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  • Promoter Cancels DMX-Zimmerman Match

    The highly-discussed publicity-stunt boxing match has been canceled.

    The match between rapper DMX and George Zimmerman has been called off.

    “This was the wrong person to put in the ring and define celebrity boxing,” promoter Damon Feldman said Saturday on Twitter, referring to Zimmerman. He said he changed the plans because “I’d rather be happy and make people happy.”

    Feldman really likes his Twitter. He’s been posting like crazy ever since the cancelation news has been announced. Wether he’s defending himself or posting promotional tweets, Feldman can’t seem to stop the tweeting madness.

    DMX’s side is saying otherwise suggesting the rapper had had second thoughts. “The George Zimmerman fight is canceled,” DMX spokesman Domenick Nati said in a statement Saturday. “DMX never agreed to the fight and we thank you for all of the support from DMX’s fans.”

    The East Coast-born DMX has struggled with his recent music sales. Instead, the hip-hop musician is getting more attention for his legal troubles.

    Image Via YouTube

  • George Zimmerman Gets Another Speeding Ticket

    Former neighborhood “watchman” George Zimmerman was pulled over for speeding in Central Florida Tuesday, roughly a month after being stopped near Dallas for the same violation. No word yet on whether he was carrying a firearm this time around.

    Zimmerman was left with a warning in the Texas incident, but police in Lake Mary, a suburban city in Seminole County, issued Zimmerman a $256 fine for going 60 in a 45 mph zone on Rinehart Road.

    Incidentally, the traffic violation occurred less than 3 miles from where Zimmerman had shot Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. Zimmerman’s lawyers have claimed that he’s been trying to keep a low profile, though the gunman was also recently involved in the rescue of a family of four, after their SUV flipped over near Sanford, Florida. This good deed was met with a lot of media attention regardless.

    Zimmerman has been a very polarizing character after his recent acquittal for the shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, and has been understandably trying to remain covert. One would think that excessive speeding and the visiting of the manufacturing facility of the gun used in the Martin case might not be the best ideas.

  • George Zimmerman Rescues Family; They Refuse Press

    Ever since his acquittal in the murder/manslaughter trial that held the nations attention for weeks, George Zimmerman has been in hiding. While there are a considerable number of people who think Zimmerman acted in a defensible manner, and are happy that he was acquitted, there are just as many, perhaps even more, who disagree vehemently with the “not guilty” verdict returned by an all-female, mostly white, jury in Florida. And some of those people just may wish George Zimmerman ill will.

    So Zimmerman has not shown his face for a while. Except for last Thursday. That was when Zimmerman and another man stopped to help a family trapped inside a blue Ford Explorer SUV that had rolled over after traveling off the highway in Sanford, Florida.

    USA Today reports that family was Dana and Mark Gerstle and their two children. And Mark Gerstle had agreed to appear at press conference to tell reporters what had happened and how Zimmerman had helped his family.

    Zimmerman’s attorneys say they set up the press conference to allow the family to tell their tale and move on. It seems the family has been hounded by reporters ever since the incident. Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara said, “The family called because they wanted to address the media. I knew that if we did it in an organized way, it would help them get back to a normal life.”

    “I told them if you address the media, you can give them the story they need and move on,” another spokesman said. “We were doing it to help them out because they are going to be harassed until someone gets their story.”

    But today, before the press conference was set to begin, Mark Gerstle contacted the Zimmerman camp agin. He was backing out of the press conference.

    “They called today and said they were more worried about blow back from saying anything that would be favorable to George, and decided they did not want to do any media,” O’Mara said.

    The family said reporters had been camped out outside their home. They could not be reached for further comment.

  • Threatening Facebook Post Following Zimmerman Verdict Lands Man in Jail

    If you happened to log on to Facebook or Twitter in the aftermath of the George Zimmerman not guilty decision, well, you probably saw your fair share of sharply-worded posts. The acquittal sparked massive social media protests – and to a lesser degree social media defenses.

    But what happens when you take your frustration and anger a little bit too far? In the case of one 20-year-old New York man, you go to jail.

    Shortly after a six-woman jury found George Zimmerman not guilty in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Remel Newson of Queens took to Facebook to sound off. He wasn’t pleased.

    According to court documents, his post discussed proposed “let’s kill cops and neighborhood watcher,” and used the hashtag #killallwhites.

    Shortly after Newson made the post, a NYPD officer who was monitoring Facebook for questionable social media posts spotted his rant. Within hours, Newson was arrested.

    He’s been charged with making a terroristic threat. A search of his home also led police to a marijuana possession charge as well.

    “He in no way was trying to intimidate anyone or coerce anyone into doing any illegal act,” Lloyd said. “He just was very upset with the Martin verdict,” Newson’s lawyer Tasha Lloyd told WNYC news.

    But sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between venting, joking, trolling, and legitimate threats. Earlier this year, a man was sentenced to 17 months behind bars for posting “stop shooting up schools and start shooting cops in courthouses!” and “kill you local judges” on Facebook. He claimed he was just posting for “shock factor.”

    Also, you may remember the Massachusetts teen who was charged with making terroristic threats following the Boston Marathon bombings. After a petition to free the teen gained nearly a hundred thousand signatures, officials decided not to pursue charges. The teen always claimed that it was just rap braggadocio.

    Be careful what you post, guys. People are watching.

  • George Zimmerman’s Acquittal Sparked 4 Times As Many Angry Tweets As Supportive Ones

    If you were on Twitter during the aftermath of the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict, you probably noticed that the majority of tweets referencing the trial did not support the decision. Hashtags like #justicefortrayvon and #nojustice spread quickly, as many users expressed shock, outrage, and sadness.

    Pew Research has crunched the numbers and used statistical patterns to identify the breakdown of Twitter sentiment following the trial’s conclusion – and it looks like your eyes did not deceive you. There were many more tweets expressing anger over the verdict than tweets expressing support.

    It wasn’t even close, really. Pew says that 31% of the nearly 5 million tweets sent out in the 26 hours following the verdict expressed “anger.” Only 7% expressed support for it. So, by a more the 4:1 margin, Twitter did not agree with the six-woman jury’s decision.

    That means that you likely saw more of this:

    And less of this:

    According to Pew, the majority of tweets (39%) were simply broadcasting the decision – with no bias. 11% of the tweets discussed, in some way, the media’s coverage of the trial.

    Also, the verdict sparked a massive surge in tweets that equaled the number of tweets made during the entire duration of the trial:

    “The level of Twitter engagement in the case spiked dramatically after the verdict. The nearly 5 million tweets (4.9 million) in the first 26 hours after the verdict virtually equaled the total volume of tweets (5.1 million) about the case posted during the entirety of the 33-day trial. By way of comparison, there were 4.7 million tweets alone on July 14 in contrast with an average of about 151,000 tweets each day during the trial,” says Pew.

    It’s clear that if Twitter sentiment decided the case, Zimmerman would not be a free man today.

  • Juror B37: Book Deal Killed with an Online Petition and Some Help from Twitter

    On Monday morning, news broke that one of the jurors responsible for George Zimmerman’s acquittal was gearing up to write a book and that she already had the backing of a literary agent. Less than 24 hours later, the book deal no longer existed. Here’s how a petition and the power of Twitter combined to nip it in the bud.

    Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary Management announced that one of the jurors in the George Zimmerman trial, Juror B37 (still anonymous), was planning on writing a book about her experience with Martin’s backing.

    “My hope is that people will read Juror B37’s book, written with her attorney husband, and understand the commitment it takes to serve and be sequestered on a jury in a highly publicized murder trial and how important, despite one’s personal viewpoints, it is to follow the letter of the law,” said Martin.

    It didn’t take Juror B37 long to start getting her message out there. She was the first of the jurors to speak publicly about the case, as she spoke to Anderson Cooper on CNN Monday night.

    “I think George Zimmerman is a man whose heart was in the right place, but just got displaced by the vandalism in the neighborhoods, and wanting to catch these people so badly that he went above and beyond what he really should have done,” she told Cooper.

    She also claimed to have “no doubt” that Zimmerman feared for his life before the fatal shooting to 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

    All this would have surely wound up in her book, had it ever taken off. But thanks to a petition on change.org and a bunch of tweets and retweets, Juror B37 is going to at least have to postpone her venture into the literary world.

    Here’s what Sharlene Martin tweeted early this morning:

    Juror B37 also released a statement via Martin, saying that she “realized that the best direction..to go is away from writing any sort of book and return instead to [her] life as it was before [she] was called to sit on this jury.”

    The petition has now been closed, but before that it reached over 1,300 signatures. In the realm of online petitions, that’s not really a ton of signatures. In reality, it was likely all of the Twitter buzz that forced Sharlene Martin to reconsider the book deal.

    The petitioner acknowledged Twitter’s role in all of this (on Twitter, of course):

    Let’s all thank Twitter for helping to kill a terrible idea before it even had a chance to blossom.

  • Zimmerman Case Spurs Moms Group, Polarizes Sides

    After the “not guilty” verdict for George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin, protests have sparked up and heated exchanges on social media are in full swing. Lots of people have cooled off over the weekend, but many are just getting going.

    One of the byproducts of the Zimmerman/Martin case is the launch of grassroots groups that advocate for one side or the other, or even just for a cause related to the whole affair.

    One such group is Moms Demand Action. Their chief concern seems to be gun violence in general. They point to the Trayvon Martin case a one example of what they see as a growing problem in America.

    Trayvon, a 17-year-old victim of gun violence, was sadly one of the children and teens shot and killed every 3 hours and 15 minutes in America. Gun violence is a public health crisis of epidemic proportions in our country and, unchecked by Congress and many state legislatures, continues to spiral out of control.

    The group takes particular umbrage with Stand Your Ground laws, while others say they save lives.

    Stand Your Ground laws, which give everyday citizens more leeway to shoot than the U.S. military gives to our soldiers in war zones, endanger our children, families and communities. These laws grow even more dangerous when coupled with some states’ permissive concealed carry policies that empower untrained, average citizens to carry a gun, and turn everyday conflicts into deadly tragedies.

    The group points to a study that they say backs their claims. They also point to a seeming racial disparity in the Stand Your Ground cases.

    A recent Texas A&M study analyzed 20 states with Stand Your Ground laws, including Florida, and found that the laws do not deter violent crime. In fact, there is a clear increase in homicides in those states, resulting in up to 700 more shooting deaths nationwide each year. Stand Your Ground laws also disproportionately affect communities of color. According to an Urban Institute study, when white shooters kill black victims, 34 percent of the resulting homicides are deemed justifiable, while only 3 percent of deaths are ruled justifiable when the shooter is black and the victim is white.

    One of the toughest things to prove in situations like this, even with data, is causality. Certainly, there are more homicides in states with Stand Your Ground laws. Those numbers can’t be denied. But advocates say that the homicide rate is not a result of the laws, but the reason the laws were put in place in the first place.

    The argument, with data on both sides, is sure to go on for a while.

  • George Zimmerman Not Guilty

    A jury has found George Zimmerman not guilty on all counts in the trial of murder/manslaughter of Trayvon Martin.

    The jury deliberated for two days before returning the verdict. The case has polarized the opinions of the nation for months, with some saying that Zimmermann brutally took the life of a young black man with no cause, and others saying he was acting only in self-defense.

    A jury was tasked with determining beyond reasonable doubt whether Zimmerman killed Martin with malice aforethought, or even acted in a reckless manner that he knew could result in his death.

    According to Fox News, after the reading of the verdict, the judge told Zimmerman he was free to go: “You have no more business in this court.”

    And now to see what the reactions to the verdict will be. Prior to the reading of the verdict Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, “There is no party in this case who wants to see any violence. We have an expectation upon this announcement that our community will continue to act peacefully.”

    The trial and verdict echo the days of the O.J. Simpson trial and verdict, where a black man was accused of murder, but found not guilty in court. Though many have continued to believe that Simpson did commit the murders, they also agree that the burden of proof in the trial was not handled properly by the prosecution, and that the verdict was therefore appropriate judicially.

    There may be many who disagree with the verdict handed down my the jury in the Zimmerman case, not even finding him guilty on the secondary charge of manslaughter. But the question is whether or not the jury felt the prosecution had met that burden of proof: beyond reasonable doubt. Much of that had to do with whether they could prove that Zimmerman was not defending himself in the struggle with Martin, a task very hard to accomplish.

  • Trayvon Martin’s Mother: Screams Were My Son’s

    Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, has testified in court in the case against George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is accused of the February 26, 2012 shooting of Martin after having called 911 to report a suspicious figure in his gated community (Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, had made similar calls several times over the previous six months).

    When asked by Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda whether she had any children, Fulton replied, “My youngest son is Trayvon Benjamin Martin. He’s in heaven.”

    After describing her son’s tattoos—one of which had the names of his grandmother and great-grandmother, the other Fulton’s name—De la Rionda played an audio recording of a 911 call placed by a neighbor who witnessed Zimmerman and Martin’s struggle. The recording featured screams that Fulton testified to be her son’s, followed by a gunshot.

    On cross-examination, defense attorney Mark O’Mara suggested that Fulton wanted the screams to be those of her son rather than Zimmerman, a claim Fulton rejected.

    Martin’s brother, Jaharvis Fulton, also took the stand, claiming that the voice was Trayvon’s. This testimony forced Jaharvis to recant a previous report that he wasn’t sure whose voice it was. “How do I explain?” he said, “I guess I didn’t want to believe it was him. . . . I guess listening to it was clouded by shock and denial and sadness.”

    Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, had previously told authorities that the voice in the recording was not Trayvon’s.

    An FBI audio expert testified that technology couldn’t definitively clarify whose voice it was, but a close relative may be able to tell. Even so, he warned, bias on the part of the listener could influence what that individual heard.

    Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder. The case has aroused racial tensions nationwide, as Martin was African-American and Zimmerman’s willingness to pursue Martin has been suggested to have been racially motivated. The Martin incident was the fifth time in seven months that Zimmerman had called 911 to report a suspicious person in his community. In all five instances, the person Zimmerman identified as suspcious was an African-American male.

    If convicted, Zimmerman could face 25 years to life in prison.

  • Zimmerman Trial Joke: Attorney Throws Himself on the Mercy of the Court

    Prosecutors and defense attorneys have delivered opening statements in the case against George Zimmerman. Neither statement went well.

    The prosecuting attorney charged with delivering the opening statement, John Guy, began with the following: “Good morning. ‘F***ing punks. These a******s all get away.’”

    If this was disconcerting for you, imagine how bizarre it must have seemed for the six jurors in the Trayvon Martin murder case. Guy went on to explain that the expletive-laced statement was something Zimmerman said moments before his fatal confrontation with Martin: “These were the words in this grown man’s mouth as he followed this boy that he didn’t know. Those were his words, not mine.” Even so, Guy’s eagerness to get his audience’s attention has been viewed as crass.

    While the prosecution had a punchy, if awkward, opening, defense attorney Don West had it worse—he started off with a knock-knock joke.

    “Knock knock,” he began. “Who’s there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? Good, you’re on the jury.” This apparent reference to the difficulty of seating jurors unfamiliar with the case didn’t fly, and West went on to apologize, promising “no more bad jokes” and claiming he felt that his “delivery” had failed him.

    This was an inauspicious beginning to what will surely continue to be a high profile trial.

    George Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in relation to the February 26, 2012 death of high school student Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, called 911 after deeming Martin “suspicious.” Going against the instructions of the 911 operator, Zimmerman confronted Martin, and, after a struggle, shot the 17 year old.

    The case has aroused racial tensions nationwide, as Martin was African-American and Zimmerman’s willingness to pursue Martin has been suggested to have been racially motivated. The Martin incident was the fifth time in seven months that Zimmerman had called 911 to report a suspicious person in his community. In all five instances, the person Zimmerman identified as suspcious was an African-American male.

    If convicted, Zimmerman could face 25 years to life in prison.

  • Trayvon Martin Shouts Analyzed in Court

    Trayvon Martin Shouts Analyzed in Court

    Over one year ago, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed while walking from a convenience store to his home in his Florida neighborhood. The shooter, George Zimmerman, claims that he shot Martin in self-defense, but he is now on trial for the 17-year-old’s murder.

    This week, a pre-trial hearing for Zimmerman’s trial turned to the topic of the shouts heard on a 911 call recorded at the time of the incident. Zimmerman had called a non-emergency police number at the time of the incident. Martin was also on the phone, with a female friend who has stated she heard Martin say, “Why are you following me?” shortly before his death.

    According to an Associated Press report on the trial, the prosecution has hired audio experts to determine whether the shouts heard on the call recording were those of Zimmerman or Martin. Of the two experts cited in the story, one found that the shouts were Martins and the other found they were a mix of both Zimmerman and Martin. In a court filing, Zimmerman’s lawyer has stated that he believes the audio analysis could prejudice jurors, and should not be allowed at the trial.

    Since he was charged with Martin’s murder, Zimmerman has been in hiding and using various schemes to pay for his legal representation.

  • George Zimmerman is Out of Money and Living in Hiding

    George Zimmerman is in hiding and nearly broke, his lawyer, Mark O’Mara, said this week. In a statement to the Orlando Sentinel, O’Mara stated that Zimmerman’s legal-defense fund is down to around $50,000, with around $20,000 in payments due. Zimmerman was able to raise over $200,000 in donations through a website he set up earlier this year. O’Mara stated that a declaration of indigency would likely be needed for Zimmerman, meaning the state of Florida would pay for his legal defense. “The money is not coming in all that strongly right now,” said O’Mara.

    According to what O’Mara told the Orlando Sentinel, Zimmerman and his wife are currently jobless and living “in hiding” somewhere in Seminole County, Florida. O’Mara said that the couple fears for their lives and that Zimmerman is living “as a hermit” and “not doing well.” O’Mara intends to ask the courts to allow Zimmerman to move out of the county.

    Zimmerman is standing trial for the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old that Zimmerman shot in late February. Zimmerman claims that he shot Martin in self-defense. Prosecutors claim that Zimmerman followed Martin before the shooting because of Martin’s race.

    The fact that Martin was black has sparked racial tensions in Central Florida and throughout the U.S. The shooting has inspired rallies and protests in which participants wear hoodies, which are symbolic of the clothing Martin was wearing the night he was shot. Also controversial is Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense without having to first attempt a retreat.

    O’Mara also announced this week that he intends to appeal Judge Kenneth Lester Jr.’s decision to stay on the case. O’Mara had requested that Lester be taken off the case after the judge called Zimmerman a “manipulator” for trying to hide money before a bond hearing.

    O’Mara estimated it will be at least five months before a “stand your ground” or self-defense immunity hearing can commence.

  • Zimmerman Charged With Second Degree Murder; Twitter Reacts

    Florida state attorney Angela Corey announced at a press conference today that George Zimmerman has officially been charged with second-degree murder in the case of 17-year old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman is expected to plead not guilty.

    “We simply wanted an arrest,” said Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton. “We wanted nothing more, nothing less. We just wanted an arrest, and we got it.”

    Zimmerman has been out of sight since the fatal February shooting, which came about after he allegedly followed and confronted Martin on the street for being “suspicious”. Martin, who was wearing a hoodie at the time, was unarmed and was simply walking home from the store. The hoodie has become a symbol for injustice and has made appearances in celebrity circles as people from all over the country show their support of Trayvon and his family.

    The shooting has sparked a tidal wave of debate, rumors, and conversations about whether or not the incident was racially motivated, and calls for Zimmerman’s arrest have resounded on just about every internet platform there is, especially Twitter. Film director Spike Lee landed himself in some hot water recently when he tweeted an address supposedly belonging to Zimmerman, but which actually belonged to a Florida couple who are not associated to Zimmerman in any way. They say they received hate mail and death threats and were forced to leave their home for fear of their safety. Lee eventually apologized to the couple and is compensating them for the loss of their property.

    Twitter reacted to the news of Zimmerman’s arrest today:

    (image)@iamShenekaAdams
    Sheneka Adams    George Zimmerman has been arrested & charged with 2nd degree murder. They’re going to have to put him on suicide watch!(image) 1 hour ago via Echofon ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@DLamontJenkins
    Daryle L. Jenkins    Nice to come home from work to the news of George Zimmerman finally arrested, Let’s not sleep on it though. Anything can happen #Trayvon(image) 2 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@4evervintage
    Doseace    Tweet me when they say “life without parol” for George Zimmerman! Custody does nothing for me mentally!(image) 2 minutes ago via UberSocial for BlackBerry ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Colt4525
    Colt 45    Yes I’m serious. Thanks for the angry retweets…Free George Zimmerman!(image) 2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@yvette7712
    Alicia Brisby    Zimmerman Arrested | NewsOne: http://t.co/qdhlpG05 ARRESTED!!! JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON!!! THERE IS A GOD!!!! THANK GOD FOR JUSTICE(image) 1 minute ago via Twitter for Android ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@Gelisa_L
    Gelisa LaMotta    It just baffles me how people can support and defend George Zimmerman.(image) 2 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@nortonsean
    Sean Norton    Does anyone find it funny that George Zimmerman was wearing a hoodie to walk into jail tonight?(image) 2 minutes ago via Twitter for Android ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@nxthompson
    Nicholas Thompson    If Trayvon’s parents “can continue to carry themselves in dignified manner, we all should” @tnycloseread http://t.co/SNOr7FF9(image) 3 minutes ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • George Zimmerman To Be Charged In Trayvon Martin Shooting

    According to the Washington Post, Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey plans to announce as early as Wednesday afternoon that she is charging neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

    The announcement will be made at 7:30pm EST at either Jacksonville or Sanford.

    If he is in fact charged with anything of substance it will put to an end a contrived national drama brought about by the main stream media. We learned earlier in the week that the case would not be heard in front of a grand jury which had experts saying that this was ok because it meant that Corey had enough to put a case together against Zimmerman that would stick.

    Be reminded that this is the state that let Casey Anthony off, so even if charges are filed, there is no guarantee that Zimmerman will be convicted. If he is not convicted, look for riots to happen once again (see:OJ).

    (image)@KenJennings
    Ken Jennings    Sure, George Zimmerman is a household name now, but there was a time just a few weeks ago when he couldn’t get arrested in this town!(image) 5 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@PepperSprayCop
    Pepper Spraying Cop    What am I up to these days? Ah…nothing. Just hanging out with George Zimmerman waiting for the mob with torches and pitchforks to show up.(image) 2 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@askburgers
    Jake B    If you want to see a whole lot of legal ignorance, just search George Zimmerman in Twitter. People have zero clue what they’re talking about(image) 33 seconds ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Trayvon Martin Case Won’t Be Heard By Grand Jury

    Florida state appointed special prosecutor Angela Corey said Monday she will not take the Trayvon Martin shooting death before a grand jury. Under Florida law, only first-degree murder cases require the use of grand juries.

    Corey said her decision to skip the grand jury shouldn’t be considered a factor in determining whether charges will be filed against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who has admitted to fatally shooting the unarmed Martin. The circumstances are whats in question here.

    “From the moment she was assigned, Ms. Corey noted she may not need a grand jury,” said a statement from Corey’s office.

    Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, and Florida’s self-defense law gives wide leeway to use deadly force and eliminates a person’s duty to retreat in the face of danger.

    “Corey’s decision means she doesn’t have to rely on potentially unpredictable jurors,” said David Hill, an Orlando criminal defense attorney. “Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she knows there isn’t enough for first-degree murder but she wants to maintain control and charge him with something else,” Hill said. “What does she need a grand jury for? She cuts out the unpredictability of the grand jury. She goes where she feels she has more evidence.”

    This is of course all speculation from Corey. In reality there is a very good chance that no charges will surface from this investigation, no matter how much Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton try to inflame the situation with racial hate.

    (image)@_HesJustRandom
    James Levy     Us black people want to lock Up and throw away the key to the guy who killed Treyvon..but when our family member kill someone let them go 2?(image) 11 minutes ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@nickandrews1
    Nick Andrews    Some journalism disgusts me. The only thing I know about Treyvon Martin is that he was black, liked Skittles and AZ iced tea. #DOYOURJOB(image) 2 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Spike Lee Pays After Tweeting George Zimmerman’s Address

    Iconic film director Spike Lee found himself with some legal troubles recently after he tweeted what he thought was the home address of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot and killed 17-year old Trayvon Martin in February. Turns out, he had the wrong George Zimmerman.

    The address actually belongs to an elderly couple in Sanford, and after Lee tweeted the address to his more than 250,000 followers, the couple received death threats and hate mail, forcing them to vacate their home. Elaine and David McClain say their son, William George Zimmerman, hasn’t even lived in their home since the ’90s.

    The McClains say Lee has taken full responsibility for his mistake, however, and have reached a settlement with him in which he compensated them for the loss of their home and the negative attention he brought down on them. He even called the couple personally to apologize.

    “He was really kind,” Elaine McClain said. “And when he called us, you could just tell he really felt bad about it. And it was just a slip, and I just know that he really, really has been concerned.”

    The director issued an apology via Twitter, as well:

    (image)@SpikeLee
    Spike Lee    I Deeply Apologize To The McClain Family For Retweeting Their Address.It Was A Mistake.Please Leave The McClain’s In Peace.Justice In Court(image) 1 day ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Lee has been on the receiving end of some backlash regarding other tweets, as well:

    (image)@SmkOntheGrind
    Smk King    @SpikeLee I luv how you retweet the most ignorant, racists comments sent to you. “thank whitey for all ur success?” WTH? #racismstillexist(image) 3 days ago via Twitter for Android ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@SpikeLee
    Spike Lee    People,The Thinking Behind Me Retweeting These Insane Racist Rants Is Because This Sickness Must Be Exposed.USA Post Racial Society?????????(image) 3 days ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@SpikeLee
    Spike Lee    “@Kurt_Steinberg: @SpikeLee You have done more to promote racism than the KKK could have ever dreamed of doing.”These Are Some Sick People.(image) 3 days ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@SpikeLee
    Spike Lee    @Kurt_Steinberg. Hey Mr,Steinberg,Have I Ever Strung Any Human Beings from A Tree,Castrated,Maimed Or Burnt Someone To Death?You Are CRAZY(image) 3 days ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto