# Much Ado About Nothing



## wjh2657 (Jun 18, 2008)

There is a strong concept that either Prosecutors or Defense Lawyers "prove" innocence or guilt. Nobody "proves" anything. The purpose and intent of each side is to create a scenario in the jurors' minds that matches the charges or the defense argument. This is based largely on an emotional appeal to sway the jurors to make a decision based on their perception of wrong doing or a lack thereof. The jurors on the other hand are supposed to look at the evidence and try to match it up against the definition of the crime according to the wording of the law. In the Z trial they had six very sharp jurors who stuck to that premise. The state set up a case based on murder, which was what the defendant was charged with. Murder (see link below) required that the defendant left his truck with the intent to go armed and kill the victim. Nothing in the evidence shows that the defendant had such an intent. His telephone conversation did not state any intent to murder or to actually even cause bodily harm. The State did not prove murder. Who started the scuffle and whether or not it was SD was not even a point. The state did not prove murder!

If they had tried him on other charges under the manslaughter envelope (see link below) they may have had a case. The case would still have not been enough to convict because of the SD defense. The state has to prove that it was not SD, the defendant did not have to prove it was SD.

The jury did not go for Manslaughter because all of the evidence and arguments in the trial had been for murder not manslaughter. According to later news reports, only one juror actually even considered manslaughter.

The prosecution was depending on appealing to the jurors' emotions, with little actual evidence presented. The state went for murder to appeal to the public interest. Both erred, the jury stuck to the letter of the law and the state tried him on the wrong charge. I believe SD would have gotten him acquitted anyway, but as much as everybody concentrated on the scuffle, the truth is that SD didn't even have to enter the deliberations.

Link to Florida statutes on murder and manslaughter:

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine


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