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In reply to the discussion: Help me understand something about the Trayvon Martin case. [View all]antiquie
(4,299 posts)14. Judges jury instructions played a part.
Jurors also didnt have all the court instructions for self-defense cases. The judge withheld instructions that the jurors could have used to determine that Zimmerman was an initial aggressor, a finding that could have denied him a self-defense defense. But the defense successfully argued and the state did not forcefully protest that prosecutors failed to show how Zimmerman was an aggressor.
Losing the initial aggressor instruction may have been the moment the state lost its case, criminal-law professor Alafair Burke wrote in the Huffington Post.
Losing the initial aggressor instruction may have been the moment the state lost its case, criminal-law professor Alafair Burke wrote in the Huffington Post.
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The case wasn't being presented as SYG, but the judge gave SYG instructions anyway
Dont call me Shirley
Oct 2014
#23
The jury has the power of jury nullification, I think, just like OJ's jury had. nt
valerief
Oct 2014
#6
SYG is part of self defense in Florida and part of jury instructions whether it is a defense or not.
flamin lib
Oct 2014
#12
I saw police who didn't want to charge, prosecutors who didn't want to try and a jury that couldn't
flamin lib
Oct 2014
#11
I take solace in the fact that Zimmerman is now legally the greatest coward in the history of man.
ieoeja
Oct 2014
#21
When a seemingly credible witness states that Trayvon Martin was on top of Zimmerman,
Nye Bevan
Oct 2014
#34