Forty-five days after Trayvon Martin was killed, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey announced Wednesday that George Zimmerman will face second degree murder charges. At a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, Corey added that Zimmerman had surrendered peacefully and is being held in an undisclosed location.
From this blogger's point of view, arresting Zimmerman was a no-brainer and should have occurred the day George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin. In no way, do I presume Zimmerman is guilty, but police should have locked him up until a timely investigation was conducted. Stand Your Ground shouldn't be taken to mean that people who kill others receive a "get of jail free card" automatically because they claim self-defense. If this law stays on the books, it should be amended to clarify the immense gray area that currently exists. Frankly, Ham on Wry fervently supports its repeal because we have a mechanism already in place to handle homicides.
Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as 1) an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable "heat of passion" or 2) a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender's obvious lack of concern for human life. Second-degree murder may best be viewed as the middle ground between and first-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. (from findlaw.com)
Corey expressed chagrin over the fact that, “So much information got released on this case that should never have been released. There has been an overwhelming amount of publicity that we hope will not keep us from picking a fair and impartial jury.” Even some of the witnesses that have been quoted don't agree on what they saw, so the public must take care not to form an opinion of guilt or innocence until all the facts come out at trial.
As reported in yesterday's post, Zimmerman's attorneys resigned when Zimmerman stopped communicating with them. Mark O'Mara took the case late Wednesday and revealed that Zimmerman will plead not guilty to the charge of second degree murder. O'Mara also said he will work to have Zimmerman released on bond Thursday.
Unless something drastic occurs, Ham on Wry will move on to other topics and make this the last post on the Trayvon Martin case until the trial verdict is read.
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