Gun Free Zone

There is one quote that has been bothering me since I read it, but I have not been feeling well lately so it did not take till a while ago talking to the wife. Warning: This is all a huge speculation on my part mixed with very limited knowledge of legal procedures.

The quote is the original statement by Sandford Police Chief Bill Lee about the Trayvon Martin shooting:

“Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him,”

And it hits me: That does not mean that he will not be arrested in the future if evidence, witnesses or even a confession can be obtained.  Zimmerman is not scott free as people think.

I am gonna wing it here so, legal eagles, correct and enhance as you see fit. Cases can be re-opened, we know that. But once a “person of interest” becomes a suspect, certain basic legalities MUST be observed. And if he is arrested, a legal clock and a whole ‘nother load of legalities come into play such as the right to a speedy trial.

Going to trial with weak evidence is a crapshot of the highest magnitude. And I do mean the legal evidence, not what gets selectively published by the Media and regurgitated by Pundits. Whomever is the judge in a high profile case like this will see that every comma is followed in this regard so many of the crap floating around or suddenly “discovered” by certain media hungry lawyers probably will not be admitted. The prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and the defense will do its best to create such doubt which will be easy if witnesses (there are so far no eye witnesses) inject their prejudices to the case and the evidence is weak.

With a case weak in evidence, there are three probable outcomes: Guilty (doubtful), Mistrial (Probably) and Not Guilty (fair chance.) A guilty decision on a badly presented case will have a good chance to be killed on appeal necessitating a new trial. Same goes for a mistrial if the prosecution feels it can win the new trial or if it doesn’t, Zimmerman lives with the fear of another trial but not behind bars. The not-guilty immediately triggers the protection of Double Jeopardy and Zimmerman walks a free man.

By now Zimmerman is probably so lawyered up not even Eric Holder with a SWAT team of DOJ lawyers can get close to him. I am doubtful that we will hear another word from Zimmerman unless is through his lawyer and only to say he is innocent. And even if the Department of Justices decides to play Kangaroo Kourt and charge Zimmerman, they are facing the same problems the locals have plus the fact that the conduct of the DOJ under this administration has been less than stellar and borderline criminal.

So, whatever incriminating remarks that he could have made in the future are pretty much gone and buried inside him. And whatever investigation on the sly that the Sandford Police might have going has gone to the crapper because somebody decided than rather than wait, the case should be tried in the Court of TV presided by the Honorable Nancy Grace and prosecuted by the Rev. Al Sharpton.

And true injustice in this case is that we will never know the truth of what happened.

If it is any indication, the followers of the Coalition to Stop Gun Rights Violence are not the brightest color in the Unicorn Farting Rainbow.

I wondered what state demands background checks and psych evaluations to drive a car, so I checked her info:

Arizona does not require all that crap to get a drivers license. What truly amazed me is that she went to Rutgers Law which is supposed to be a good law school. And yet Ms. Wagner has not figured out the laws of Arizona regarding the issue of a Drivers License. Tuition at Rutgers Law is $34,010 for non-resident, do I smell another wasted student loan here?

But I would like to recommend Ms. Wagner to Ladd & Co. so she can be part of their legal team,

In the Miami Herald’s article Grand jury to probe Trayvon Martin killing, there are some things that are making me think this is not going to be the cakewalk to eradicate the Stand Your Ground law.

The first one is obviously that they case goes to the Grand Jury. Brevard County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger decision to go that route may indicate that after careful examination of the evidence presented to them, he cannot afford the political explosion that it surely come if he said that there is nothing indicating that the shooting was not within the parameters of the law. Wolfinger, a Republican is up for re-election this year and there is already a Democrat registered to contest him.  Even though there are more registered Republicans than Democrats in Seminole County, the number of Independents can shift an election. Leaving the decision to the Grand Jury to charge or not Zimmerman with a crime shields him from a possible fallout.

The second is the statement given by the Department of Justice.

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “The department also is providing assistance to and cooperating with the state officials in their investigation into the incident. With all federal civil rights crimes, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person acted intentionally and with the specific intent to do something which the law forbids — the highest level of intent in criminal law.

“Negligence, recklessness, mistakes and accidents are not prosecutable under the federal criminal civil rights laws.”

The last part caught my attention. It sounds like DOJ is already preparing the table to say that the case does not fall under federal purview. Not being a lawyer, I’d say that if he is brought to trial, the prosecution will aim for manslaughter instead of murder. It would be much easier (and if the evidence says so) to obtain either a conviction or a plea deal. Still it would be pushing it. The definition of manslaughter according to Florida Statutes is “The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification.”  So, it is very possible that DOJ already perused the Martin case file and thought it would be best to add that little disclaimer.

The last bit is also very interesting:

Police Chief Bill Lee told The Miami Herald that he was comfortable that his investigators were fair and thorough.

“I can say very confidently we would welcome any outside entity that wants to come look at what we did,” Lee said last week. “They are welcome to come here and look at it. We have not done anything but conduct a fair and complete investigation.”

I knew that Instant Gratification was bad in this day and age, but geez!

Created by: Online Graduate Programs

Thanks to Tony Shin for providing the graphic.

It would take all of my self control to be nice and polite to these idiots.

What would really happen in real life after the words “Get off my lawn.” were uttered?

DERANGED KOREAN VET DIES IN CONFRONTATION WITH POLICE.
Had threatened teens earlier with an assault rifle.

KAKA-TV
(Highland Park)

A Korean veteran that threatened a group of teens with an M1 assault rifle for stepping on his front lawn, was shot and killed by Highland Park SWAT team when he refused to put down the weapon. Walt Kowalski (81) was known in the racially mixed neighborhood as a irascible man who would not associate with others. According to neighbors, he would usually use epithets against the mostly H’Mong population in his street. “Badgers,” “Spooks,” “Zipperheads” were common expression Kowalski used against Asian Americans according to Sue Lor, a neighbor.

According to the police report, the night before the confrontation with police, a group of local kids were horse playing next door when two of them accidentaly landed on Kowalski’s front lawn. Witnesses say that Kowalski came out of the house aiming his rifle to the teens and demanding that they leave or that he “blow a hole in your face and then I go in the house and I sleep like a baby.”

The teens ran away afraid for their lives and called 911. One of the teens filmed the event on his cell phone and turned it to the authorities. Due to the possible danger, police decided to use the SWAT team to arrest Kowalski. The neighborhood was evacuated and the SWAT team executed a no-knock warrant on Kowalski’s home which ended up with the shooting that took his life.

Local priest Father Janovich commented that Kowalski had been angry, depressed and despondent after the death of his wife some months earlier. “I guess her death affected him more than we could imagine. He was irascible and abusive with everybody even calling me a ‘over-educated, 27-year-old virgin who held the hand of superstitious old women and promised them eternity.’ There is no doubt he had problems.”