{"id":10809,"date":"2013-07-20T07:45:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-20T14:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=10809"},"modified":"2013-07-20T08:08:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T15:08:02","slug":"zimmerman-trial-jury-instructions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/zimmerman-trial-jury-instructions\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimmerman Trial Jury Instructions"},"content":{"rendered":"

In trying to assess the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, two seemingly conflicting truths emerge. Based on the case presented by the state, and based on Florida law, George Zimmerman should not have been convicted of second degree murder or manslaughter. It’s important to take\u00a0a very hard look<\/a>\u00a0at the qualifications allowed for aggressors by Florida’s self-defense statute:<\/p>\n

Use of force by aggressor<\/strong>.–The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:(1) Is attempting to commit, committing, or escaping after the commission of, a forcible felony; or<\/p>\n

(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless: (a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or (b) In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The importance of this isn’t being appreciated. Effectively, one can bait you into a fight and if he\/she starts losing, they can can legally kill you, provided they “believe” they’re subject to “great bodily harm.” It is then the state’s job to prove — beyond a reasonable doubt — that they either did not actually fear for their life, or thier fear was unreasonable. In the case of George Zimmerman, even if the state proved that he baited an encounter (and it not certain they did) they still must prove that he had no reasonable justification to fear for his life. You see very similar language in the actual instructions\u00a0given to the jury<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In deciding whether George Zimmerman was justified in the use of deadly force, you must judge him by the circumstances by which he was surrounded at the time the force was used.\u00a0The danger facing George Zimmerman need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force. Based upon appearances, George Zimmerman must have actually believed that the danger was real.<\/b>If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be,\u00a0he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself<\/b>\u00a0or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There has been a lot of complaint that “stand your ground” has nothing to do with this case. That contention is contravened by the fact it is cited in the instructions to the jury. Taken together, it is important to understand it is not enough for the state to prove George Zimmerman acted unwisely in following Martin. Under Florida law, George Zimmerman had no responsibility to — at any point — retreat. The state was required to prove Zimmerman had no reasonable fear for his life. Moreover, it is not enough for the jury to find Zimmerman’s story fishy. Again the jury instructions:<\/p>\n

George Zimmerman has entered a plea of not guilty.\u00a0This means you must presume or believe George Zimmerman is innocent.<\/b>\u00a0The presumption stays with George Zimmerman as to each material allegation in the Information through each stage of the trial unless it has been overcome by the evidence to the exclusion of and beyond a reasonable doubt. To overcome George Zimmerman’s presumption of innocence, the State has the burden of proving the crime with which George Zimmerman is charged was committed and George Zimmerman is the person who committed the crime.\u00a0George Zimmerman is not required to present evidence or prove anything.<\/b><\/p>\n

Whenever the words “reasonable doubt” are used you must consider the following: A reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt, a speculative, imaginary or forced doubt. Such a doubt must not influence you to return a verdict of not guilty if you have an abiding conviction of guilt. On the other hand if, after carefully considering, comparing and weighing all the evidence, there is not an abiding conviction of guilt, or,\u00a0if having a conviction, it is one which is not stable but one which wavers and vacillates, then the charge is not proved beyond every reasonable doubt and you must find George Zimmerman not guilty because the doubt is reasonable.<\/b><\/p>\n

It is to the evidence introduced in this trial, and to it alone, that you are to look for that proof.<\/p>\n

A reasonable doubt as to the guilt of George Zimmerman may arise from the evidence, conflict in the evidence, or the lack of evidence.<\/p>\n

If you have a reasonable doubt, you should find George Zimmerman not guilty. If you have no reasonable doubt, you should find George Zimmerman guilty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was the job given to the state of Florida. Nothing was seen\u00a0within the actual case presented<\/em>\u00a0by the prosecution that allowed for a stable and unwavering belief George Zimmerman was guilty.<\/p>\n

“To blame the poor for subsisting on welfare has no justice unless we are also willing to judge every rich member of society by how productive he or she is. Taken individual by individual, it is likely there is more idleness and abuse of government favors among the economically privileged than within the ranks of the disadvantaged.”<\/em><\/span> -Norman Mailer-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In trying to assess the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, two seemingly conflicting truths emerge. Based on the case presented by the state, and based on Florida law, George Zimmerman should not have been convicted of second degree … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10809"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10814,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10809\/revisions\/10814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}