury trial.
Even if a judge declined to toss out the charges, Zimmerman still would be able to raise the Stand Your Ground law as a defense at trial, along with other traditional self-defense claims. But each of these defenses can come with a risk: Zimmerman may then have to testify in his own defense and face cross-examination from prosecutors.
“Second-degree murder is a difficult charge to prosecute in a situation like this,” said longtime defense attorney Bill Matthewman. “I think there are several potential defenses.”
In a press conference announcing the murder charge Wednesday evening, Corey would not offer details about the evidence that supports the murder charge. The Duval County State Attorney’s Office, which stepped in to prosecute the case at Gov. Rick Scott’s request less than three weeks ago, did not release any arrest reports detailing the investigators’ probable cause.
She said her team considered Zimmerman’s self-defense arguments before determining that the evidence merited a murder charge.
“If it becomes an issue in this case, we’ll fight that affirmative defense,” she said.
Another potential issue: where to hold the trial. High-profile cases are often moved to other jurisdictions to ensure that a defendant receives a fair trial from a pool of jurors free of the influence of public pressure and pre-trial publicity.
But with Zimmerman’s case becoming such a fixture on national cable news, it’s not certain that any Florida county would be a better location for the trial. “I don’t think you get past the problem of potentially tainted jurors,” Matthewman said.
A day after Zimmerman’s two former lawyers held a press conference to announce their withdrawal and complain about him, Zimmerman on Tuesday hired O’Mara, a veteran Orlando-area attorney with almost 30 years of experience. O’Mara is board-certified in both criminal trial practice and in family law, and he’s handled high-profile murder cases in the past. He’s also the past president of the Seminole County Bar Association, and he’s been a legal analyst for an Orlando television station.
© 2012 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Truthout has licensed this content. It may not be reproduced by any other source and is not covered by our Creative Commons license.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy