By Jueseppi B.
Just a few hours after the lawyers for George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting received the witness list and the evidence list from the prosecutors, they got some more bad news. WFTV, the Orlando ABC affiliate, is reporting tonight that the FBI is seeking to charge George Zimmerman with a hate crime. WFTV reports,
WFTV has learned charges against George Zimmerman could be getting more serious.
State prosecutors said Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, profiled and stalked 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before killing him, so the FBI is now looking into charging him with a hate crime.
Zimmerman admitted to killing Martin in February during a confrontation. However, he claims the shooting was in self-defense. He’s facing a second-degree murder charge, which carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But if Zimmerman is charged and found guilty of a federal hate crime involving murder, he could face the death penalty.
FBI investigators are actively questioning witnesses in the retreat at the Twin Lakes neighborhood, seeking evidence for a possible federal hate crime charge.
Zimmerman admitted to killing Martin in February during a confrontation. However, he claims the shooting was in self-defense. He’s facing a second-degree murder charge, which carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. But if Zimmerman is charged and found guilty of a federal hate crime involving murder, he could face the death penalty.
FBI investigators are actively questioning witnesses in the retreat at the Twin Lakes neighborhood, seeking evidence for a possible federal hate crime charge.
Martin was unarmed when he was shot to death, police said, and some accuse Zimmerman of targeting the teenager solely because of the color of his skin.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said federal prosecutors would have to prove the hate crime to charge Zimmerman, though.
“What the government would have to prove is that Mr. Zimmerman acted out of hatred toward African-Americans. That’s why he came into contact with him. That’s why he shot and killed him,” Sheaffer said.
Sheaffer said a federal hate crime murder charge could bring more serious consequences than the second-degree murder charge Zimmerman faces now.
“Mr. Zimmerman could be punished by up to life in prison or even the death penalty,” said Sheaffer.
Zimmerman said he used deadly force in self-defense after Martin punched him, knocked him to the ground and repeatedly slammed his head against a sidewalk.
As of late Monday, Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, told WFTV that he’s gotten the first prosecution documents containing the evidence against his client. O’Mara said he’s gotten a redacted witness list with 22 witnesses listed only as numbers.
O’Mara said he believes there are recorded interviews and some documents, but he said he hasn’t even opened it yet.
Prosecutors are required to release information to the defense and the public
However, O’Mara, wants Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. to keep some of the key evidence, especially witness statements, out of the public eye by writing a motion to keep it sealed.
O’Mara posted a statement on Zimmerman’s website that said, “We doubt any of them (witnesses) enjoy the scrutiny they are under due to the coincidence of their involvement in such a high-profile matter.”
In the meantime, a photograph recently surfaced which is said to show Zimmerman’s mother in the arms of her grandfather, who is black.
Also…….
As many eagerly awaited the release of never-before-seen evidence in the case against George Zimmerman, members of Special Prosecutor Angela Corey’s office provided a preview on Monday in the form of an eight-page document.
The paperwork, filed with the Seminole County clerk as closing time approached, included a list of witnesses the state plans to call and identified several pieces of the evidence prosecutors expect to use to support a second-degree murder charge in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman’s mother testified at his bond hearing that she has met the black child whom he mentored and even risked his safety in a dangerous neighborhood to do it, because he didn’t want to abandon the child.
State prosecutors said Zimmerman gave several inconsistent statements to Sanford police, which is, in part, their basis for charging him with second-degree murder.
Late Monday, Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara confirmed he had received the evidence at his office. It consists of dozens of CDs and “numerous” paper documents.
“It’s 67 CDs. That’s about all I know,” O’Mara said.
Most names were redacted from the witness and evidence document obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, but six civilian witnesses were named: Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin; his brother, Jahvarius Fulton; and Zimmerman’s neighbor, Frank Taaffe, friend Joe Oliver and father, Robert Zimmerman.
The document listed 18 Sanford police officers as primary witnesses, including lead Investigator Chris Serino. Corey’s office also turned over five reports prepared by him, as well as written reports prepared by four other Sanford officers.
The list includes new video evidence from the night of the shooting — both from the 7-Eleven store where Trayvon reportedly purchased Skittles and Arizona iced tea and from a clubhouse in Retreat at Twin Lakes, the townhouse complex where the teen was killed.
Other video, showing Zimmerman being taken into the Sanford Police Departmentafter the shooting, has already been made public. Crime scene photos of both Zimmerman and the teen are also listed in the document filed Monday, as is Trayvon’s autopsy report.
Also included in the evidence are phone records — Zimmerman’s from Feb. 20 to Feb. 28 and from March 7 to March 22, Trayvon’s from Jan. 1 through March 1, and those of an unnamed witness labeled “W8″ from Feb. 26 through April 2.
The list includes 40 audio-recorded statements. One of the 911 callers, identified as “W6,” gave four statements to authorities about the shooting, two to Sanford police, one to FDLE and one to the prosecution’s lead trial attorney, Bernie de la Rionda.
W8 gave two statements — one to prosecutors and one to Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, which suggests W8 may be the girl described by Crump as Trayvon’s girlfriend.
Other primary witnesses include four FDLE investigators, three investigators from the office of State Attorney Norm Wolfinger and two from Corey’s office, including Dale Gilbreath, who hand-delivered the list to Seminole County clerks about 20 minutes before their doors closed for the day Monday.
Five fire-rescue personnel are listed as witnesses. So are a fingerprints expert with Sanford police, and FDLE experts in the fields of firearms, DNA, trace evidence and fingerprints.
Also listed are two employees with the Volusia County medical examiner’s office and a pair of Federal Bureau of Investigation audio experts. The list also includes Tom Owen and Ed Primeau, two audio analysts who told the Sentinel they believe the screams heard in one 911 call were those of Trayvon, not Zimmerman.
On Monday, Corey’s office filed a motion under seal, asking that certain information in the case be protected from public disclosure. It’s not clear whether she wants more than witness names kept secret.
O’Mara said he was not sure whether he would file a similar motion.
What’s at stake is all the evidence police and prosecutors have compiled against Zimmerman, the 28-year-old Sanford man charged with killing the unarmed 17-year-old in what has become one of the most racially-charged criminal cases in the country.
Media outlets are expected to challenge any attempt to seal evidence in the case.
They earlier jumped into the case and convinced Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. to unseal the court file, a different and much more limited set of information.
Zimmerman shot Trayvon Feb. 26. He later told police he fired in self-defense after Trayvon pinned him to the ground and beat him. Trayvon’s father, family lawyers and critics say Zimmerman is guilty of racial profiling and murder.
Filed under: Causes, Court Room/Legal, Crime, Gun Violence, History, News, Opinion, Race Tagged: | FBI, George Zimmerman, Hate crime, Sanford Florida, twin lakes
Jueseppi B.
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