Florida’s Stand Your Ground law doesn’t prohibit that they arrest George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin. Family handout.
Laurie Penny: America learns it cannot ignore race and class on the Million Hoodie March - Commentators - Opinion. It's getting dark in Manhattan, thousands of young people in hoodies have taken to the streets, and brightly-coloured sweets are crunching underfoot.
Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was carrying a bag of skittles, a bottle of iced tea and no weapons when he was shot dead in Florida last month, and the police have still failed to punish his killer. At this march, called in protest at institutional violence against young black men in America, demonstrators from Occupy Wall Street toss skittles over the pavement and carry iced tea, and hundreds of voices chant Trayvon's name. For the poorest urban communities, police brutality and financial injustice have always been part of the same equation - and it's just the same with the fightback.On the corner of Washington Square, you can hear them yelling in unison: 'We are all Trayvon Martin!
'. Teenagers run with their hoods pulled up, stopping traffic as they go. Are We Teaching Kids the Wrong Lessons About Trayvon? - Lisa Armstrong - National. Pundits want black parents to use the teenager's death as a warning for their sons.
But the real moral of the story is for white children. Two young boys hold signs during a Tallahassee rally organized by the National Christian League of Councils on April 4, 2012. Philip Sears/Reuters In the past few weeks, I have read a number of articles about conversations that I, as a black mother, should be having with my 9-year-old son.
In his Time.com article "How to Talk to Young Black Boys About Trayvon Martin," Touré begins by saying: "It's unlikely but possible that you could get killed today. In a CNN blog post, Christy Oglesby speaks of the numerous warnings she has given her son, Drew, about how society might perceive him simply because of his race and gender. Trayvon Martin’s Psychological Killer: Why We See Guns That Aren’t There. When George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin walking down the street in Sanford, Florida, he quickly assumed that the Black, hoodie-clad teenager was carrying a weapon.
He then pulled out his gun and fatally shot the young student, whose hands were gripping nothing more than a bag of Skittles. The fact that George Zimmerman assumed so quickly that Trayvon Martin was armed smacks of the worst kind of prejudice and racism. It is a tragic assumption that led to the death of an innocent young student, who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, unfortunately, a 2002 study by psychologist Joshua Correll suggests that the average, run-of-the-mill college student might have acted the exact same way.
If you had a split second to decide whether or not to shoot someone in front of you, do you think you would shoot? The researchers ultimately found a clear case of what they termed shooter bias. How Stand-Your-Ground Laws Threaten Public Safety. As the nation is riveted on the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida, I and others in law enforcement have been asked to comment on this high-profile case—mostly about police procedure. But we cannot “armchair quarterback” this case or any other from afar unless and until we know the facts. What we do know is that the spotlight is very bright right now on gun violence, especially on so-called “stand-your-ground” laws, which 25 states have enacted, and five more are considering. Florida’s law, which extends the Castle Doctrine by removing the duty to retreat, gives legal protection to anyone, anywhere, to use deadly force “if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
" The law also gives civil and criminal immunity to people who invoke it. Florida’s law effectively empowers a citizen to act as an ad hoc police officer. Email this post » In Florida, It’s Often Shoot First, Learn The Law Later. The Lone Star State has led a surprisingly progressive overhaul of its incarceration system.
The story behind the bipartisan push that GOP contenders may be extolling come 2016. It appears Rick Perry is going to run for president again in 2016. Perry, 65, will leave the governor’s office next January after serving for 14 years, beginning in 2000, when George W. Bush resigned to prepare for the presidency. In recent months, Perry has appeared in both Iowa and South Carolina. As he creeps back onto the national stage, Perry—who has overseen the executions of 268 people—more executions than any other governor in United States history—has brought with him an unlikely Lone Star State success story: prison reform.
The conservative movement to reform prisons is not new. That very well might be changing now that it appears it could be a series of talking points for a mainstream Republican presidential prospect. “You can’t go into the state legislatures and say ‘Hey, they did this in Vermont!’ Why George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin’s killer, hasn’t been prosecuted. Family handout Read Slate’s complete coverage of the Trayvon Martin case.
The story of Trayvon Martin’s death is heartbreaking. If you have missed the facts: The 17-year-old, who is black, was walking to a friend’s home in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., when a neighborhood-watch volunteer*, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, spotted him. Zimmerman, whose father says identifies as Hispanic, called the cops to report a suspicious person. They told him not to follow. The Sham Investigation Into Trayvon Martin's Killing - Ta-Nehisi Coates - National. As it happens, Trayvon Martin was on the phone when George Zimmerman was following him.
The young lady with whom he was speaking, through her lawyer, talked to ABC News: "He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man," Martin's friend said. "I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run. " ABC News verified that Martin did talk to the young lady by looking at his phone records. Trayvon Martin Case Spotlights Florida Town's History Of 'Sloppy' Police Work.
SANFORD, Fla. -- In the summer of 2010, a masked man gunned down Ikeem Ruffin, 17, in an apartment complex on this city's north side.
When police arrived, they found Ruffin dead and another teenager beside the body calling for an ambulance. The next day, police charged the teen with robbery and murder. Prosecutors dropped the murder charge last August and said another man, still unidentified, pulled the trigger. Teresa Ruffin, the victim's mother, said the police overlooked important evidence -- including a witness who pointed to another suspect -- and allowed her son's killer to go free. "They didn't do their job," Ruffin said of the police. Media Firms Sue To Open Zimmerman File: New York Times, Associated Press, Gannett asking for Florida judge to unseal case. Trayvon Martin's Killer Was Looking for Trouble—and Found It - Andrew Cohen - National.
Examining the details and unanswered questions that will come to light when the case goes to court next month.
The neighborhood where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot to death. Reuters Update 5:20 p.m. Dishonoring Trayvon Martin. It was all too good to be true.
Last week even conservatives expressed concern about the way Sanford, Fla., police handled the death of unarmed, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, one month ago today. Florida’s Tea Party Gov. Rick Scott asked for an outside investigation, and another Tea Party favorite, Rep. Allen West, fumed, “This is an outrage.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it “an incredible tragedy” and said, “I’m glad it’s being investigated and we’ll take a look at it as the investigation moves along.” What wasn’t quite as predictable was the last few days of push-back on behalf of accused shooter George Zimmerman – helped along by Sanford Police. If Zimmerman was indeed hurt in a scuffle with Martin – and news reports suggest he was bloody and bruised, with head lacerations that came from Martin pounding his skull into the sidewalk – why are there no photos?
Alan Dershowitz: The "Rorschach" Facts in the Killing of Trayvon Martin. The time has come for the cheerleading on both sides to stop in the killing of Trayvon Martin and for everybody to unite around the need for the truth -- or as much of it as we can recapture -- to emerge as to precisely what happened on that dark, rainy night. Once the facts have been established, by scientific, forensic and other evidence, then we can begin to analyze whether these facts constitute a defense under Florida's stand your ground statute, which, for better or worse, strongly favors the defendant.
At the moment, the facts in the case -- at least those known to the public -- are ever shifting. One journalist aptly characterized the case as, "a narrative Rorschach that each side will interpret as it wishes. " Now it has been announced that the special prosecutor may soon release new information that may change both the public perception of the case and its legal strengths and weaknesses. Several points can be made even now with a high degree of certainty. Florida v. Zimmerman Needs the Bravest Judge Around - Andrew Cohen - National. Why the case won't be as straightforward as you might expect.
Put yourself in special prosecutor Angela Corey's shoes for just a moment. On the one hand, she has an ethical obligation not to prosecute a case she doesn't believe she can win. On the other hand she has an obligation to zealously prosecute people whom she believes may have committed murder. The first obligation reins in the vast discretion prosecutors typically have to bring criminal charges. Adam Winkler: Will George Zimmerman Be Convicted? George Zimmerman's trial could be as divisive as OJ Simpson's. George Zimmerman is behind bars. Six weeks after he shot Trayvon Martin, the state of Florida has been pressured, from above and below, to at least contemplate the notion that a man who killed an unarmed child might have a case to answer.
He has now been charged with second-degree murder. What follows from here has the potential to be every bit as divisive as the OJ Simpson trial and every bit as inflammatory as the Rodney King case – only this time there's a black president in an election year. Blacks and whites already understand this case differently. A recent Newsweek poll showed that 80% of black Americans thought Martin's death was racially motivated and 78% thought Obama's comments about the shooting were appropriate. Trayvon Martin killed by single gunshot fired from 'intermediate range,' autopsy shows.
George Zimmerman's lawyer has signaled that he may seek a dismissal of the second-degree murder charges against his client under Florida's Stand Your Ground Law. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports. By NBC News and msnbc.com Florida teenager Trayvon Martin died from a single gunshot wound to the chest fired from “intermediate range,” according to an autopsy report reviewed Wednesday by NBC News. Prosecutors Say Zimmerman Hid Second Passport, Lied About Money. Should the police file on the man who killed Trayvon Martin stay secret? Prosecutors in the Trayvon Martin shooting began to sketch an outline of their case against George Zimmerman on Monday, citing new video evidence, a long list of witnesses and experts, and hints of a trail of facts, forensic details, and witness observations that they hope will lead a jury to a second-degree murder conviction.
Skip to next paragraph. George Zimmerman stand your ground: In Trayvon Martin shooting case, stand-your-ground hearing likely looms. Parental Responses to Trayvon Martin’s Killing Prove That America is Not “Post-Racial” Geraldo Rivera's Obscene Defense of Trayvon Martin's Death: 'The Hoodie is as Responsible as the Murderer' Trayvon Martin and the myth of racist America. John Derbyshire, Trayvon Martin, and the ignorance of racial profiling. Mario Tama. Do Gated Communities Threaten Society? - Neighborhoods.
The Trayvon Blues. Founded and preserved by acts of aggression, characterized by a continuing tradition of self-righteous violence against suspected subversion and by a vigorous sense of personal freedom, usually involving the widespread possession of firearms, the United States has evidenced a unique tolerance for homicide. -David Brion DavisHomicide in American Fiction 1798-1860. Trayvon Martin and America’s Gun Laws. Five ‘Stand Your Ground’ Cases You Should Know About.