That was reported on MSNBC.

The chief of police went to the murder scene on a Sunday night. Unusual.

The State Attorney was at the police station. More unusual.


Another question: who picked George up?

Did the PD give George a ride to his father's house?

all political donation over $250..

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/issue/

"State attorney Norm Wolfinger stepped down from his role as prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case. Wolfinger relinquished his post after meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi. He said it was necessary for him to step aside to preserve “the integrity of this investigation,” adding he wanted to avoid “the appearance of a conflict of interest.” He did not explain why his continued involvement would damage the integrity of the case or explain the potential conflict he was seeking to avoid. Did anyone at the prosecutor’s office know Zimmerman or his family?"


you might be on to something.

Florida Elections state website? Even for non-statewide offices?

and couldn't find anything.

Frankly, I think folks are barking up the wrong tree by focusing on the father. While I've seen him described as powerful and influential, I've also seem him described as a retired "magistrate" from Virginia -- not exactly a big power broker.

To be honest, I don't know enough about the guy to make a judgment, which is why I think that, until someone has information about the guy, speculating about his role can only put at risk our credibility.

I will add that a google search of Zimmerman's father certainly doesn't provide any support for the claim that he is a powerful, influential person. Basically, he's described as a retired Virginia "magistrate." A "magistrate" is the bottom of the rung in the Virginia judiciary. Until a few years ago you didn't even have to have graduated college, let alone law school, to be a magistrate. Compared to actual judges, the pay sucks too -- between $35K and $65K a year.

A Judge earns a lot of IOUs/goodwill/favors in his position over a career. I'm sure he was QBing the situation with Lee from the beginning and got Wolfinder onboard with how the case would be handled.

I wonder how many times similar cases like this may have happened in the past? I suspect that this was going to be treated as another local cover-up that could be easily managed. But somehow this got amped via the internet and social media...and now the case is beyond their control. It's becoming clearer by the day that there were 2 crimes - a murder of Trayvon and a conspiracy to miscarry justice. This is not going to end well for a lot of peopple, I think.

I've been watching this play out on MSNBC. I have to say, Lawrence O'Donnel's interview of Joe Oliver was one of the most impressive moments I've seen on TV. He methodically took Oliver apart and totally destroyed his credibility as a character witness for Zimmwerman. They ought to show this in Journalism School...he was relentless and control of that interview. Oliver was given any room to spin the interview. I now know why Zimmerman's lawyer bailed on Lawrence the day before.

Crime followed by cover up. Yeah, that about sums it up. Lots of secrets in this county.

Isn't it more likely Zimmerman himself learned about it in his criminal justice classes?

I bet RW criminal justice and legal professionals all around the country track what happens there.

Seminole County has been a test site for many right-wing ideas that are now making it through the legislature.

Illinois since 1961 and Washington State (by court decisions) since about 1917. There are other states as well.

Also check out where he goes to church, and what political power dogs attend the same church.

From there, determine the civic or community organizations he belongs to.

If he didn't call Wolfinger directly, he contacted someone who did.

Keep in mind that this is the way that things happen in this area.

the "You" to which you address your post is ME.

Hundreds of alleged journalists are covering this story for pay. Let's see whether they address any of your, my, and our questions in this thread about why the Zimmermans have so much "juice" with police and prosecutors in Sanford Florida.

I was using "You" as in youse people. Meaning, anyone.

That is not the law. Zimmerman would still be walking around under the old law, just with a different rationale. What you replace SYG with? Duty to retreat is fundamentally unjust for two reasons:
Shifts the burden of proof from the state to you. You have to prove you acted reasonably, which is an arbitrary standard.
Even if you prove your case to a jury that it was a valid case of self defense, the attacker's next of kin can sue you. (although if I understand Wyoming's duty to retreat law correctly, you would be immune from civil action if you prove your case. Many of them do not.)
I doubt he went home with the firearm.

IMO the 180-degree "burden of proof" shift in the Florida Stand Your Ground Law is really absurd. Police are acting as judges and juries on the day of a killing. IMO they should be making ARRESTS on the basis of probable cause to suspect a crime has been committed==probable cause such as a shooting victim who had no weapon.

But "justifiable homicides" have TRIPLED in Florida because now the police must accept any claim of "self defense" unless they have probable cause not to believe the self-defense claim. People are shooting and killling unarmed other people in drunken bar fights, racial profining of their customers, and nonviolent propery crimes, and they are walking off scot-free with their newly-notched firearms in hand.

Last edited Fri Mar 30, 2012, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)

There is always an investigation. Evidence goes to the DA. If the evidence does not match the claim, (unless you have a rich daddy like Zimmerman) you go down. Most of what you read was written by people who did not read the law and have not done any research. Editorials are opinion often fact free. Many claimed that Florida had the first SYG law. Not true. Illinois since 1961. Some states, like Washington State, have been de-facto SYG states even before then.
How many of those homicides were in fact justifiable? Two of them I know are. How many of those claimed, how many were proven not to be, sending the shooter to prison? Under the old law, how many times as the "self defense" defense used? Out of those how many were legitimate self defense but did not meet the jury's arbitrary definition of "reasonable"? How many were convicted because of the wrong race, wrong sexual orientation?
None of these opinion writers or "journalists" bothered to research it. It is not because the want to take guns away, it because they are lazy and don't bother to question conventional wisdom. If you look back, half of them parroted pro Iraq invasion and SS privatization propaganda.

Zimmerman not going to jail had more to do with campaign finance than SYG laws.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46883285
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/28/453675/sanford-police-recommended-charging-zimmerman-with-martins-death/

IMO the 180-degree "burden of proof" shift in the Florida Stand Your Ground Law is really absurd.

No, it's not. It's innocent until presumed guilty. And there's no real difference in that respect than any other state's laws. Every state requires probable cause.

But "justifiable homicides" have TRIPLED in Florida because now the police must accept any claim of "self defense"

One, "justifiable homicides have NOT tripled. Claims of self defense went from 30 a year to 90 a year. Most of the new claims were still convicted and put in prison. The police do not "must" do anything. Also, the law does not protect lethal force for nonviolent property crimes or anything else of the kind.

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?city=NAPLES&st=FL&last=Zimmerman&first=Robert

don't know if he's "The" Robert Zimmerman. But he contributes a lot to Repubs--never more than $250, though

Not the same guy.

nowadays political money travels in all kinds of ways.