You Overcharge News Today

Focusing on. so it really is useful, but you also want to be careful. because if you overcharge, you could lose a try credibility of the jury. you want the jury to be looking you at you thinking, and nodding along. feeling as if the prosecutor is leading them properly towards a resolution. and if you start to bring charges that seem excessive, you can lose them. that might be something that they are considering and considering which charges to bring. >> you just made a great point that i want to...

Think thats a stretch? >> i see it. i think its hard. i think it would be hard to prove in certain ways and it has certain challenges, but it has certain benefits. it also allows the prosecutor to bring in all sorts of evidence that would be harder to bring in otherwise because it is such an umbrella that you could bring in past wrongdoings, things that stretched back further beyond the statute of limitations in these other cases. and all of that evidence would help you convince a jury of the pa...

And in fact, they encourage violence when we want to discourage it. >> when you have prosecuted zimmerman under second degree murder or manslaughter or not at all? >> look, i think -- ive heard your segments with allen dershowitz. i have great respect for him. but i begin with a premise here, justice was not served. an innocent man was shot and killed and something is wrong when there is no judicial response to that. having said, that we need to come to grips with another reality. proof beyond a...

Come to grips with another reality. proof beyond a reasonable doubt make it very difficult in a context like this where theres not overwhelming evidence to get a conviction. murder two was the wrong charge. as i understood the evidence, i think that was the wrong charge. manslaughter, if they had started with that, i always worry as a prosecutor, if you overcharge, you lose credibility. >> and if the jury rules out what youve gone for, its harder to come down. >> youre asking them to say ive arg...

That. having said, that we need to come to grips with another reality. proof beyond a reasonable doubt murder two was the wrong charge. as i understood the evidence, i think that was the wrong charge. manslaughter, if they had started with that, i always worry as a prosecutor, if you overcharge, you lose credibility. >> and if the jury rules out what youve gone for, its harder to come down. >> youre asking them to say ive argued a and b, reject a but embrace b. but your credibility is shot, beca...

>> they did it because they had nothing else. agree or disagree? >> they had nothing -- the entire trial, there was no evidence, the jury did the right thing. were not saying -- exactly, you cant -- he has a constitutional right. >> they had to introduce that, because they didnt have a case. >> right, and they were trying to find inconsistencies which they thought would lead the jury, but the jury rejected them. and under the rule of law -- >> i think the prosecution focused too much on trying t...

If it turns out that second degree murder is not what they go for or is that a smart thing for the prosecutor? >> i dont think its a mistake. i think there are many critics who say this is a routine practice to overcharge. but when you overcharge, you hold yourself to a higher burden. commentator said the same thing about the casey anthony case. its these cases that people perceive as overcharged. there is that chance by gambling and overcharging, you may sour a jury to that lesser included offe...

Are you of? do you believe its a mistake for the prosecutor to overcharge if it turns out that second degree murder is not what they go for or is that a smart thing for the prosecuteer? >> i dont think its a mistake. i think there are many critics who say this is a routine practice to overcharge. but when you overcharge, you hold yourself to a higher burden. commentator said the same thing about the casey anthony case. its these cases that people perceive as overcharged. there is that chance by ...

>> thats what other prosecutors think, which is if you overcharge, you wind up discrediting your entire case. the problem here is, theyre not establishing any kind of case at least on a day like today as far as i can tell. but again, i dont think we should overemphasize one day. theres a lot of evidence in this case, but i just thought this day was not very successful. >> our entire panel is going to come back in the 10:00 hour, were going to go indepth, thats at 10:00, i hope you join us in abo...

Case harder to argue? >> thats what other prosecutors think, which is if you overcharge, you wind up discrediting your entire case. the problem here is, theyre not establishing any kind of case at least on a day like today as far as i can tell. but again, i dont think we should overemphasize one day. theres a lot of evidence in this case, but i just thought this day was not very successful. just ahead, more of george zimmerman in his own words, what he told police about the night he killed tra...