Monday, July 08, 2013

SUMMER DOLDRUMS

FIRED!
In case you missed it last week, Weil, Gotshal, Manages canned 60 lawyers, cut pay for many partners and basically bar-becued its entire Houston office.  While lawyers such as those at Weil who struggle to bill 2100 hours a year will never darken the security line at our humble REGJB, we can still pause a moment and feel sympathy with our brethren. It's never easy to lose your job. 

OK. On to things criminal. 

THE STATE RESTS
In the George Zimmerman prosecution on Friday. The consensus among the experts seems to be that the prosecution overreached with second degree murder charges. We don't watch such nonsense on TV.  But for those of who have indulged in America's favourite sport, what say you? 

The long hot summer is underway. Stay cool. 

See you in court. 





17 comments:

  1. Can we stop with the "what say you?" Reads ridiculous.

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  2. Me thinks the state made an error focusing on zimmerman being the aggressor/being on top, etc., the evidence all along was that Martin attacked him and was kicking his ass....that being said, zimmerman will most likely be convicted of manslaughter. the question will be whether or not that theory of conviction can hold up on appeal. If the jury follows the law, he should be acquitted, but the death of Martin simply does not sit well with anybody, especially a jury of all women.

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  3. Zimmerman is actually an interesting trial. He clearly is guilty of something but, what really happened that night?

    I think 2nd degree is a good call too since it sets up a compromise to manslaughter and 11 years in prison is about right for what he did.

    I am also sick and tired of the so called experts saying the prosecutors did a bad job by putting on too much truth. Isn't that their job?

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  4. You Legal Beagles should try learning the law:

    782.11 Unnecessary killing to prevent unlawful act

    "Whoever shall unnecessarily kill another, either while resisting an attempt by such other person to commit any felony, or to do any other unlawful act, or after such attempt shall have failed, shall be deemed guilty of manslaughter, a felony of the second degree..."

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  5. but self-defense is applicable to both the manslaughter and 2nd degree so if the jury feels he was in fear for life and it was self-defense for 2nd then (lawfully)they can't convict on anything.

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  6. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.

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  7. If the state wants to argue that Zimmerman profiled Martin, why not file the prejudice enhancement?

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  8. Guilty as charged is my prediction. The jurors are too afraid of the possible race riots that will occur if he is found guilty on anything less that what he was with.

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  9. Big fan of "Go big, or go home".

    The defense can waive all lessers and make the State try to prove "ill will, spite, hatred, or malice" beyond a reasonable doubt.

    Then you argue his demeanor with the police and explanations at the station and the scene -- with not a single iota of "ill will". You just need to persuade the client to take the big plunge.

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  10. what law makes it a crime to profile someone?

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  11. I just want to know why Zimmerman got fat?

    If he was trying to show that he was stressed out he should have gotten skinnier.

    Right now he looks like he could have eat Martin.

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  12. Geeze I worked past five and missed my shumie

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  13. To 4:56,
    It is an enhancement.

    775.085 Evidencing prejudice while committing offense; reclassification.

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  14. To 11:25 am...The State frequently files high and enjoys that juries compromise on lessers.

    Juries are committees and they love to compromise.

    That is why DUI cases are so hard to try. There are no lessers.

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  15. If Casey Anthony was not guilty in Florida, than this is a no brainer. Case never should have been filed. It is sad, but the evidence overwhelming supports acquittal. John Good's reluctant but most reliable evidence should be dispositive.

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  16. Perfect murder:

    1. Maliciously spend hours of your life volunteering for your crime-addled neighborhood

    2. Protest police brutality against blacks to shield your white-supremicism, even as a Mexican

    3. Call the cops to the scene of your murder

    4. Initiate confrontation and allow your ass to be beaten. Do not injure anything but your victim's knuckles.

    5. Magically pick a victim who unbeknownst to you has a history of street fights

    6. After sustaining minutes long beating, while screaming for help... only THEN produce your weapon and murder the black guy

    7. When cops arrive, immediately share your fabricated story of being attacked and stick with it over long days of interrogation, without knowing if there could be any eye or ear witnesses, cameras or 911 tapes that might actually contradict your lie.

    8. Co-operate with the police and consent to numerous interviews without a lawyer.

    9. Profit from your perfect murder.

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  17. @ 5:10, in opposition to the defense's motion in limine seeking to prohibit use of term "profiling", the State argued it wasn't "racial" profiling, but rather, some generic type of criminal profiling. Later, before the jury, the State cynically implied racial profiling by playing prior recorded calls to police where the defendant describes the suspicious person as black. There is no law against criminally profiling another person or following them, as far as I am aware.

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