florida

FLORIDA – George Zimmerman released from jail on $150,000 bail

april 23, source : http://www.suntimes.com

SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman was released around midnight Sunday from a Florida county jail on $150,000 bail as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

The neighborhood watch volunteer was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans and carrying a paper bag. He walked out staring straight ahead and following another man also carrying bags and didn’t look over at photographers gathered outside. He then followed the man into a white BMW vehicle and drove away.

His ultimate destination is being kept secret for his safety and it could be outside Florida.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said at a hearing Friday he cannot have any guns and must observe a 7 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew. Zimmerman also surrendered his passport.

Zimmerman had to put up 10 percent, or $15,000, to make bail. His father had indicated he might take out a second mortgage.

Zimmerman worked at a mortgage risk-management company at the time of the shooting and his wife is in nursing school. A website was set up to collect donations for Zimmerman’s defense fund. It is unclear how much has been raised.

Bail is not unheard of in second-degree murder cases, and legal experts had predicted it would be granted for Zimmerman because of his ties to the community, because he turned himself in after he was charged last week, and because he has never been convicted of a serious crime.

Prosecutors had asked for $1 million bail, citing two previous scrapes Zimmerman had with the law, neither of which resulted in charges. In 2005, he had to take anger management courses after he was accused of attacking an undercover officer who was trying to arrest Zimmerman’s friend. In another incident, a girlfriend accused him of attacking her.

Zimmerman, 28, fatally shot Martin, 17, Feb. 26 inside the gated community where Zimmerman lived during an altercation. Martin was unarmed and was walking back to the home of his father’s fiancée when Zimmerman saw him, called 911 and began following him. A fight broke out — investigators say it is unknown who started it.

Zimmerman says Martin, who was visiting from Miami, attacked him. Zimmerman says he Martin in self-defense, citing Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which gives broad legal protection to anyone who says they used deadly force because they feared death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman was not charged for over six weeks, sparking national protests led by Martin’s parents, civil rights groups and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Martin was black; Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother is from Peru.

Earlier Sunday, Zimmerman’s attorney was working to secure the money for bail and a safe place for Zimmerman to stay. But residents in Sanford, where Martin was killed, didn’t expect a ruckus once Zimmerman was released.

City commissioners said they hadn’t received calls from nervous residents. Protesters didn’t show up outside the jail. And talk at one local coffee shop seldom focused on the case.

“It’s just kind of a non-issue now,” said Michele Church, a server at Mel’s Family Diner. “That’s pretty much all anybody in Sanford wanted, was an arrest, so it could be sorted out in the court system.”

On Friday, a Florida judge agreed to let Zimmerman out on $150,000 bail. Defense attorney Mark O’Mara has said there are several options for where Zimmerman should go, but would not disclose any of them. Lester on Friday indicated Zimmerman would be allowed to leave the state if arrangements with law enforcement could be made for him to be monitored. He will be fitted with an electronic device.

About a half-dozen photographers and cameramen camped outside the Sanford jail Sunday, focused on the door marked “Bonds Rooms,” where other people who had been arrested and released on bail exited. Zimmerman had entered the jail about a week earlier after more than a month of nationwide protests calling for his arrest.

“The mood in Sanford has calmed down tremendously,” said Sanford Commissioner Patty Mahany, whose district includes the neighborhood where Martin was killed. “I think now that people are able to see the justice system taking place, even though they understand it’s going to be quite slow, people are willing to just remain calm and really we’re all getting back to our daily routines.”

A spokeswoman for the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office declined to release any information about whether they were increasing patrols or security.

Defense attorneys for other high-profile clients who awaited trial on bail have said Zimmerman should leave Florida and refrain from going out in public. Sanford residents say they aren’t expecting to see him around the neighborhood anytime soon.

“They’ve already said they’re going to move him to a safe place,” Church said. “Everyone has calmed down. That’s all anyone in Sanford wanted, an arrest.”

Meanwhile, Martin’s parents published a “Card of Thanks” in The Miami Herald obituary page Sunday. The note says Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin express their appreciation for all the public’s support since their son’s death. The notice includes a photograph of Trayvon Martin dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, similar to one he was wearing the evening he was killed.

“Words will never express how your love, support and prayers lifted our spirits and continue to give us the strength to march on,” the letter says.

Related articles

FLORIDA – Zimmerman’s Bail Set at $150,000 in Martin Shooting

april 20, 2012 source :http://www.nytimes.com

A Florida judge on Friday set George Zimmerman’s bail at $150,000 in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and imposed restrictions on Mr. Zimmerman’s release from jail.

During the bail hearing, Mr. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who has been charged with second-degree murder for shooting Mr. Martin to death, offered an apology to the victim’s parents, who were in the courtroom.

“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was,” Mr. Zimmerman, 28, said, speaking publicly for the first time about the Feb. 26 shooting. “I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not.”

Mr. Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, showed no emotion during Mr. Zimmerman’s remarks. They left shortly before the hearing ended and were whisked by their lawyer across a parking lot to a waiting car.

In setting bail, the judge, Kenneth R. Lester Jr., said that Mr. Zimmerman could have no contact with Mr. Martin’s family and no access to alcohol or firearms and that his movements would be monitored electronically. Judge Lester also set a curfew that would require Mr. Zimmerman to remain at home from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. and require him check in with the authorities every three days.

Mr. Zimmerman will not be released from jail on Friday. The judge said that he wanted to make sure that security measures were in place for Mr. Zimmerman, who has received death threats.

Mr. Zimmerman’s family members testified that they would assume responsibility for his whereabouts when he is released from jail.

Testifying by telephone, Mr. Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie Nichole Zimmerman, said that she would also notify the court and law enforcement officials if she lost contact with Mr. Zimmerman for any reason before his trial.

 Judge Lester had agreed to allow Ms. Zimmerman and other members of the Zimmerman family, including his father, Robert, and his mother, Gladys, to testify at the hearing by telephone out of concern for their safety.

Mr. Zimmerman, 28, dressed in a white shirt, dark suit and gray tie, was shackled and wore a somber expression during the proceedings as he sat next to his lawyer, Mark O’Mara.

He showed no expression as his wife calmly answered questions from both Mr. O’Mara and Bernado De La Rionada, an assistant state attorney.

Ms. Zimmerman said she and her husband had been married for almost five years and that she did not believe that he posed a flight risk. She said she spoke with him every day by phone when he was in hiding in the weeks before his arrest.

Mr. De La Rionada asked her whether she believed her husband was a violent person. She replied, “No.”

Mr. Zimmerman has spent nine days in the Seminole County jail since his arrest, which came six weeks after he shot and killed Mr. Martin, 17, who was unarmed and walking through a small gated development in Sanford. Mr. Zimmerman told police he shot Mr. Martin in self-defense.

The case, which led to protests and marches around the country, raised questions about Florida’s expansive self-defense law and racial profiling after Mr. Zimmerman was not immediately arrested after the shooting on Feb. 26 and remained free for weeks. Widely criticized for not moving quickly enough on the case, both the Sanford police chief and the local prosecutor stepped aside.

Gov. Rick Scott appointed Angela B. Corey, a state attorney from the Jacksonville area, as a special prosecutor to manage the case. Ms. Corey brought the maximum possible charge against Mr. Zimmerman, outlining in court papers that he had profiled Mr. Martin based on his race before following him as he walked through the development.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Mr. Zimmerman, could face life in prison.

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FLORIDA – Death Row Inmate’s Best Lawyer Was Himself

april 16, 2012 

WASHINGTON — Albert Holland Jr., a death row inmate in Florida, has no legal training and seems to be suffering from a mental illness — “perhaps a disorder involving paranoia or delusional thoughts,” a federal judge wrote recently.

Albert Holland Jr. won a new trial in a capital case.

Related

But he turns out to be a pretty good lawyer. Two years ago, in allowing Mr. Holland a fresh chance to make his case after his court-appointed lawyer blew a crucial deadline, the Supreme Court praised Mr. Holland’s legal acumen. Indeed, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote, Mr. Holland  had a better understanding of the complicated time limits for challenging death sentences in federal court than his lawyer had.

Mr. Holland made good use of the opportunity the Supreme Court gave him. A couple of weeks ago, he won a decision granting him a new trial. In the process, he opened a window on the astoundingly spotty quality of court-appointed counsel in capital cases.

The lawyer whose work the justices had considered was the least of it; he had merely been unresponsive and incompetent. Mr. Holland’s earlier lawyers had failed him in much more colorful ways.

Consider Kenneth Delegal, who was assigned to defend Mr. Holland at a 1996 retrial on charges that he killed a Pompano Beach police officer in 1990. Mr. Delegal was removed from the case after being sent to a mental health facility. Later, the two men would see each other at the Broward County jail, where Mr. Delegal was held on drug and domestic violence charges.

The next lawyer, James Lewis, was a friend of Mr. Delegal’s and had shared office space with him. When Mr. Delegal went to court after his removal from Mr. Holland’s case, seeking to be paid about $40,000 for his work on it, the new lawyer testified on behalf of the old one, saying the fees had been “reasonable and necessary.”

Mr. Delegal died of a drug overdose about a month after the fee hearing, and a local paper asked his former colleague Mr. Lewis about his troubles. “I heard some rumors,” Mr. Lewis said, “but I chose not to know.”

This series of lawyers, Judge Patricia A. Seitz of Federal District Court in Miami wrote this month, “does assist in understanding why someone, perhaps predisposed to paranoia due to a mental disturbance, may have wanted self-representation over court-appointed counsel.”

In granting Mr. Holland a new trial, Judge Seitz ruled that a state judge had violated Mr. Holland’s rights under the Sixth Amendment by refusing to let him represent himself.

At the 1996 retrial, which, like the first trial, ended in a murder conviction and a death sentence, Mr. Holland asked to represent himself at least 10 times, saying he did not trust Mr. Lewis and could in any event do a better job.

Judge Charles M. Greene of the state circuit court in Fort Lauderdale denied the requests, saying Mr. Holland did not have “any specific legal training.” That is not the constitutional standard; indeed, the Supreme Court has said that “technical legal knowledge” is not required.

The relevant questions, Judge Seitz wrote, were whether Mr. Holland understood that he had a right to a court-appointed lawyer and whether he was mentally competent to decide to waive that right.

When Mr. Holland was allowed to address the court, he seemed to make sense. He said, for instance, that Mr. Lewis “denied me effective assistance of counsel because his loyalty was impaired.”

Mr. Holland also told the court that his legal research indicated that his indictment on a charge of attempted felony murder was flawed because there was no such crime in Florida. (“It is noteworthy,” Judge Seitz wrote, that “this statement had a factual basis.” Indeed, the Florida Supreme Court had said as much in 1995 in an unrelated case.)

At other times, Mr. Holland exhibited a certain flair, though it was perhaps not to everyone’s taste.

“From what I have seen in the evidence,” he told Judge Greene, “Ray Charles could come in here and represent himself, and Stevie Wonder, so I don’t need much legal training to do all that.”

Judge Greene acknowledged that Mr. Holland had “voiced concerns and issues in a most eloquent manner” and had expressed himself in a “very coherent and organized manner.”

When it came time to sentence Mr. Holland to death, Judge Greene said he gave little weight to Mr. Holland’s history of mental illness, though he had twice been found not guilty by reason of insanity for robberies in Washington and had been involuntarily hospitalized in the 1980s for four years.

As proof that Mr. Holland was no longer mentally ill, Judge Greene praised him as an able advocate who had “correctly argued case law and factual issues to the court.” His legal skills, then, were proof that he was fit to be executed — but not good enough that he be allowed to defend himself.

These days, Mr. Holland is represented by Todd G. Scher, a Miami Beach lawyer who won in the Supreme Court and persuaded Judge Seitz to order a new trial. A spokesman for the Florida attorney general’s office said prosecutors would ask Judge Seitz to reconsider her ruling.

Mr. Scher said he did not know who would represent Mr. Holland at a retrial. For now, he said, what was clear was that a federal judge had found “a blatant Sixth Amendment violation.”

“It shows that he was right,” Mr. Scher said of his client. “He had concerns about his prior series of lawyer, and his concerns turned out to be valid.”

Florida – David Alan Gore – execution – serial killer’s last hours

Angelica Lavallee, 14Lynn Elliott, 17Hisang Huang Ling, 48Judy Daley, 35Ying Hua Ling, 17

angelica lavallee                     Lynn Elliot                           Hisang Huang Ling                Judy Daley                    Ying Hua Ling

Barbara Ann Byer, 14   Barbare Ann Byer

     “I seen her running down the road so I started running after her and I was hollering for her to stop, and when she wouldn’t, I shot over her head,” recalled Gore in a deposition. “I kept running after her and then she tripped and … she was trying, like, resisting, fighting me, so I throwed (sic) her to the ground. That’s when I shot her in the head.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

David Alan Gore, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. 

Gore gave a hand-written statement before the execution process started.

“I would like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Elliott, that I truly am sorry for my part in the death of your daughter. I wish above all else my death could bring her back,” the statement said. “I am not the same man today that I was 28 years ago. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior, I became a new creature in Christ and I know God has truly forgiven me for my past sins.”

Update: 4.30 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied all of David Alan Gore’s 11th-hour appeals, clearing the way for the scheduled 6 p.m. execution at Florida State Prison, officials said.

“The Supreme Court has denied everything,” said Assistant State Attorney Ryan Butler, adding officials received the information via telephone late this afternoon. “A written order of denial will be forthcoming.”

During the 4:30 p.m. media update, Florida Department of Corrections Communications Director Ann Howard announced Gore has prepared a hand-written a press statement. It won’t be released until the execution is completed.

When asked about the tone of the statement, she said, “I would say it’s remorseful.”

To the surprise of some, no formal protests — regarding Gore or the general execution process — were evident.

Gore received his last meal early this afternoon and was visited for an hour by his mother and an ex-wife in preparation for the execution.

update :

STARKE — Condemned killer David Alan Gore has received his last meal and was visited for an hour by his mother and an ex-wife in preparation for his 6 p.m. execution at Florida State Prison.

Ann Howard, Florida Department of Corrections communications director, said it appears Gore’s execution is on schedule.

“So far so good,” she said. “We’re on schedule and things are looking normal for us.”

Gore is being executed for the July 1983 first-degree murder of Lynn Elliott, 17, of Vero Beach. He also confessed to killing five other women and girls.

During the 1:30 p.m. update, Howard said Gore was being visited by a religious advisor, but she didn’t say who it was, what religion the advisor represented or what they discussed.

He spent an hour visiting with his mother Velma Gore and an ex-wife, Howard said. She didn’t say which of Gore’s three wives had visited him.

Gore also has received his last meal, Howard confirmed.

“It was fried chicken, French fries, butter pecan ice cream and a soft drink,” she said. “So pretty simple.”

Gore’s demeanor today has been “calm,” Howard said, without elaborating.

Howard said prison officials have not received word on whether the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the two motions filed this week seeking to stop his execution.

State prosecutors on Wednesday indicated the high court would likely rule Thursday afternoon.

The next update on Gore’s execution is scheduled for 4 p.m.

april 12, source : http://treasurecoastdeathrow.com

When David Alan Gore woke up today — the day of his scheduled execution — he had more interaction with people than he has had since his death warrant was signed six weeks ago.
After Gov. Rick Scott signed the warrant on Feb. 28 for the first-degree murder of Lynn Elliott in Vero Beach, Gore was moved from his 6-foot by 9-foot death row cell at Starke’s Union Correctional Institution to a 12-foot by 7-foot death watch cell at Starke’s Florida State Prison.

There, he has been secluded from all other death row inmates with whom he regularly got the chance to talk at the prison’s exercise yard. Gore also was allowed one legal and one social phone call, but officials did not release whether he used those privileges.

Gore on Thursday will have the opportunity to spend two hours with approved visitors. A religious adviser will meet with him, if he requests it. And he’ll have his last meal, which will be prepared by prison staff with local ingredients that cost no more than $40 total. Officials at the Florida Department of Corrections would not release details on these items.

Gore also had the opportunity to grant a final media interview, but declined it

While Gore was on death watch, prison officers checked him every 30 minutes to make sure he had not harmed himself, according to prison officials. During Gore’s last week, officers have had 24-hour in-person surveillance on him.

Shortly before 6 p.m., officers are scheduled to escort Gore through a quarter mile-long corridor to Florida’s execution chamber.

The chamber is a small room with hospital-white walls that are bare, except for a telephone, several mirrors and a large digital clock that hangs on one wall. A black curtain covers the execution witness room window.

Gore’s executioner will be an anonymous private citizen who is paid $150.

Extra prison staff will be on duty inside and outside the prison for heightened security. Highway patrols will keep the traffic moving across the street from the prison, where media representatives and protesters are expected.

“The atmosphere at the prison will be more somber,” said Randall Polk, assistant warden at the prison. “On that day, the staff is respectful, the inmates calm down. If you can get one of the inmates to tell you the truth, they’ll tell you they quiet down out of respect.”

Polk said the prison’s execution team was scheduled to perform a mock execution about a week ago, mimicking the method Gore has chosen for his death — lethal injection.

DEATH WATCH TIMELINE

After the governor signs the death warrant

The warden at Florida State Prison selects two executioners, who are 18 years old or older and are trained to perform an execution. The anonymous executioners are paid $150 each.

The warden designates the members of the execution team, who will perform such tasks as moving the inmate to the gurney and mixing the lethal chemicals.

Lethal chemicals are purchased and stored securely.

A week before the execution

The execution team reviews the inmate’s medical file and gives him a physical examination, making sure no medical issues will interfere with the administration of the lethal injection.

The execution team performs a mock execution.

Execution day

A food service director will prepare the inmate’s last meal.

The inmate will shower.

Lethal injection chemicals are prepared. The inmate will be offered an intramuscular injection to ease anxiety.

The execution team establishes telephone communication with the governor’s office.

The warden reads the death warrant to the inmate.

Officers strap the inmate to the gurney in the execution chamber and insert one intravenous line on each of his arms.

Witnesses are secured

n the witness room. The witness room curtains open. The public address system is turned on.

The inmate says final words, if he chooses.

The primary executioner administers the lethal injection.

A physician pronounces the inmate’s time of death.

Florida Department of Corrections

Charges expected against George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin shooting death

zimmerman charged with second- degree murder and his in custody

april 11 source : http://www.wxyz.com

AP) – A law enforcement official says that charges are being filed in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

The official with knowledge of the investigation says a prosecutor will announce charges against George Zimmerman on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

live on CBS news at 6.00 p.m ET watch here

Zimmerman’s arrest is also expected soon.

The official didn’t know the charge and spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

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Florida justices refuse to stay Gore’s execution

update april 10 source : http://www.wpbf.com

Gore’s lawyers asked for a stay and filed an appeal on Tuesday, just two days before he is scheduled to die.

The appeal is based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said federal courts must hear a convict’s claim of receiving ineffective legal assistance – or none at all – for appeals alleging the inmate’s trial lawyers also had been ineffective.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected a similar appeal Monday.

april 9, 2012, source :http://www.miamiherald.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court has refused to stay serial killer David Gore’s execution. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday.

The justices on Monday unanimously rejected several arguments by Gore’s lawyers.

That includes their contention a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision dealing with ineffective counsel applies to his case.

The state justices ruled that opinion appears to apply only to federal rather than state court proceedings.

One of Gore’s lawyers, Martin McClain, says the ruling will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and that other federal court options also are being considered.

Gore is to be executed for murdering a 17-year-old girl in Indian River County nearly 30 years ago. He also is serving life terms for killing five other girls or women.

florida Supreme court read the decision : click here

George Zimmerman seeks donations on his new website

breaking news 4.12 pm ET   George Zimmerman’s Attorney News Conference on CBS News

watch here : CBS

George Zimmerman’s attorneys said in a press conference this afternoon that they will no longer be representing him, because they have not been able to locate him and because he has rebuffed their counsel.

april 9, 2012 source : http://www.cbsnews.com

George Zimmerman, the man who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, has started a website “to ensure my supporters they are receiving my full attention without any intermediaries.”

The authenticity of the website,therealgeorgezimmerman.com, has been confirmed by his lawyers, according to CNN and other news outlets.

“On Sunday February 26th, I was involved in a life altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage. As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my entire life,” the website states.

The site includes a link to donate funds to help pay for Zimmerman’s lawyers and living expenses because of his “forced inability to maintain employment.”

“I thank you for your patience and I assure you, the facts will come to light,” the website goes on to say. Zimmerman then goes on to quote a philosophy attributed to sociologist James W. Loewen: “People have a right to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. Evidence must be located, not created, and opinions not backed by evidence cannot be given much weight.”

Under a section titled “My race,” the website has a Thomas Paine quote: “The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”

The website does not contain Zimmerman’s account of his interaction with Trayvon Martin.

Special prosecutor: No grand jury for Trayvon Martin case
Trayvon Martin’s family asks feds to investigate
Investigator: Martin family “will get answers”
2 Fla. officials step aside in teen death probe

Meanwhile, Florida State Attorney Angela Corey has decided not to use a grand jury in her investigation into the shooting death of Martin.

The grand jury, scheduled by the case’s previous prosecutor, was set to convene on April 10.

A statement released by her office said that the decision “should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the case.”

Corey was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott last month to take over the investigation. At that time she said she may not need a grand jury.

Corey, the state attorney for the Jacksonville area, was appointed to take over the case after the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, recused himself.

Monday’s statement said that the investigation continues, and declined further comment.

Related articles

Florida – Craigslist killer sentenced to death

David Sparre sentenced

JACKSONVILLE, march 30, source :http://www.news4jax.com

A 20-year-old man convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a 21-year-old Navy wife he met on Craigslist is sentenced to Florida’s death row.

Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt formally sentenced David Sparre to death for killing Tiara Pool by stabbing her 89 times.

Before the jury unanimously recommend the death penalty last month, Sparre went against the advice of his attorneys and waived his right for witnesses to testify on his behalf during the sentencing.

Because of Sparre’s request, the only testimony in the penalty phase were prosecutors only brought up three of Pool’s relatives for victim impact statements.

The judge said that by the defense not being able to bring up witnesses, Sparre eliminated more than 25 mitigating factors in his defense, ranging from his family’s troubles, such as abuse, to medical factors, such as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and attention deficit disorder.

“What’s going through my mind is, a flower has been plucked from our garden. That flower will never be there anymore, but I thank God that justice has taken place,” Hattie Roche, Pool’s grandmother, said after the jury recommended the death penalty. “It aches because we don’t know why this happened. But the only thing we can do is rally around those two little boys and be all that we can be to them, and know that Tiara is looking down on us.”

During the trial, prosecutors described what they called the ruthless and violent killing of Pool, a mother of two sons, in her Hodges Boulevard apartment in July 2010.

“Eighty-nine. Over 89 stab wounds or cuts made by that man when he brutally killed the young lady,” prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda said. “What killed this innocent young lady was major stab wounds to her back. She was cut across her neck, she was stabbed across her back numerous times, and she was left on her bedroom floor naked, left to die.”

Prosecutors said Pool posted an ad on Craigslist seeking friendship. They said Pool’s husband was out at sea, and they were having problems in their marriage. Prosecutors said Pool’s sons were out of town with her in-laws when she was killed.

Attorneys said Sparre, who was living in Georgia, responded to the online ad, and he and Pool text messaged each other for about a week until they finally met in Jacksonville.

Sparre told Pool he was visiting his grandmother, who had to go to St. Vincent’s Medical Center, prosecutors said. Surveillance video shows him walking around the hospital.

Prosecutors said the two met at the hospital, but eventually went back to Pool’s apartment. That’s where attorneys disagree on what led to her killing.

“He realized what had happened, and it was too late,” defense attorney Michael Bateh said. “He saw the body of Tiara Pool laying there in her own blood.”

Defense attorneys said Sparre and Pool were intimate, and when Sparre found out she was married, he blacked out and then found her dead, not realizing what he did.

Prosecutors said Sparre never blacked out. He not only killed her with her own kitchen knife, but stole some of her things before leaving and heading back to the hospital, prosecutors said. They said he even sold her PlayStation to a pawn shop in Georgia.

Police said it was four days until a concerned friend went to check on Pool and found her dead in her bedroom.

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Freed death row inmate will speak at Penn State Beaver

march, 26, 2012 source :http://www.br.psu.edu

 

the public is invited to attend a free presentation by Juan Melendez at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 28 in the auditorium of the Penn State Beaver Student Union Building.

Melendez was imprisoned on death row in Florida for almost 18 years until his conviction was overturned and he was released in 2002. Upon his release, Melendez became the United States’ 99th death row inmate to be exonerated and released since 1973. 

In his presentation, Melendez will discuss his story of injustice and wrongful imprisonment on death row as one of many problems pervasive throughout the nation’s legal system and will describe the high rate of wrongful convictions based on poverty, race, and ethnicity.

Melendez will also share how he survived his experiences while imprisoned and how he maintained his spirit while he and others worked to free him.

Since his release, he has spoken here and abroad about the crisis of wrongful imprisonment, especially on death row, and his story has been reported in French, Spanish, Italian, and Arabic.

The administration of justice program and the Beaver campus Student Activity Fee are sponsoring the presentation as part of the Unique Perspectives for Selecting Your Career Path Speaker Series.

For information, contact Larissa Ciuca, student personal and career counselor, at lbm12@psu.edu or 724-773-3961 or LaVarr McBride, instructor in administration of justice at Beaver, Penn State New Kensington, and Penn State Shenango, atlwm13@psu.edu or 724-773-3866.

Justice for Trayvon Martin National March and Rally, March 26, 2012 4:00 pm !

march 23,

WASHINGTON — President Obama did not mention race even as he addressed it on Friday, instead letting his person and his words say it all: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

Weighing in for the first time on the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager shot and killed a month ago in Florida by a neighborhood watch volunteer, Mr. Obama in powerfully personal terms deplored the “tragedy” and, as a parent, expressed sympathy for the boy’s mother and father.

“I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids,” Mr. Obama said. “Every parent in America,” he added, “should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together — federal, state and local — to figure out exactly how this tragedy happened.”

While speaking movingly from his perspective as the father of two girls, one a teenager, Mr. Obama notably made no reference to the racial context that has made the killing of Trayvon and the gunman’s claim of self-defense a rallying point for African-Americans. Since Mr. Obama first began campaigning to be “president of all the people,” as his advisers would put it when pressed on racial issues, he has been generally reluctant to talk about race. And after his historic election as the first black president, Mr. Obama learned the hard way about the pitfalls of the chief executive opining on law enforcement matters involving civil rights.

source : New york time  read here.

This is not a case of death row, but a case of injustice and tragedy.

Trayvon Martin was killed.

In the moments before Martin was shot, he was on his cellphone talking to his girlfriend.

“He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man,” the girl told ABC News. “I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run.”

Law enforcement officials in Sanford, Fla., investigating last month’s shooting of an unarmed black teen by self-appointed neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman say they may have missed a possible racist remark made by Zimmerman to a 911 operator seconds before he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

read the case, video on : Huffington post

Uptade march, 22  source CNN

Sanford, Florida (CNN) — After a no-confidence vote and demands for his resignation, pressure mounted Thursday on the police chief of the Florida city where unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin was killed.

Sanford city commissioners voted 3-2 Wednesday night in favor of a nonbinding measure of no confidence against Police Chief Bill Lee. It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, that would have.

City Manager Norton Bonaparte said Thursday that he would like an independent review of police action in the wake of the shooting.

NAACP President Ben Jealous, however, was more forthright. Parents, he said, don’t feel their children will be safe with Lee heading the police department.

“He needs to go right now,’ Jealous said.

Meanwhile, the uproar over Martin’s death continued to grow with another rally planned Thursday night at a Sanford church. The Rev. Al Sharpton was slated to lead that rally before news of his mother’s death.

Martin was fatally shot February 26 while walking to the house of his father’s fiancee in Sanford after a trip to a convenience store. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch leader, said he shot the teen in self-defense.

Zimmerman has not been arrested. A police report describes him as a white male; his family says he is Hispanic.

Public outrage over the shooting and police response reverberted well beyond Sanford, a racially mixed Orlando suburb.

Demonstrators crowded New York’s Union Square Wednesday night, in a protest attended by Martin’s parents. Many wore hoodies and carried Skittles, the type of clothing Martin was wearing and the candy he purchased from a convenience store the night he was killed.

CNN videos about Trayvon Martin : watch here