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Zimmerman Will Try Stand Your Ground Defense
August 10, 2012
Lawyers for George Zimmerman confirmed Wednesday that he will assert a “stand your ground” defense, although a judge would determine in a hearing whether he ultimately can claim to have acted in self defense under the Stand Your Ground law.
That means there could essentially be a “mini-trial” ahead of any possible actual second degree murder trial for Zimmerman’s shooting earlier this year of Trayvon Martin, and it could lead to charges being dropped.
The Sanford shooting case, in which Zimmerman has claimed self defense all along, has been watched nationally, in part because of the racial overtones involved, but also because it put the state’s relatively new self defense statute under a microscope, even though the defense has been used numerous times.
“Now that the State has released the majority of their discovery, the defense asserts that there is clear support for a strong claim of self-defense,” Zimmerman’s defense team said on a website set up for it to communicate with the public. “Consistent with this claim of self-defense, there will be a ‘Stand Your Ground’ hearing.”
Many of the arguments and much of the evidence that would be presented at trial could first be aired at such a hearing, in which the judge would decide whether the case fits the “Stand Your Ground” statute, which says that people who feel legitimately threatened have the right to meet force with force. The burden would be on the defense to prove that the case fits the circumstances laid out in that law. If they do prove that, charges against Zimmerman would be dropped.
Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney, said on the website that it will take time to prepare for such a hearing and urged “everyone to be patient during this process and to reserve judgment until the evidence is presented in the ‘Stand Your Ground’ hearing.”
O’Mara’s posting on the website is the first time the defense team has acknowledged that it will use the Stand Your Ground defense.
Ben Crump, the Tallahassee-based attorney for the Martin family, said in a statement that he believed the “stand your ground” claim would be rejected and the matter would be decided in a jury trial.
Zimmerman was charged by a special state prosecutor, Angela Corey, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to take on the case after an uproar from the public when charges hadn’t been filed in the shooting. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, shot Martin at near point blank range in February after following him in a gated community. Zimmerman said Martin was suspicious – there had been break-ins in the neighborhood, and subsequently said he was attacked by Martin.
By The News Service of Florida
Comments
18 Responses to “Zimmerman Will Try Stand Your Ground Defense”
Mr. Green, I apologize for misspelling your name. I am 77 years old and do not see as well as I used to. The name looked like Hule to me. I had my grand daughter show me that is is Huie. I hope that you will not have to wonder anymore. I am wondering why you feel the need in correcting every comments grammar, spelling and punctuation? I believe this site was developed for people to share ideas and opinions on the article. My point is that many of the people posting have already passed judgment on the accused.
Pete: not perfect and not trying to convince others I am.
REGARDING:
“David Hule Green: We do not know if he is innocent or guilty.”
You mean just because somebody who was hundreds of miles away says something, that doesn’t automatically make it true or false?
This is SOOOO confusing.
David the befuddled
still wondering how hard Huie is to spell
The media needs to report only facts. There is no way that Mr. Zimmerman can get an unbiased jury.
Ins: we do not know that he is innocent or guilty.
David Hule Green: We do not know if he is innocent or guilty.
Let our justice system work everyone needs to stop passing judgment. The trial will be given the facts. Facts that we will not get. The jurors have a civil obligation to make a verdict based on the facts.
Smokey: I do think the media has influenced this case, but no more that they did the OJ Simpson murder trial.
@DJS
It hasn’t failed yet. Why should this time be any different?
Can’t wait to see the outcome of this trial! It has been extremely interesting to watch. Like several other trials over the past couple of years, we shall wait and see if the race card wins once again…just my opinion!
“billy bob was you there can you really say he is innocent no like i can’t say otherwise only god knows the truth …… thy shall not kill have you heard of that??????”
Meemaw, I hate to break it to you but, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Zimmerman may have made a mistake by getting out of his car. That said, the actions by Martin, who was younger–bigger–and stronger were wrong. There are two big road blocks in this case. The judge has acted as if he has decided Zimmerman is guilty based on his rulings. Then the city government in Sanford got into the act to keep peace because of out of town racial agitators yelling “race”. Add the governor and president and what chance does Zimmerman have. There was a case some what like this at Duke in N.C. a couple of years ago where a “hooker”who was to dance as a stripper said she was raped by a group of students. The prosecutor pushed the case very hard. It was found that DNA found on the woman did not match the DNA on the students who had been arrested. The prosecutor had with held this information from the defense team. The case was over turned later when the DNA results were discovered. The “hooker” admitted the DNA came from a “trick” she had turned on the way over and that she was just trying to get some money out of the students. The prosecutor was charge and did a little jail time and disbarred. The same out of town agitators had shown up at Duke as in this case. Hang in there young Mr Zimmerman and the same for his wife.
REGARDING:
“YOU don’t know he’s innocent..”
True.
We don’t.
Therefore, he MUST be guilty.
Right?
David wondering
CONSIDERING:
“If someone was following me in the dark I would be scared.”
If I had any sense, I would be too.
And if I were scared of some stranger following me in the dark, would I approach him or go to a place of safety? Well, I think I know what I would do, but wonder if you would too.
David for light, noise,
distance and barriers
thou shalt not kill unless thee is trying to kill thou. I’m sure he’d understand…
INS, if you were familiar with the “stand your ground law” then you would know that a weapon doesn’t have to be used in order for you to fear for your life. I am a female and I never leave home without my gun on my hip and if ever I am anywhere,including my house, and I feel that my life/safety or the life/safety of anybody else around me was being threatened(with or without a weapon) I wouldn’t hesitate to put down the threat.
If someone was following me in the dark I would be scared.
billy bob was you there can you really say he is innocent no like i can’t say otherwise only god knows the truth …… thy shall not kill have you heard of that??????
thank u smokey u asked the same as i was going to of ins. ins maybe one day u will fall in to the same place zimmerman did u could be leaving wal-mart target or any store in the area and some one comes up and starts beat the crap out of u kicking u in the ribs slamming ur head in the road or side walk maybe the ground in ur yard and u are loosing this fight and need help sorry i will not help u because the person does not have a weapon and if by some chance u kill them maybe they will get u for murder it has already been shown that z was loosing a fight from the face to the blood on the back of the head plus martin was bigger in hight and reach but how could martin be a bad kid that pic when he was 12 was so cute maybe they should have showed zimmermans pic at 12 and america could have decided who was at falt
hey INS If people who think he’s innocent can’t know because they weren’t there, how can you say it was premeditated? You some kind of psycic?I think the media has influinced this case more than any other case in history by printing a one sided story over and over. If you listen to Z’s story, he did what he had to do.He was there,you and the liberal,gun hating media wasn’t.
He wasent standing his ground.. U have to 1st have a weapon pulled on u 2 stand ur ground.. He reacted off of what he thought .. He wasent standing his grounds.. It is clearly premeditated.. It’s amaz’n how people cry the person is innocent but if it was their child or relative then they would want the full punishment for the person.. U don’t know he’s innocent.. Unless u were there.. & if u were there did u have anything 2 do with it??
Ditto!
Hang in there George…….we know you’re innocent..