Dershowitz demolishes Zimmerman prosecution http://www.examiner.com/article/dershowitz-demolishes-zimmerman-prosecution?CID=examiner_alerts_article After writing in the New York Daily News that murder charges should be dropped against George Zimmerman in the slaying of Trayvon Martin, liberal law professor and author Alan Dershowitz appeared on Fox News to reiterate his disgust for Zimmerman’s prosecution by Florida State Attorney Angela Corey. Dershowitz’ remarks shore up many observations from Northwest gun rights and self-defense activists. While the Northwest Firearms forum discusses how anti-gunners have withheld evidence, Gun Rights Media is continuing its poll on Zimmerman’s chances. Seattle Guns and WaGuns members are also still talking about the case. As this column noted here and here, the case against Zimmerman is crumbling because of newly-released evidence that Zimmerman had sustained a beating in his confrontation with Martin. While Stand-Your-Ground (SYG) does not appear to have a connection to this case — leaving anti-self-defense lobbyists tilting at windmills — Dershowitz has presented a strong case for Zimmerman’s actions. At the same time, he has slammed Corey for having “a terrible reputation in Florida for always overcharging.” “She was aware when she submitted an affidavit that it did not contain the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. She deliberately withheld evidence that supported Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense. The New York Times has reported that the police had “a full face picture” of Zimmerman, before paramedics treated him, that showed “a bloodied nose.” The prosecutor also had photographic evidence of bruises to the back of his head. But none of this was included in any affidavit. Now there is much more extensive medical evidence that would tend to support Zimmerman’s version of events. This version, if true, would establish self-defense even if Zimmerman had improperly followed, harassed and provoked Martin. A defendant, under Florida law, loses his “stand your ground” defense if he provoked the encounter — but he retains traditional self-defense if he reasonably believed his life was in danger and his only recourse was to employ deadly force.”—Alan Dershowitz in the New York Daily News Some pundits are already suggesting that as the case against Zimmerman falls apart, the social groundwork for civil unrest as a result — a’la the Rodney King riots — may be building. Firing back at Dershowitz in the Daily Beast, Cleveland’s Mansfield Frazier, a former newspaper editor known for his anti-gun zeal, launched a diatribe not only attacking the distinguished legal scholar but, naturally, the firearms community. Indeed, his Sunday rant seems designed more to blame the National Rifle Association for Martin’s death than Zimmerman, while essentially insisting that a show trial is necessary for justice to be served in the Florida slaying. At heart, this case is really about the type of society some want to have versus the one the National Rifle Association wants to foist on an unsuspecting public. Just imagine for a minute that Trayvon Martin was an adult instead of a juvenile; further, that he was licensed to carry a concealed weapon; and still further, that he had a gun on his person when Zimmerman approached him. Under “Stand Your Ground” laws Martin could have just as easily shot and killed Zimmerman instead, and (if not for the fact he was black, and that laws—when race enters into the picture—have been applied unequally in this country for centuries) he then could have made the same self-defense claim. Under this type of Wild West mentality fistfights can (and will) escalate into murders. Nonetheless, more laws are being proposed in some states to allow concealed weapons to be carried into bars, schools, and public buildings, all in the name of creating a safer society. According to a study published in the prestigious American Journal of Epidemiology, however, “Those persons with guns in the home were at greater risk than those without guns in the home of dying from a homicide in the home …” …Many gun nuts brag about how they could blow someone away and sleep like babies, and for some of them that’s the gospel truth. But for others (even case-hardened soldiers and police officers) once they’ve taken the life of another human being they’re forever changed—and not for the better. And there’s really no way to know in advance how a person will be affected.”—Mansfield Frazier As this column has maintained since the beginning, anti-gunners have tried to capitalize on the Martin killing to attack SYG laws, which they despise. Many in the firearms community are convinced that the second-degree murder charge was filed against Zimmerman solely for political appeasement, and Dershowitz is now making this a very public battle. How this new development will shake out in the week leading up to Memorial Day could be very interesting. It may provide another diversion from suspiciously rising gasoline prices in the West, and the stagnant, if not crumbling economy that the Obama administration knows will doom its re-election hopes as fast as the case against Zimmerman now appears to be falling apart. ===============================

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