Grand Jury for George Zimmerman?

Two weeks ago, I said that special prosecutor Angelo Corey wasn’t going to use a grand jury. But news reports today are talking about the possibility of a grand jury.

I think that if this case is brought to a grand jury, it will only be because Angela Corey wants the grand jury to not indict. She figures she has a losing case, but it’s politically impossible for her to say that. So maybe her plan is to present all of the exculpatory evidence to the grand jury so that the grand jury will not indict. Then she can say “we wanted to try Zimmerman, but the stupid grand jury just wouldn’t indict. It’s not our fault.” Because grand jury proceedings are secret, no one will ever know what went on so they won’t be able to prove that Corey intentionally got the grand jury to not indict.

* * *

I’ve also noticed that news stories about the Trayvon Martin case are fewer in number. I think the MSM is planning on dropping this story as they come to realize that Zimmerman was just an Hispanic being beaten up by a black, and not a cold-blooded white killer who hunted down a little kid and shot him in the back, proving the truth of the belief that white racism is everywhere. Even Al Sharpton is distancing himself. There will never be any apology by the MSM that they got the story completely wrong. No “soul searching” will take place.

OOOPS: NO GRAND JURY

Just reported that there will NOT be a grand jury.

This either means that Corey is going to go ahead with charging Zimmerman, or she is boldly going to announce that Florida is dropping the case. The latter announcement could cause race riots.

Comments

[Jennifer Caplan-Jones]

Nice to see that this fire is starting to lose its steam. Even my black co-workers who were Pro-Trayvon are not talking about this story as much now that all this stuff has come out about him, like those 3 suspensions, and the more recent pics of him. They now say there are other more pressing issues to focus on within the black community.

I bet there are...

[Camlost]

Siggie, your coverage of this issue has been excellent. All of those years in law school have finally paid off !! lol

[Mercy Vetsel]

Yes, the media is ready to move on, but not before several people have been killed and others badly beaten in incidents that likely happened as a result of the utterly gratuitousness stirring up racial tensions.

Over at Racist State they've gotten into the act as well.

It's all really shameful.

-Mercy

[The Engineer]

The problem with trying a case in the the court of public opinion ("the only court that would hear the case", according to the libs at The Daily Show) is that the truth is eventually going to come out, little by little. When you have a conclusion preordained, and the evidence goes against that conclusion, the best thing to do is probably just drop the case and move on to the next thing.

[Forbes]

The prosecutor only needs to present evidence to indict, but were she to present the exculpatory evidence, it likely wouldn't garner the 12 votes necessary to indict, assuming the self-defense--Zim punched, knocked down by Martin, Martin on top pummeling Zim, Zim fires gun while on back on ground--story is confirmed by physical evidence. Probably the only way to bring closure short of a circus.

[Doug1]

As for the first I've just the same thoughts several days ago.

It's the right thing to do. Charging him and making him stand trial will in effect be levying a huge fine on him since it will cost him a huge amount in legal fees and to some extent time during work hours.

That's nonetheless the right think to do when prosecutors think there's a good chance they can convict someone but not when they think there isn't.

[Doug1]

It will be very hard for black leaders or the leftist MSM to get all up in arms over a grand jury's decision not to indict.

My guess is the April 10 date will be extended though.

[JP]

It's either riots now or riots later.

No charge = riots now.

Charge, can't convict = riots later.

[The Undiscovered Jew]

I think she's looking for an excuse to drop the case.

Sure you don't want that shotgun, Sigma? Rev Sharpton & crew are coming to Hymietown...

[Camlost]

There will be ZERO riots.

There's no videotape to whip blacks into a frenzy.

[Turambar]

There is a news report saying that there wont be a Grand Jury.

The speculation is that this means there wont be a capital charge:

"Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey told CBS4′s Gio Benitez that by not using a grand jury, prosecutors will probably not charge Zimmerman with a capital offense.

Additionally, lawyer Janet Johnson, who works in Corey’s jurisdiction, said grand jury are used on “all First Degree Murder cases.”"

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/04/09/grand-jury-will-not-hear-trayvon-martin-case/

[Unbearably Sane]

The 911 call is is enough. It's amazing how many people still think that they're listening to the "innocent black child" calling for help.

Soooo . . . no grand jury. Hmm. Maybe I should go ahead with the machinima project. I'm convinced that some people just can't process text, and don't understand things unless they hear and/or see the things happening.

It's a shame about the grand jury being called off. I was starting to hope that Mr. Zimmerman might someday be able to have a life again, but now he will need to be charged with something in order to placate the mob.

[theakinet]

Two witnesses say they told police Zimmerman was on-top of Martin, police ignored them.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/04/witnesses_mary_cutcher_and_selma_mora_offer_their_account_of_what_happened_the_night_trayvon_martin_died_.html

[Tanizaki]

"The speculation is that this means there wont be a capital charge"

It is not just speculation. The Florida constitution requires a grand jury indictment for a defendant to be tried for a capital crime.

[HS: There was never going to be a capital charge, because there's no "malice aforethought." It's a "manslaughter" charge that is being considered.]

[Lexus Liberal]

The mass media already created a huge circus and tainted any possibility of an unbiased jury pool. If this case goes forward, Zimmerman's defense will likely ask for and get a change of venue. Likely to a pro-gun heavily Republican state.

This case is a total dog, as soon as there were multiple witnesses testifying that Martin was the aggressor and Zimmerman acted in self-defense.

Lawyers know when they can win, she would have charged him already, if she believed that she could win. Now she is preoccupied with passing it off to another prosecutor or grand jury, so that it doesn't taint her record and reputation.

[HS: It's a Florida case which probably has to be tried in Seminole County (although I don't know anything about Florida rules of jurisdiction, but that's a reasonable guess).

It's not clear that there's a federal crime here at all. The Feds would have to prove there's a hate crime, and there's no evidence of that at all. ]

[Doug1]

Zimmerman's gonna get charged.

Why on earth wouldn't Corey use the very substantial buffer of the Grand Jury deciding not to indite against black indignation and threats of rioting, if she hadn't decided to charge Zimmerman?

It's POSSIBLE that's she just really scrupulously non political in this, and that since she's never used a grand jury in another claimed self defense homicide case she won't here. But unlikely.

Hey half sigma, can't you institute some trusted commenter filter obviating the requirement of moderating those comments before the fact?

[HS: The grand jury is risky--no matter what you WANT them to do, they could always to the opposite.]

[lil mike]

theakinet writes

"Two witnesses say they told police Zimmerman was on-top of Martin, police ignored them."

That comment is a pretty good example of how the news media has presented evidence in this case, distorted and incorrect. The witnesses saw Zimmerman standing over Martin's body; after he had been shot.

Nice try though. Sounds like you're ready for professional journalism. I hear the Today show has a producer position open.

[jon]

Either way, Corey seems stupid. She is stupid if she does not realize that it's lost case. And if she does, she is stupid with proceeding with it instead of going with the grand jury and washing her hands of the whole mess.

[bl]

Over at The Wagist, Dan L. put up a post a few days ago that shows that

"The Sanford Police Department removed much of the content from the Trayvon Martin Investigation page today, per the request of the State Attorney, replacing it with the following note:

'The office of the State Attorney, 4th Judicial Circuit, State Attorney Angela Corey has requested that the City of Sanford remove all reports, videos and audio pertaining to the Martin/Zimmerman case from the website. Their office has provided legal justification for the action and they believe further access to the information will have an adverse effect on their efforts to come to a resolution to this investigation.'

"It appears that the three main PDFs removed were these:
◦Twin Lakes Shooting Initial Report
◦George Zimmerman 911 Call History
◦Burglary Reports

"The Sanford police station intake videos are also now private on YouTube. Which isn’t a big loss because there isn’t much interesting in them beyond what we’ve already seen and discussed here.

Zimmerman’s emergency call and the other 911 calls are gone as well."

Thankfully, many posters have preserved the PDF files, but one has to think that the special prosecutor may have had them removed to reduce the number of people who would have been exposed to them, thereby not limiting the jury pool more than it already has been.

To me, this suggests she may charge Z. with something.

[Kiwiguy]

Hispanic views on Zimmerman.

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/07/trayvon_polls_ignore_latinos/

[polyiguana]

The best, least non-riotous solution would probably be charge and have the jury hang in favor of not guilty, but not actually return a not guilty verdict. Then the decision not to go forward could be made further off, when interest has died down. Look at the Johannes Mehserle case. After talk of Federal civil rights violations, Mehserle served the relatively short involuntary manslaughter time and the Feds have remained silent, and no protests have gained traction.