Below are stories in the SendtoNews archives that indicate Legal as their primary category:
A hot button issue in legal news lately has been the Trayvon Martin shooting case in Florida. The shooter, George Zimmerman has been arrested and charged with second degree murder. This was not classified as first degree murder because there was no planning or intention to kill this teen, but there was enough recklessness in the decisions of this man to classify this case as more than just manslaughter if convicted.
The original judge to preside over the case has recently recused herself due to a conflict of interest: her husband works with the attorney that was originally asked to represent Zimmerman. The judge made this announcement prior to Zimmerman’s bond hearing set for Friday. The current judge is now Kenneth M. Lester, Jr.
The real issue regarding this case is the Stand Your Ground Law passed by Florida that allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves, even when deadly force was not presented by the aggressor. The story told by Zimmerman is that he confronted Martin, and Martin then attacked him. Based on this law, even if Martin had not presented deadly force, Zimmerman was still justified in killing the boy out of defense for his own safety. Some of the controversy over the case was whether or not Martin did indeed attack Zimmerman. If so, then the law was rightly applied in this situation, and if not then Zimmerman could be convicted of murder, this question will be a matter of fact to be determined by a jury.
