George Zimmerman wants ‘inflammatory terms’ banned from trial
Source: Yahoo News
George Zimmerman wants inflammatory terms banned from trial
The Lookout
By Jason Sickles, an arrives for a pretrial hearing on Thursday. (Joe Burbank/Getty)
Profiled
Vigilante
Self-appointed Neighborhood Watch Captain
Wannabe cop
Suspected murderer George Zimmermans defense team calls the above list inflammatory terms and wants them banned from the opening statements of his trial. Jury selection begins on Monday.
Some of these terms are disparaging, inappropriate, and if used in trial would serve only to unfairly prejudice the jury by eliciting unfounded connotations and unfair emotional responses, defense attorney Mark OMara wrote in a motion to the court.
<snip>
The request also asks that prosecutors be prohibited from using these phrases during opening statements:
He got out of the car after the police (or dispatcher) told him not to.
He confronted Trayvon Martin.
Motions seeking to limit evidence in a trial is not uncommon, but seldom target phrases or characterizations.
<snip>
Judge Debra S. Nelson has not yet ruled on the motion. She recently ruled defense lawyers, in their opening statements, would not be permitted to mention pictures of drugs and guns found on Martin's cell phone.
Zimmerman, 29, faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/george-zimmerman-wants-inflammatory-terms-banned-trial-163405912.html
I don't think he stands a chance of this.
hlthe2b
(102,341 posts)The prosecutor has every right to present his/her case using the terminology appropriate to the case presented.
marble falls
(57,157 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)Desperate idiots.
marble falls
(57,157 posts)nolabear
(41,990 posts)Just as it's the defenders' job to cast doubt and inflame in the other direction. I can see not letting things not relevant to the case in on wither side (like the photos on the cell phone or other things Zimmerman has said or done before) but if it's part of the case, it's part of the case.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)reflection
(6,286 posts)would like all references to the death of Trayvon Martin, as well as George Zimmerman's name itself, banned from the discourse and stricken from any official records. Also, all jurors must reside in a sensory deprivation chamber for the duration of the trial, where they will not hear, see, or experience anything.
Now, there is a chance that one or more of the jurors could go into Altered States mode, but that's a risk we have to take in order to ensure that justice prevails.
pacalo
(24,721 posts)This is at today's hearing:
http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iloHs6JTqO8zmFxXyrKrTA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/
George Zimmerman at a pretrial hearing Thursday. (Joe Burbank/Getty Images)
bullwinkle428
(20,629 posts)Hopefully, I have a better chance of getting what I want than he does.
marble falls
(57,157 posts)LuckyLib
(6,819 posts)front of a thinking jury should be the least of your worries.
marble falls
(57,157 posts)about himself.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)Fuck you Zimmerman...you were out to kill anyone of color.
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,866 posts)He smells dirtier and dirtier every day.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)or discriminatory. Those are words of assessment. The jury can judge whether to agree with them or reject them. This will be interesting. The only one that might suggest a fact is He got out of the car after the police (or dispatcher) told him not to. The one about "confronting" Trayvon Martin could get the prosecutor in trouble should the defense be able to show that somehow Zimmerman did not confront Martin. So the prosecutor might prefer not to use some of that language.
frylock
(34,825 posts)kid stricken from the record.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)I guess he wants to ban all evidence and his movements that night, then.
Next he'll want to ban, "He saw Trayvon Martin walking."
grok
(550 posts)It should be in my opinion even though Trayvon used it to describe himself in a text.
Frankly using inflamatory language to put somebody down tells more about the describer than the described.
Either way i think it's best they jury come to their own conclusions without it.
No real need for it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/zimmermans-lawyers-release-text-messages-of-trayvon-martin.html?_r=0
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)Translation
The Magistrate
(95,252 posts)This is simply bizarre.
TekGryphon
(430 posts)knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)Let's ban:
hood
hoodlum
the n-word in any form
gangsta
rap
delinquent
Feel free to add the other ones Zimmerman and his attorneys have used that are obvious code.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)pacalo
(24,721 posts)He wants only his concocted version to be heard.
Fearless
(18,421 posts)Rhiannon12866
(205,839 posts)Warpy
(111,327 posts)Good luck, Georgie, on getting "vigilante" banned, along with "racist pigfucker."
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)I can definitely see why he wouldn't want the jury to know that.
I hope you're right.
Lil Missy
(17,865 posts)gordianot
(15,242 posts)Arkana
(24,347 posts)Yeah, he's not getting this.
Solly Mack
(90,779 posts)So he wants to exclude facts from his trial.
Snort
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)The actual phrase used was "we don't need you to do that", i'm 50-50 on whether or not that is an instruction not to do something.
Mosby
(16,339 posts)Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)The prosecution rested yesterday, opening statements happened awhile ago.