George Zimmerman murder charge sets up hurdles for prosecutors in Trayvon Martin shooting

(CBS/AP) SANFORD, Fla. - Prosecutors face steep hurdles to win a second-degree murder conviction against neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, experts say.

Zimmerman was charged after a public campaign to make an arrest in the shooting that galvanized the nation for weeks. Now the prosecutor and her team will have to prove Zimmerman intentionally went after Martin instead of shooting him in self-defense, to refute arguments that a Florida law empowered him to use deadly force.

Zimmerman, 28, who turned himself in at a county jail Wednesday after prosecutor Angela Corey announced the charge, was to appear before a magistrate Thursday and plead not guilty in the Feb. 26 shooting of the 17-year-old that set off a nationwide debate about racial profiling and the rights to self-defense.

Special Section: Trayvon Martin Shooting
Lawyer to seek Zimmerman's release on bond
Trayvon Martin's parents "at ease" after arrest

His attorney, Mark O'Mara, said on "CBS This Morning" Thursday that he'll seek his client's release on bond in court Thursday, saying he posed no flight risk. (Watch interview at left.)

"He's frustrated. He's tired. He's stressed. So, we just need to sort of take it one day at a time," O'Mara told co-hosts Erica Hill, Gayle King and Charlie Rose.

On Wednesday, O'Mara said Zimmerman was concerned about getting a fair trial.

"He is a client who has a lot of hatred focused on him. I'm hoping the hatred settles down ... he has the right to his own safety and the case being tried before a judge and jury," O'Mara said.

Trayvon Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, said on "CBS This Morning" that they were "at ease," "excited" and "overwhelmed" by Zimmerman's arrest.

"I felt a little bit at ease knowing that he had been apprehended, that he had turned himself in," said Tracy Martin, "and knowing that he wouldn't be able to possess a firearm after being arrested any more, knowing that he wouldn't be able to take another 17-year-old's life."

However, Fulton, who has campaigned with the rest of the family for an arrest and prosecution, said she thought the shooting was an accident.

Asked on NBC's "Today" what she would say to Zimmerman face-to-face, Fulton said she wanted an apology, then added: "I believe it was an accident. I believe that it just got out of control and he couldn't turn the clock back." She did not say more about how she thinks the shooting happened.

Legal experts said Corey chose a tough route with the murder charge, which could send Zimmerman to prison for life if he's convicted, over manslaughter, which usually carries 15-year prison terms and covers reckless or negligent killings.

The prosecutors must prove Zimmerman's shooting of Martin was rooted in hatred or ill will and counter his claims that he shot Martin to protect himself while patrolling his gated community in the Orlando suburb of Sanford. Zimmerman's lawyers would only have to prove by a preponderance of evidence — a relatively low legal standard — that he acted in self-defense at a pretrial hearing to prevent the case from going to trial.

There's a "high likelihood it could be dismissed by the judge even before the jury gets to hear the case," Florida defense attorney Richard Hornsby said.

Timeline of events in Trayvon Martin case
Fla. special prosecutor seen as "tenacious"

Corey announced the charges Wednesday after an extraordinary 45-day campaign for Zimmerman's arrest, led by Martin's parents and civil rights activists, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Protesters wore hooded sweatshirts like the one Martin had on the night of the shooting. The debate reached all the way to the White House, where President Barack Obama observed last month: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

Corey would not discuss how she reconciled conflicting accounts of the shooting by Zimmerman, witnesses and phone recordings that indicated Martin thought Zimmerman was following him.

"We do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition. We prosecute based on the facts on any given case as well as the laws of the state of Florida," Corey said.

Many attorneys said they had expected the prosecutor to opt for the lesser charge of manslaughter. The most severe homicide charge, first-degree murder, is subject to the death penalty in Florida and requires premeditation — something all sides agreed was not present in this case.

"I predicted manslaughter, so I'm a little surprised," said Michael Seigel, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at the University of Florida. "But she has more facts than I do."

O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney, said his client would plead not guilty and invoke Florida's so-called "stand your ground" law, which gives people wide latitude to use deadly force rather than retreat during a fight.

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[audemus]

I believe the prosecution would be hard pressed to get even a manslaughter conviction in this case. If the law is strictly adhered to, and not deviated from, Zimmerman did not commit a crime....if Zimmerman is convicted, it would be a figurative lynching because of the public outcry for his head. Fortunately, justice is not a popularity contest....allegedly.

[occupy_cbs]

The conservative 'Daily Caller' did learn that georgie zimmerman had a MySpace account whose username was "datniggytb."


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/11/zimmermans-myspace-nickname-included-datniggy-family-insists-on-innocent-explanation/#ixzz1rwyBcV2n

[occupy_cbs]

EmpireGeorge: "Very few witnesses, but yet YOU know what happened."




No georgie, there were NO "eyewitneses" at all, yet sean hannity and both zimmerman's daddy and estranged brother know what happened!

Just ask them......

[rkclimber]

BOND?!!?? I guess these lawyers would let Manson out if he paid them enough.

[occupy_cbs]

Prosecutors: Zimmerman ignored dispatcher warning

"When the police dispatcher realized Zimmerman was pursuing Martin, he instructed Zimmerman not to do that and that the responding officer would meet him. Zimmerman disregarded the police dispatcher and continued to follow Martin who was trying to return to his home."

[Lubricano]

The phone lines between Washington DC and Gainsville FL are burning
up with Holder and his DOJ saying to the Florida Special Prosecuter
that Zimmerman has to be convicted as we do not need Florida to burn
down while my boss is trying to get relected. Not unlike the OJ case
when LA black leaders met with LA law to get them to promise OJ would
not get a death sentence if proven guilty. Either way Zimmerman is
screwed.

[arthanyel]

Conservative propaganda, 100% fact free. The DOJ is not even involved in the case unless it can be demonstrated it was a hate cirme, which is extremely unlikely.

[Lubricano]

The DOJ is not involved. Do you read the papers or internet on
Holders remarks? Are you living on planet earth? I remember old
broke nose Maxine screaming on TV abouth those "Koreans" on the top
of their buildings with rifles protecting their property. The Zimmerman issue has all of the earmarks of what happened before
the LA riots. Defendents acquited riots begin. Neither candidate
wants this to happen but especially Obama for obvious reasons.

[dresia]

If only Zimmerman had listened to the 911 dispatcher to leave Martin alone. If only Zimmermand had not racially profiled Martin just because of his dress ware. There are no winners in this case. An innocent boy with Skiddles and something to drink was follwed, persued and shot dead and now Zimmerman's head is on the block. What ever way you look at it, Zimmerman is done. Though he's charged with second degree murder, jail time is and will be a death sentence for him. Zimmerman should have obeyed the dispatcher when he told him we don't need you to follow him. Now, Zimmerman will pay the conseqences sad to say.

[ugacrew]

Lets talk about the "real cop killers," and my message is directed at all the wives and family members of the real dedicated, hardworking, and highly respected members of the police force and there are thousands. These officers wear their uniforms everyday with great pride and dignity. They have trained very hard and faced many untold threats and continue to do so on a daily basis. Their families are extremely proud of them and should be, and most intelligent people respect them and hold them in high esteem, I do.

When wanna be cops who have no training commit horrible acts like this in the name of one of our fully trained and dedicated police officers and is allowed to walk away from it unscathed, they plant strong hate, resentment and bitterness towards all who wear that uniform. Through little or no fault of their own, these officers' jobs are made more dangerous everyday because these type of acts causes people to harbor unjustified hate against them. They jobs become more dangerous everytime they walk out of the door. The people who perpetrate such acts are real cop killers. Somewhere at at any given time, some fine police officer will fall victim to this hate.
Wives and family members, you should be on the front of the line of these protests demanding that anyone who impersonates an untrained police officer be held fully accountable because you husband/father/son/daughter's life is on the line, not to mention innocent victims.

[ugacrew]

Riverjump,

They are all you've got and I bet you wouldn't hesitate to call them if you needed them. Without them and their efforts, like them or not, you would live in a completely uncivilized society.

[KRedcorn]

What does this have to do with Police Officers?? Because Zimmerman was in School and wanted to someday become a police officer?? Lets just stick to the Facts of this case.No one will want to kill cops because Zimmerman shot a 6'2" 170Lb.kid that was pounding his head into the sidewalk. Just because some of you are Hell bent on revenge has nothing to do with the out come of this case!

[ugacrew]

I have thought about this law and some of its possible provisions. Here's one. Don't like somebody? If you live in sunny Florida, you may be in luck. First stalk him. Then provoke him enough to start a confrontation. Once he attempts to defend himself, shoot him and then claim "Self- Defense" under the Stand Your Ground Law." Whose to say you really did not fear for your life? Who can prove that?
Its just that simple.

[arthanyel]

It is easy to prove that it is not self defense, which is why Zimmerman is in jail now. Stalkin someone and precipitating the incident automatically defeats "self defense" claims.

[arthanyel]

Zimmerman precipitated the incident. He didn't have to walk up to Martin, he did not have to question him. That means he has liability. It doesn't mean he committed murder. But self-defense claims are easily overturned when the "victim" created the incident in the first place, and especially when the dead party was unarmed.

[ugacrew]

Why should you go to school or train to be a policeman when you can act like a real one, kill somebody, and not worry about being held accountable? You can do the same thing without all that. Be a neighborhood watchman!

[arthanyel]

Liberal propaganda, 100% fact free. Official Neighborhood Watch programs SPECIFICALLY state that they are NOT to carry guns. And self efense are not, and should not be, a license to be a vigilante.

[arthanyel]

Hail_George: untrue. You can only defend yourself with lethal force if you or someone else are in "imminent danger of great bodily harm or death." Just getting physical isnt enough. Rape, assault with a deadly weapon, those are enough. An unarmed 17 year old pushin you is not.