It just never ends... Mob rule wins the day?

[The Annoyed Man]

The mob is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

[03Lightningrocks]

I wonder how the media would cover this story if a bunch of white folk were all protesting and demanding the hanging of a black guy for killing a white guy? Seriously folks... I am about sick of the reverse racism going on in this country. If I am black and a bigot..(Jesse Jackson or al Sharpton for example), it is no problem. Only white males are restricted from being racists.

[XinTX]

Well, they've charged Zimmerman with 2nd degree murder. Looks like the lynch mob is getting its way.

[03Lightningrocks]

I'm not the least bit surprised.

[Ashlar]

Murder 2 is probably over-charging, but I could see Manslaughter as a lesser included charge sticking.

If voice analysis confirms Martin as the one screaming in the background of that one 911 call, Zimmerman's toast.

[Dragonfighter]

Murder 2 is probably over-charging, but I could see Manslaughter as a lesser included charge sticking.

If voice analysis confirms Martin as the one screaming in the background of that one 911 call, Zimmerman's toast.

HLN (CNN) hired the so called expert and then they had a forensics expert come on to discuss his conclusions that it was TM on the tape. She went on to list a litany of reasons why that conclusion could NOT be reached (sample size, comparative control recordings, distance from source, RF distortion etc.). The whole time the CNN anchor was trying to cut her off, obviously surprised by her conclusions and reasoning...she hasn't been invited back.

I have a limited amount of vicarious experience with this sort of thing and have seen incidents where a great deal more content at better quality was available and forensically the analysis was still inconclusive. I would think that any half-baked attorney could destroy such conclusions in this case.

[Ashlar]

I guess that's the converse of the 'a good district attorney can indict a ham sandwich' saying.

I suppose we'll have both Martin's mother and Zimmerman's father on the stand claiming it's their respective sons' voices.

[Dragonfighter]

I guess that's the converse of the 'a good district attorney can indict a ham sandwich' saying.

I suppose we'll have both Martin's mother and Zimmerman's father on the stand claiming it's their respective sons' voices.

You can bet on that.

[codeguy]

Murder 2 is probably over-charging, but I could see Manslaughter as a lesser included charge sticking.

If voice analysis confirms Martin as the one screaming in the background of that one 911 call, Zimmerman's toast.

The catch here is that there will almost certainly be an expert who is certain (or "95% certain" or certain at some other mostly made-up level of confidence) that it is Trayvon, and another who is equally certain it is not. Both sides will have experts, and coincidentally each side's experts will use very similar methods, but support their side's story (or at least rebut the other side's story).

The bad news is that expert witness testimony does very little good, unless you have jurors with sufficient critical thinking skills to figure out which one is full of it. The really bad news is that the average educational level of jurors in America is fourth grade (they may have completed more grades than that, but of course this is in schools that promote failing students rather than deal with angry parents). So, most jurors are utterly unprepared to reason through competing analyses of audio waveforms, RF interference, and whatever else comes up. The good (?) news is that most jurors report simply ignoring all of the experts to a pretty great degree.

[codeguy]

I guess that's the converse of the 'a good district attorney can indict a ham sandwich' saying.

I suppose we'll have both Martin's mother and Zimmerman's father on the stand claiming it's their respective sons' voices.

You can bet on that.