Friday, April 13, 2012

Two on Zimmerman’s Affidavit

Via Wes

......Trayvon Martin’s mother stated (but later retracted) that she believed Zimmerman’s shooting of Martin was accidental. Such a statement would undermine the 2nd degree murder charge in that such a charge requires it to be shown that the defendant was of a “depraved mind” at the time of the shooting. An accidental killing doesn’t indicate a depraved mind so it was in Ms. Fulton’s best interest to retract that statement.

The affidavit doesn’t point to any evidence of which we were previously unaware. Instead, it indicates that Corey placed an emphasis on three points: the phone conversation between Martin’s girlfriend and Martin right before the incident, and Martin’s mother’s statement that it was her son heard screaming in the background of the 911 call. The former might be considered hearsay and it is as of yet undetermined if we can even show beyond a reasonable doubt that it was Martin heard screaming in the background of that call. If Corey believes she has probable cause to convict on 2nd degree murder, she should have some forensics evidence or eyewitness testimony to back her case up.

More @ Gucci Little Piggy

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If - IF! - the affidavit described above is the arrest warrant mentioned by the Herald, then how did it come to include the details from the cellphone girlfriend? She was brought forward by Martin family attorney Ben Crump after the release of the 911 calls and was originally only going to talk to the Federal investigators [my skepticism about the circumstances of her emergence is here].

The obvious guess is that she (i.e., Mr. Crump) changed her mind and talked to the state investigators, who used her story to update the base affidavit.

More @ Just One Minute

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