Neighborhood Watch guy chases down a kid, shoots him, charged with 2nd-degree murder

[det2orl]

If the additional oversight agrees with the police and the prosecutor, wouldn't that mean additional oversight wasn't actually needed in the first place ?

no

[sseelhoff]

You don't think the DA looked at the police report/evidence/etc and came to the conclusion not to charge zimmerman? if the DA thought this was worthy of a murder charge, zimmerman would have been charged and then arrested. maybe he still will be charged and they are just gathering more information at this time..who knows.

Do you really think the DA reviews every case where there is NOT an arrest? The police declared "no crime" at the scene. A DA is not riding shotgun with the Police. I doubt anyone at the DA's office even knew about this case until it blew up in the media.

[aaugusti]

Kidnapping is a federal and state felony carrying a potential life sentence in prison. If this is not part and parcel of an attempt to incite a race war, would someone please tell me what is?

The new Black Panther Party offered a bounty of $10,000 Saturday for the “capture” of a Florida neighborhood watch captain who killed unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” leader Mikhail Muhammad said after announcing the reward for George Zimmerman at a protest in Sanford, Fla.

Muhammad called on 5,000 black men to mobilize and capture the neighborhood watch volunteer.

“If the government won’t do the job, we’ll do it,” Muhammad said, leading chants that included “freedom or death” and “justice for Trayvon.”

Too bad the DOJ won't do anything about this either.

[pGekko]

I hope the black panthers at least got the address right.

[MoOff24]

Do you really think the DA reviews every case where there is NOT an arrest? The police declared "no crime" at the scene. A DA is not riding shotgun with the Police. I doubt anyone at the DA's office even knew about this case until it blew up in the media.

Where did I say they reviewed everything? Obviously you know more about this stuff than i do but sinceThey know about it now why wouldn't they do a review of something so high profile?

[Vryce101]

When the public opinion includes a lot of legal and law enforcement professionals who state that they cannot believe he wasn't even arrested then its not just to appease public opinion.

So IYO, once the police decide that no crime was committed, that's it? There should be no review of that process? Especially given the fact that someone was killed?

Normally you do your investigation before you arrest anybody, unless there's overwhelming evidence on the scene. From everything that's come out, GZ gave his story to the police, as did the "John" witness as did another witness, Mary Cutcher. Both witnesses backup GZ's story. The physical evidence (injuries to GZ) seem to bare out the story that GZ and the witnesses were giving them as well.

Other than public outrage, what basis do they have for arresting the guy?

[sseelhoff]

Where did I say they reviewed everything? Obviously you know more about this stuff than i do but sinceThey know about it now why wouldn't they do a review of something so high profile?

I'd be willing to bet it is under review now. They would be stupid if they weren't looking at this.

[General283]

I hope to God this isn't headed toward another Duke-Lacrosse type ending.

Didn't the original police chief already resign (maybe temporarily) for not arresting GZ? And GZ is still not arrested given the evidence? So the original PC was scapegoated for really no reason at this point. This is what sucks about the Internet, everyone has an opinion (although the only correct one is "I dont know what happened"), and the pressure costs a guy his job.

[The_Real_Right_Way]

Trayvon Martin Investigator Wanted Manslaughter Charge

By MATT GUTMAN (@mattgutmanABC)
SANFORD, Fla. March 27, 2012

The lead homicide investigator in the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin recommended that neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter the night of the shooting, multiple sources told ABC News.

But Sanford, Fla., Investigator Chris Serino was instructed to not press charges against Zimmerman because the state attorney's office headed by Norman Wolfinger determined there wasn't enough evidence to lead to a conviction, the sources told ABC News.

Police brought Zimmerman into the station for questioning for a few hours on the night of the shooting, said Zimmerman's attorney, despite his request for medical attention first. Ultimately they had to accept Zimmerman's claim of self defense. He was never charged with a crime.

Serino filed an affidavit on Feb. 26, the night that Martin was shot and killed by Zimmerman, that stated he was unconvinced Zimmerman's version of events.

Zimmerman, 28, claimed he shot Martin, 17, in self defense.

One complicating factor in the investigation was that the first detective to interview Zimmerman about the shooting was a narcotics officer rather than a homicide detective.

The State Attorney's office said only "no comment" when asked about the affidavit today.

Full Story

Interesting information.

[MattZ1318]

I hate the media.

[The Great Gazoo]

Spike Lee is Smart

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/...address-trayv/

awesome...I hope they sue the hell out of him...what an ass...and then the guy in Cali, all class...

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...dition-twitter

A school-cafeteria lunch lady and her husband have received hate mail, unwanted visits from reporters and fearful inquiries from neighbors — all because their Sanford-area address is being disseminated on Twitter as belonging to Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, her son said late Tuesday.

The woman, 70, who has a heart condition, and her husband, 72, have temporarily moved to a hotel to avoid the spotlight and possible danger, said son Chip Humble of Longwood.

The woman has another son named William George Zimmerman who lived with her in 1995 and still lives in Central Florida. He is no relation to George Zimmerman, 28, who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Feb. 26, sparking national outrage and international interest.

William Zimmerman isn't sure how his mother and stepfather's address became public. He said he used it to register a car, get a drivers license and vote when he lived there briefly after college.

"This is really scary, and I'm concerned for my family," Zimmerman told the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday night. "It's scary because there are people who aren't mentally right and will take this information and run with it."

Zimmerman traced the tweets — which he said have been retweeted by actor-director Spike Lee — to a man in California. Zimmerman has implored the man to stop and said he received this response, "Black power all day. No justice, no peace" and an obscenity.

Lee's tweet has been removed, but it continues to be retweeted.

"To endanger people who are innocent because people are angry is not the answer," William Zimmerman said. "That's not how we're going to heal. It's not to help the Martin family for someone else to be hurt."