Hyde Parke;6067076 said:
Gold Certificate-She pleaded "no contest" to physically attacking Gray and Gray had injuries, so it's more than hearsay; and it does not support her claim that she feared him.
It was not illegal for her to wait in the house afterward, but it didn't support her claim that she feared "imminent peril of death or great bodily harm". The law doesn't require that she be injured either, but lack of injuries doesn't support the claim that she was attacked. Witnesses can be unreliable/subjective, but the presence of corroborating witness testimony can support a claim. This was the case with John Good's testimony:
Pleading no contest is not an admittance to guilt. There was an altercation that is a fact. Whether Gray had injuries of not Is also not evidence of guilt, those injuries could have been sustained during the physical altercation between the two. Injuries are just that, injuries, it would not be wise to impose insinuate or suggest that by the physical appearance of them, that =automatic guilt of the other party involved.
Waiting in the home afterwards could also be lend credence to her testimony. Had she left, it could strongly be argued she was fleeing; which is a typical action of someone who has just committed a crime.
It wasn't determined that there were a " lack of injuries". All injuries are not visible to the eye.
Concerning witnesses and their testimonies, Gray's son said in court that he saw his dad attacking Alexander. His testimony would be very credible, moreso than good's who couldn't actually see exactly what was taking place.
It was dark, raining, and he bitched out and went back into the house when he realized there was a serious altercation taking place.
Whether the bullet was fired into the air or the wall is another red herring. She never denied firing the shot, and if she said air first instead of wall, it doesn't discredit her story. The event was traumatic and she may not have remembered exactly where she aimed. Zimmerman feigned ignorance on a series of things when questioned more than once about the specific details that happened that night. It is not uncommon for a person to forget each detail, and each time the question is asked over a series of times, the answers don't remain exact as the first time it was asked.
Gold Certificate-Now, this doesn't mean she couldn't have feared "imminent peril of death or great bodily harm", but at the immunity hearing, the burden of proof was on her. This is why her immunity was denied, because she lacked anything supporting her claim other than her own changing testimony.
I'd blame her lawyer, her lack of supporting evidence was revealed to the prosecution at the immunity hearing. Giving the prosecution the upper hand during the trial.
Then, by turning down the plea, she received the mandatory sentence under Florida's "10-20-Life" rule
I'm not privy to what went on at the immunity hearing specifically, I cant comment on that.
True, her lawyer did a poor job of defending her. When she didn't accept what the prosecution offered, they went for the kill, I guess to show her how its really done. Figuratively. Still doesn't prove her to be guilty of any crime, and a jury returning with a verdict that quick is insane. It prob took that long just to read the instruction. Sounds like they found her guilty without ever giving/ considering her the benefit of the doubt
You can dispute Good's ability to see/hear and Zimmerman's testimony, but it still remains that Good's testimony was consistent with Zimmerman's testimony, and consistent with Zimmerman's injuries. Sure, maybe Zimmerman's injuries were self-inflicted, maybe his testimony was entirely concocted, maybe Good was completely wrong in everything he said he saw and heard, and maybe neither Treyvon nor Zimmerman were inflicting any damage upon each other during the alleged fight that took place; but, the prosecution had disprove Zimmerman's claim beyond a reasonable doubt, so these speculative "maybes" weren't enough.
Alexander didn't have the luxury of such corroborating evidence to support her claims. She had the witness accounts of Gray and his sons--which changed greatly from the time of the incident to the deposition--she had no recorded injuries supporting the claim that she was attacked, she didn't call to report the incident like Gray did--which was a problem for her because Gray's 911 call also contradicted her claims--she didn't have anything showing the garage door wasn't working, she didn't have a bullet hole in a location that supported her claim that she wasn't attempting to hit anyone, and she didn't behave in a manner that showed she feared Gray in the months after the incident. One can argue that none of this disproves her claims, but the burden of proof was on her at the immunity hearing.
Zimmerman's defense skipped the immunity hearing and presented their case for the first time during the trial; Alexander's did not, so the prosecution had great insight into what they would argue prior to the trial. My guess is the prosecution focused on this lack of supporting evidence, and then claimed that an unarmed man trying to leave a home with his children was not a threat to an armed woman; making a compelling case to the jury.