Friday, April 13, 2012

Dershowitz Unloads On Zimmerman Prosecutor



Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has some very harsh words for the second degree murder indictment Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey brought against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin during a confrontation between the two in February. Dershowitz' comments are based on a very thin probable cause affidavit she filed with the court in charging Zimmerman that presents a very biased rendition of some of the pertinent facts from the night of the shooting. Initially, Corley was applauded because she chose to make the decision to prosecute on her own rather than present the evidence to a grand jury. After reading the probable cause affidavit, I find myself agreeing with Dershowitz. Unless she has better evidence than shown by the affidavit, it is highly doubtful she could have convinced a grand jury to indict Zimmerman on the basis that the shooting of Martin was a result of a depraved act on his part, an essential element to proving second degree murder under Florida law, particularly given his claim that he was acting in self defense. The probable cause affidavit notably omits any mention of the injuries sustained by Zimmerman, and it attributes the screams heard in the background on one of the 911 calls to Martin despite at least one eyewitness' claim that he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman hitting him while Zimmerman was flat on his back screaming out for help. Dershowitz believes that Corley grossly over-charged Zimmerman in hopes of getting a plea deal with him for a lesser charge. I also have to agree that Corley's announcement of the charges sounded more like a campaign speech than the announcement of a criminal indictment in a high profile case. She made a horrible first impression in my mind.

7 comments:

Cato said...

She's Marcia Clerk, but with a far weaker case. She's looking to make a name for herself, but it might not be a name she wants.

News is that that Zimmerman and other community watch volunteers were told in person by a police officer that came and met with them prior to this incident to follow and keep an eye on a suspect.

This case is turning Florida into a tinder box for riots.

HerbertWalker said...

She's not Marcia Clark, Cato. Marcia had a case, but had the misfortune of being in front of a weak judge who couldn't control outrageous tactics of a defense team gone wild, or his own courtroom for that matter.

This prosecutor doesn't even have a case. If the reviewing magistrate does his or her job, they will have to release Zimmerman for want of probable cause.

Gary R. Welsh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gary R. Welsh said...

The judge in the case is a real joke as well. Yesterday she told lawyers for both sides that, by the way, my husband's law partner has been hired by CNN as a commentator on this trial. Let me know if that's going to be a problem. That came after the same law partner admitted that he had spoken to Zimmerman about representing him in the case but ultimately decided against taking the case.

Jeff Cox said...

Duke Lacrosse 2.0.

Marycatherine Barton said...

According to a private investigator interviewed by Victor Thorn for the American Free Press, the judicial system in that county in Florida does a lot of cover-up work, is not to be trusted.

According to Obama's attorney general, Holder, the federal civil rights laws do not protect whites from hate crimes, the New Black Panther leader has publicly called for exterminating whites, particularly the seniors, and on a recent Al Sharpton Radio show, the leader of RASA, has called for a union between Latinos and Blacks against Whites. Nasty times!

Marycatherine Barton said...

Actually, the group is La Raza, the leader of which is now publicly using the Trayvon Martin incident to target whites as a supposed common enemy of hispanics and blacks. And the exact words used in the AFP on crime in America, 4/16 issue is:

"A female PI referred to what she considered an exceedingly corrupt judicial system in Sanford that facilitated embezzlement and political fraud. Her exact words were, 'This city has been one big cover-up since at least 1980.'"