three things number one
over having imposed al affair Burke the daughter of James Lee Burke but in her
own right
and James Burke Easter writer into his novels when she was a little kid
he's one of my favorite writers and she is now a criminal defense lawyer and
damn good when a very very good writer I've read
ahead to her novels she's also very good writer arm
she is suggesting over the have imposed
that basically the jury instructions that were decided upon before the trial
by the judge
made it all but certain to george Zimmerman walk
how so well in Florida you cannot
claim self defense if you initiated the events
from which you are defending yourself
and did not try to get the hell outta the way and when the state
the prosecutor said we want that included in the jury instructions
Don West the defense lawyer stood up and said quote
well let me point out as a matter a law following someone on foot or by car is
not against the law that cannot be considered provocation under the law
force means physical force
or the threat of physical force it would be error
and frankly promoting miscarriage of justice if the state were to argue that
to the jury
and a quote al affair Burke says
so and then the judge said okay the courts are going to get
in other words that jury instruction was not given to the jury that you may not
consider a self defense claim a
defense if george Zimmerman initiated the event from which he had to end up
defending himself
Noya welfare berg says watch the video watch out
Don West emphasizes the word errors a word used to invoke fear and trial court
judges that they will be reversed on appeal
coupled with a free miss phrase as a matter of law
West was suggesting the court the delivery of an aggressor exemption
would be kinda decision it would lead to reversal on appeal
if Zimmerman were convicted no trial judge was to be referred even a
it reversed even in the case was controversial miss okay I'd leave you
with that as number item number one
item number two here's what the jury instructions would have been be four the
Stand Your Ground law was passed in floor
before the stand
stand your ground loss laws
would have we're past the defendant cannot justify the use of force likely
to cause death or great bodily harm
in less he uses every reasonable means within his power
and consistent with his own safety to avoid the danger
before resorting to that force the fact that the defendant was wrongfully
attacked
cannot justify his use a force likely to cause death or great bodily harm
if by retreating mean he could have avoided the need to use that force
that so the jury instructions use to be
Sen stand your ground was passed
the new jury instruction is and I quote from
judge what's your name Judge Nelson
if george Zimmerman was not engage in unlawful activity in was a coup and was
attacked in any place where he had a right to be he had no duty to retreat
and had the right to stand his ground
and meet force with force including deadly force
if we reasonably believe that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or
great bodily harm to himself
or another or to prevent the commission
a forcible felony you get this
before stand your ground
he had dick the the quote
the fact that the defendant was roughly tech cannot justify his use of force
likely to cause death or great bodily harm
if by retreating he could have avoided the need to use their force
I under the old law you got a retreat under stand your ground
pull out the gonna blow a kid away
meanwhile we've got commentators I don't know if she if you click grab this clip
GM love
a from this Media Matters piece did you get this by do you guys get this audio
okay we've got back and I can play it from here
this is this is from CNN just listeners
important stand your ground we all talk about it it did not play a role in this
jury's for stories they didn't need to use the law wasn't even
argued at trial now wrong that was CNN
or wrong ok and topple at
consider this number three george Zimmerman kept close watch over his
neighborhood
when black man walks through or even drove through the area he alerted the
police
over and over and over again finally exasperated that they always got away
he went out on a rainy night armed with a loaded gun
and at the Stand Your Ground law looking for anybody who should not be in his
largely white neighborhood
the South has a long history this sort of thing today they're called
neighborhood watch as they used to be called
slave patrols prior to the Civil War and Reconstruction the main way southern
stays me
States maintain the institution slavery
was through local and statewide militias known as slave patrols
these patrols were in many states required monthly duty in some cases
weekly duty
for southern white man ages 40 as 17 247 whether they
own slaves or not slave patrollers travel usually on horseback
couldn't they would be george Zimmerman's SUV through the countryside
looking for african-americans quote
who were not where they belong and quote
when the patrollers found black people in places where quote they did not
belong and quote punishment range from beatings
to repatriation their slave owners to death by being whipped on
or shot
some the most comprehensive reports on the nature and extent up the slave
patrols came
from interviews done by the EPA remember to BPA Frank FDR started with the Works
Progress Administration
they started the quiz something called the National Writers Project and they
went out
interviewed former slaves and the children of former slaves who were still
alive in 1935
in the American South and they documented the stories the WPA is
Georgia Writers Union
yeah I am with Georgia Writers Project Savannah unit
produced a brilliant some real story is taken from people who were alive most
amiss children during the time slavery
about their interactions with slave patrollers fact the title the report was
drums and shadows survival stories
among the Georgia coastal negroes what's the title of the piece was published
back in
in 1937 many other or oral and written histories compiled by the EPA Writers
Project are now over the liar a congress you can easily find the stuff you can
google
our doctor go Sally Hayden published a brilliant book all sleigh patrols law
and violence in Virginia the Carolinas
she quotes allottees WPA studies
up how the sleigh patrollers would beat Weber otherwise abuse african-americans
were not
who were found of the plantation women were routinely raped
men were usually beaten with sticks or whips
here's what here's what one story
written by the WPA back in 1935 slays might beg to be left out of a whipping
from the patrol hoping the Mercier Caprice might avoid a beating
patroller sometimes toyed with the slave threatening a whippin then let the
slaves go free the inherent arbitrariness
of punishment added to the fear most lace felt when they encountered sleigh
patrols
one former bondsmen Alex woods bacall how patrol reacted to a bag in Slaby
said that the patrollers
wouldn't allow slaves to call on the Lord when they were weapon them
but they let them say o Priya o Priya master
I'm quoting from the slave now the WPA the harsh punishment a patrol could
administer cause one former slave toilet
to say that meeting with the patrol was like being sold to a new master
something this label avoid at any cost few things compare to the agony a slave
George from a patroller beating 1x lay from South Carolina
recall what people heard when she was born her mother quotes screamed as if
beaten
being beaten by patrollers enclosed
it's like in the deep south
the more things change the more they stay the same
the slave patrol
is alive and well you know it was called the sleigh patrol till the eighteen
sixties
that it was called the KKK now apparently it's called
the neighborhood watch
this is the Thom Hartmann program
and george Zimmerman was out there on slave patrol
and got away with