Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz - "George Zimmerman will be acquitted"

Alan Dershowitz is that freak'n brilliant Harvard Law Prof. who argues cases at the Supreme Court. His prediction - George Zimmerman will be aquitted. He also says that the prosecutor has been irresponsible and he says that any civil unrest that happens will be the fault of the prosecutor for raising expectations by overcharging with 2nd degree murder.

Dershowitz is a liberal. He went on both MSNBC and FOX and said the exact same thing. He said that not only was there not enough evidence to support 2nd degree murder, but that he doesn't see enough for Manslaughter. He was VERY critical of the prosecutor as well. He said she should be charged with purgery.

Video at this site -
Harvard Law Professor Predicts George Zimmerman Will Be Acquitted

Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz on Thursday said that George Zimmerman, who was recently arrested second degree murder, would probably be acquitted of the crime because of a lack of evidence.

“Most affidavits of probable cause are very thin,” he said on MSNBC. “This is so thin that it won’t make it past a judge on a second degree murder charge. There’s simply nothing in there that would justify second degree murder.” “The elements of the crime aren’t established. Basically what is in the affidavit is what’s in the public domain.” ...

Dershowitz said the affidavit was not just thin, it was also irresponsible and unethical because it excluded any evidence that favors the defendant

FOX - Dershowitz - Prosecutor Overreached with Murder Charge

Legal legend Alan Dershowitz blasted the special prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case, accusing her of hiding evidence favorable to defendant George Zimmerman and committing perjury.

“If I were this prosecutor, I’d be hiring a lawyer at this point,” Dershowitz said of Angela Cory, the Florida state attorney and special prosecutor who Gov. Rick Scott appointed to handle the case.

Dershowitz leveled his bombshell charges in an interview Wednesday with Fox News' Megyn Kelly. The Harvard law professor, noted for winning an acquittal of Claus Von Bulow in the case that inspired the film “Reversal of Fortune,” said Cory overreached by charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder. And he said the affidavit she filed in support of the charges was illegal because it did not include evidence favorable to Zimmerman

I remember the prosecutor coming out and saying that she was going to 'get justice for Martin".
But according to Dershowitz she should have said that she was going to 'get justice'. Period.
Zimmerman deserves justice (which ever way it goes) just as much as Martin.

I agree. This whole Trayvon things is complete bunk.
People have already chosen their side without having any of the real evidence, they are choosing based on emotion. There have been several 'revenge beatings' in the name of trayvon already, sometimes human stupidity is astounding.

If someone comes at me with the intent to beat me in the name of some kid,
Im going to kill them. end of story.

The story is too muddled now to get any real truth, Zimmerman was injured (apparently) by the boy, i would have shot him too if i felt my life was threatened. Its rumored he had his head smashed on the pavement right? Well, a man was just murdered in my city that way. A paranoid schizophrenic smashed his skull into the pavement until he was dead, or near dead. Life threatened? Shoot them.

I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell that Zimmerman will walk free completely.

I don't think the verdict will please either side completely, but Zimmerman will do time for something.

This was a farce to begin with and it will end in a farce as well. Good luck finding jury members who haven't heard of the story, unless they intend a judges ruling, it will be near impossible to find someone untainted to listen to the case.

Originally posted by halfoldman
Zimmerman will do time for something.

According to Dershowitz, what is on the affidavit doesn't rise to 2nd degree murder. He said it doesn't rise to manslaughter. He says a jury would HAVE to find Zimmerman not guilty based on the severe lack of evidence in the affidavit. And he says that any civil unrest because of that 'not guilty' verdict will be directly the fault of the prosecutor. And he thinks the prosecutor should be charged for not telling the truth in the affidavit.

This guy is probably the top prosecutor in the country.
He says Florida prosecution is doing a lousy job.

For the record .. during his interview at FOX .. Dershowitz showed no bias for either Zimmerman or Martin. He said that pretty much anything could have happened ... Zimmerman attacking Martin or Martin attacking Zimmerman or even two people doing stupid things attacking each other so both are to blame and neither is to blame etc etc ...

He was VERY critical of the Florida prosecution. THAT is what is interesting.

reply to post by FlyersFan


The only reason this is getting any attention is because a white man shot a black man.

The media is so overly controlling of every aspect of the average persons life it makes me sick.

Who cares?

Check out crimes in the U.S. I'm sure similar acts of violence occur everyday.........every hour.

I'm not attacking you OP I'm just pissed-off at the ignorance of the human condition.

There must be a cure.

reply to post by FlyersFan

Well, if we can tell one thing about experts it's that they are usually wrong when it comes to predictions.

We've got a culture of experts who can't tell white wine from red wine when blindfolded!
They can't tell what art is created by a human; or what is from an elephant!

In realpolitik Zimmerman cannot go completely unpunished.

It depends how long they can stretch this case out, before it is over-shadowed by something else.

And ultimately he should be punished to a degree.

Originally posted by cavalryscout
The only reason this is getting any attention is because a white man shot a black man.

Reuters info - Zimmerman is Hispanic/White/Black
YES BLACK TOO. He is a very mixed racial bag.
But of course the press initially made him out to be a fat doofy white guy.

my 2 cents...if i were black in florida, i would be carrying a gun everywhere i go, and if any white person started coming toward me in an aggressive manner, i would just shoot them. that way you could claim self-defense and in fear of your life. i would use this case as an example of the fear that i have walking while black, sounds perfectly logical to me. also if a truck with white boys drives by and makes racist remarks, i would shoot them also, for fear that they will come back and kill me.

Originally posted by jimmyx
my 2 cents...if i were black in florida, i would be carrying a gun everywhere i go, and if any white person started coming toward me in an aggressive manner, i would just shoot them. that way you could claim self-defense and in fear of your life. i would use this case as an example of the fear that i have walking while black, sounds perfectly logical to me. also if a truck with white boys drives by and makes racist remarks, i would shoot them also, for fear that they will come back and kill me.

edit on 26-4-2012 by jimmyx because: (no reason given)

I'm sorry, but that's the most ridiculous statement I've heard on here in a while....

If we followed your thinking, it would be the wild wild west all over.

It also has nothing to do with the topic and the legal holes of the case as the OP is trying to demonstrate.

~Namaste

Originally posted by SonOfTheLawOfOne
the legal holes of the case as the OP is trying to demonstrate.

According to Alan Dershowitz, this case is void of any facts that could possibly find a 'murder 2' conviction. It is also void of any facts that would gain a manslaughter conviction. He was VERY hard on the prosecutor, saying her affidavit was criminal and she should be charged.

This fella is very well educated and has a lot of high level experience.

He says that if there is a 'non guilty' verdict .. which he says should be the verdict based on what the prosecutor has done ... then any civil unrest will be the fault of the prosecutor for over charging and for getting expectations too high.

That's not saying Zimmerman is innocent or guilty. That's saying the prosecution is doing a lousy job and a jury would have to find him not guilty based on what the prosecution is doing.

Good find OP..

I believe zimmerman is being overcharged.
I don't think he should of been charged at all
to be frank..


I believe he will be acquitted also.
This law pro. seems to know his stuff
but you never know what will happen
in these cases and who will be on that jury...

Write this down - this case won't even proceed to a jury. The judge will dismiss it based on lack of evidence.

The prosecutor will more than likely face losing her license to practice law and will be forced to resign regardless.

If they really intended to pursue this they would have sent it to a grand jury who would have no billed the case. This is all about a prosecutor trying to get her name in the media and a city government reacting badly to a situation where they were afraid the natives would riot otherwise.

The really sad thing is it will probably happen anyway. When this case is thrown out of court we will most likely see a repeat of the post Rodney King verdicts.

At least the city and state bought itself some time to get ready, I suppose which may be part of the larger picture.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Maybe I should have gone to Harvard. That is exactly what I predicted the day he was charged. I thought it was so obvious that it might have been intentional. I didn't think there was anyway that the person charging him with second degree murder couldn't see that it wouldn't stick and in such a racially charged situation when it didn't there would be hell to pay.

reply to post by ecoparity


Yep.. stupid on her part too. I know they always want to charge murder in hopes that they get the next OJ or Casey Anthony, but as in the Casey Anthony case when you overcharge solely to get the spotlight the truth comes out and you lose the case. What is funny is this case had enough media attention that it might have been a popular case with just a manslaughter charge (maybe not though).

She had to have known that murder 2 wouldn't stick and the consequence of both not having a case or no conviction would be racial tensions verging on (or maybe culminating in) riots. So either it was intentional, or she really wanted that high rating t.v. trial. Wanted it so much that she would intentionally over charge a man and try to ruin/end his life. She absolutely deserves to lose her license before she can overcharge someone again for her own gain.

the only reason zimmerman was charged was to avoid a race riot.

all they did now was postpone it and let pressures rise until it explodes into the mother of all race riots.

sometime the pieces fall into place so easily and perfectly for the powers that be that you got to wonder if it wasn't planned.

Is it just me ?
Why has this case gotten more pubicity, over deaths at the hands of the police ?
Seems to me this case will end up with the expected results, a race war not a rage against the machine.
Hello martial law.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by ecoparity

 

Yep.. stupid on her part too. I know they always want to charge murder in hopes that they get the next OJ or Casey Anthony, but as in the Casey Anthony case when you overcharge solely to get the spotlight the truth comes out and you lose the case. What is funny is this case had enough media attention that it might have been a popular case with just a manslaughter charge (maybe not though).

She had to have known that murder 2 wouldn't stick and the consequence of both not having a case or no conviction would be racial tensions verging on (or maybe culminating in) riots. So either it was intentional, or she really wanted that high rating t.v. trial. Wanted it so much that she would intentionally over charge a man and try to ruin/end his life. She absolutely deserves to lose her license before she can overcharge someone again for her own gain.

There trying to buy time
before the RIOTS start.
If Zimmerman is not convicted
and the only charge he is facing
is 2ND degree murder, they will RIOT
either way. If he was not charged or not
charged with murder, JESSE and AL
would say jump and the RIOTS would start.

The law professor is just telling it how it is..
Anyone with half a brain can see this case
is a mob rule, mentally racially charged
series. This guy, and a lot of people before him
have been saying this.. Again the professor can not
predict the jury. Zimmerman may not be
so lucky in getting a fair trial.
It is a between two rocks affair.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Factoring in an eye witness who saw a man on top of Zimmerman beating him and the photo that surfaced of the obvious wounds on the back of his head, could this go any other way?

I'm all for his arrest and this going to a trial, but hope in the end that truth wins out.

I'm still amazed that those placing a dead or alive bounty are not also indicted? Why are they immune to the law I wonder? Actually I know, but why bother.

I'm sorry, but that's the most ridiculous statement I've heard on here in a while.... If we followed your thinking, it would be the wild wild west all over. It also has nothing to do with the topic and the legal holes of the case as the OP is trying to demonstrate.

reply to post by SonOfTheLawOfOne
The point that JimmyX was making is that the case for Zimmerman makes no sense. And based on his possible acquittal you should expect lots of similarly outlandish reasons and excuses for shootings in the future, not unlike the examples given by JimmyZ. Folks here on ATS aren't trying to start a race riot my friend. They're just trying to make a point about justice. Like most people, I sympathizer with Zimmerman. But on the other hand, unless the shooting was an accident or someone's life was being threatened, the shooter must be punished.

Jesus! Does this mean that if I'm in a fight and the other person's getting the best of me I can shoot him and not get punished. Dam. Things are changing. I didn't see this coming.