Page 35 - Simpson Case News Today

Life in prison. maybe 30 years. and that is an extraordinary thing for a family to have to go through. to add to that that this is late at night on a saturday which is an odd thing in the criminal justice system and does not happen in ordinary cases and you see the courthouse there lit up. looks like about half is lit up for just this one case which shows you how much is going on and how many people are involved inside the courthouse just to keep all of this going. i mean this is just an extraor...

About this case and whether or not you think that the prosecution proved its case, i think there is one thing undeniable, that is the result of this case, there are 12-year-olds crawling into bed with their parents tonight out of fear. while there may be some more legal recourses, legal issues dealt with in the courts, other things are going on right now including a phone call among civil rights leaders about where do we go next. well talk about that when we come back. >> put their hoodies up. t...

Do we need evidence that george zimmerman is himself an active, rabid racist, someone who uses racist terminology or says he hates black people or black people are unequal. our sort of hangup in this country, that constitutes a race question rather than recognizing race is at play in this sense that a young black man walking, minding his own business, unarmed, not committing any crime, he does not have a right to simply walk home. he somehow owed george zimmerman an explanation for what he was d...

First of all, if there is a civil lawsuit going forward, it can be raised in a separate stand your ground hearing. the defendant, in that case it would be george zimmerman, would have the burden of proof and george zimmerman would finally have to testify. which gives whoevers prosecuting the civil case a real opportunity to see if there are any inconsistencies. the other respect with stand your ground is that this was not a successful prosecution. but it got prosecuted. and i am hopeful that in ...

Aspect of this case or verdict that doesnt have to do with civil rights, despite mr. omaras protestations to the contrary. george zimmerman never would have been arrested had it not been for the civil rights mobilization throughout this country, that demanded that respect accorded the life of an african-american boy killed by a man who stopped him on the streets of his own neighborhood. when it moves to the federal realm, most likely in play is the federal hate crime statute, in which the charge...

Evidence, including evidence not introduced into the state criminal trial. >> ben, one could argue that the other part of this case involved guns. under floridas self-defense law, a person has, quote, no duty to retreat. at this point, does the naacp start looking at seeking to have the law changed, not only in florida, but perhaps in other states with similar statutes? >> yes. in fact, weve been focused on that for the past year, across the country. weve been able, in the lower 48 states, to bl...

State. and the region. and people have a right to question that. its also true that mr. zimmerman over a period of years, made dozens and dozens of calls, grossly disproportionately about young, black and brown men, boys of color, boys that lived in his community were of color said that he targeted them unfairly. and that it sounds from some of his comments that was a factor. in why he targeted a young innocent boy who was just walking home with skittles and iced tea, trying to get to his father...

I was stunned by her disposition, but didnt seem to have a sense of stress, anxiety, sadness, any of that, about the fact this childs death -- that no one will be held accountable for it. >> but she also said something that seemed to contradictory, you and i looked at each other, this was not about race although he was profiled. >> again, the idea, what could he have possibly been profiled on? i assume she must have meant somehow he was profiled because he was young and outside in the evening? i...

Jeopardy laws. how likely is the justice department to pursue something like this? >> it would not be double jeopardy. the hate crime statute is a separate federal statute. as i said, it speaks to bodily injury because of race, as ben just pointed out, not only did the prosecution and the defense keep race out of the state trial, the judge ordered it out. she would not allow the words racial profiling, for example, to be used. they could only talk about profiling. much of the evidence that we kn...

Positive purpose, im all for it. >> kendall, now running for local office in new york city, he weighed in on the justice departments role in the case going forward. he did it this morning on abc this morning. take a listen. >> should the justice department step in now? >> but its a very dicey position. because theres been a criminal case, double jeopardy is a fundamental principle in our judicial system as it should be. its going to be hard for them to come back at the defendant and, boy, this i...