Some sensible reforms Florida needs to consider

[dsc]

All homicides should be investigated that is the biggest problem we had in the Martin case. There was no investigation here in the early part of the case. No bagging of Trayvon's hands, his clothes were mishandled, and other such problems. They didn't attempt to find out who was on the phone with Trayvon, even when she hadn't come forward of her own volition. All because they believed Zimmerman. This lack of investigation handicapped the prosecution.

Self defense is an affirmative defense and it should have to be proven by the defendant, not disproven by the state. Or at the very least the state's burden should be lowered to preponderance of the evidence. I also think the totality of the situation should be taken into account for self defense claims. His behavior of stalking Martin should have made his self defense claim harder to prove.

Juries should have 12 members and should be pulled from larger areas. The Sanford area has about 1/5 black population. If all things are equal, the probability of selecting a no black 6 member jury is about 1/4 (.26) while that of selecting a no black 12 member jury is around 7% (.068). Even if the verdict had been the same I think it would have been more accepted if there had been a black juror. In addition, juries should represent their communities.

One final comment, the prosecution made a huge mistake putting Zimmerman's tapes into evidence. The allowed him to testify without cross examination by doing this.

[ananda]

1. Boy, this case has been a royal mess from the beginning.

When people operate from a racist mindset, this is the kind of thing that happens.

[bigdarryl]

2. Forget it nothing is going to happen in that state

Until a democrat Governor and democrat Ligislatiure take over so what that means is people have to get there ass out and vote.By the way where is Debbie Wasserman Shultz.

[onehandle]

3. Dixie Lives.

It will only get worse.

[davidn3600]

4. A few things..

There was an investigation. Just because he wasn't arrested that night doesn't mean there was no investigation. The police found no reason to believe Zimmerman's story was incorrect. An arrest in that scenario is officer's discretion and really doesn't mean much because the state attorney can always press charges later and a warrant can be issued.

The jury pool actually had more African-Americans than to proportion of the population. There were many minorities in the cut to 40. But none made it to the jury. They were stricken for one reason or another. There are many reasons for that. They could have a bias. They could have obligations that made it impossible to serve. Other jurors had a better background to the case. etc... Now many if there were 12 jurors there would be more accurate representation. That's certainly possible and maybe something the state needs to look at more closely.

Self-defense.... Here's the problem with making the defendant prove it...
You got a woman that goes down an alley. A man comes up behind her and pulls her to the ground. In the struggle, she pulls out a gun and shoots him. He ends up dying. There is no witness to this.
If we make it so the shooter has to prove self-defense...how does this woman prove it? She can't. She'll end up going to prison the rest of her life.

You have to be very careful here. If you change the laws just so you can put Zimmerman in prison, you may end up putting a lot of innocent people in there with him.

[dsc]

5. It is hard to credit an investigation

which didn't even bother to call the person on the phone with Trayvon. I don't care who they did or didn't believe, nor am I bothered by the lack of arrest, but I am bothered by the lack of any real investigation.