Skip to footer

Zimmerman lawyers seek hearing on 'stand your ground'

A statement posted Thursday on the website for George Zimmerman's legal team says evidence released by prosecutors shows 'clear support for a strong claim of self-defense.'

|
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/AP/File
In this June 29 photo, George Zimmerman (l.) and attorney Don West appear before Circuit Judge Kenneth R. Lester, Jr. during a bond hearing at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center in Sanford, Fla.
  • By Associated Press

| SANFORD, Fla.

Attorneys for the neighborhood watch volunteer charged in the death of an unarmed teen say they'll seek a "stand your ground" hearing that could lead to criminal charges being dismissed.

A statement posted Thursday on the website for George Zimmerman's legal team says evidence released by prosecutors shows "clear support for a strong claim of self-defense."

Zimmerman says he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February in self-defense under Florida's so-called "stand your ground" law, which allows people to use deadly force, instead of retreating, if they believe their lives are in danger.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. If a judge rules the evidence fits the conditions of "stand your ground," the criminal charges would be dismissed and Zimmerman would be immune from civil action in the shooting.

Zimmerman is free on $1 million bond.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Zimmerman lawyers seek hearing on 'stand your ground'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0809/Zimmerman-lawyers-seek-hearing-on-stand-your-ground
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe