We have a weird situation: Police Misconduct FAVORS the defendant...

[Junkdrawer]

So who will bring it up at trial?

The State? Listen to Corey's presser: (paraphrasing) If people would have waited, Norm & Bill would have done the same as me.

The Defense?

This is going to be a really odd trial - IF there is a trial. Why no trial?

I think Angela Corey has two jobs:

1.) Quiet the unrest on the streets of Sanford, FL which threatened to spread nationwide.
2.) Keep the Sanford PD and States Attorney Norm Wolfinger innocent of all wrong doing.

With Zimmerman's arrest on 2nd degree murder charges, the first job was accomplished.

But now my question is "How can you have a televised trial and NOT bring up police misconduct issues?"

Look, the Sanford PD and Wolfinger are in it up to their eyebrows. I would be suspicious of anything from that source. In fact I expect that a TON of exculpatory evidence will now appear that prepares the public for a GREATLY reduced plea bargain - if not a dismissal of the case.

[Scuba]

1. Why do you think Corey has job #2?

[Junkdrawer]

4. Several reasons:

1.) Entrenched Power: Elections are coming up for which party replaces Wolfinger

2.) Prior misconduct: Scratch the surface and all kinds of nasties will come tumbling out.

3.) Maintaining public confidence in Florida law enforcement authorities- especially on the eve of a Republican National Convention that will require a strong police presence.

[SwampG8r]

5. it is unlikely wolfinger will be replaced

he gets elected pretty regularly here and will probably do so again

[Junkdrawer]

7. He's retiring. Race is between a Demorcat and Norm's (hand picked?) successor...

Read Stayclassie's posts here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=534513

BTW:

Stayclassie posted this about Wolfinger:

Google William Dillon

William Dillon spent 27 years jail and was innocent. Put away by a dog handler with phony claims. Wolfinger has resisted attempts to open up this case and others affected by this bogus witness. He even opposed compensating Dillon. Even Rick Scott thought that was wrong. That's why Scott was fast to remove him.

I did the Google and found this:

We had a big weekend on the Brevard County/John Preston front. We we have noted here, here, and here, that there has been mounting pressure on Brevard prosecutor, Norman Wolfinger, to do the simply task of looking through his own files to determine any cases that may have involved John Preston.

Wolfinger continually said that he wouldn’t do that, instead arguing that it was up to individual inmates to challenge their convictions that may have been tainted by John Preston and his magic dogs. Meanwhile, Florida Today and the local public defender commenced their own investigations into identifying the universe of John Preston cases.

Now, the state attorney’s office has finally realized that it may be wise to get out in front of this issue before it gets out of control. from Florida Today’s Saturday edition, Wolfinger said:

I asked my staff to re-review the cases we can identify as involving John Preston. To the best of my knowledge, there are four people in prison today who had cases in which Preston and one of his dogs were used.

Wolfinger also explained that his office did an examination of the Preston cases in 2004 after Wilton Dedge’s exoneration and that they believed then, and they believe now that three of the four people still in prison, possible because of Preston’s fraud, are in fact guilty. He also noted that this re-review would be limited to sexual battery and murder cases

...

http://floridainnocence.org/content/?p=1213

[SwampG8r]

9. well hell

i had not seen this stuff
looks like when he decided to retire he kind of gave up
i think i was in west palm when the dog stuff came out so i will do some googleing of my own on that

[Ninga]

2. Do you see this hearing going down the road for police misconduct in Zimmerman case? or

Police misconduct in general?

[SwampG8r]

3. may i weigh in? i am actually familiar with wolfinger

he has been states attorney in this district for a long time
overall he does a good job and i dont see him as working against justice
i have met him and several of his investigators when i worked church bingo and an investigation of bingo practices was ongoing
they came to us because we were the only church breaking even on our games(as state law prefers in opposition to a profit game)
and wanted to know how a straight game is run to help them spot the way others were subverting cash for other uses
i dont like the police the state attorney or pretty much any badge wearer but i found them all to be pretty decent people
while he has not acted as many think he should in this case please remember he only had what sanford pd told him to work from
for me this will be a telling moment in wolfingers career
if he backs a cover up then he is done as that will quickly unravel
if he is as i think ,an honest guy trying hard,then we will also see that
if she is there to cover asses it most likely wont be wolfingers

[bemildred]

6. Police misconduct does not favor the defendant when they were covering up for the defendant. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Depends how badly the evidence is spoiled

That said, I still think the slams against the rank & file officers are not supportable at this time since practically nothing has been released to the public. Also the State Attorney has stated publicly that the lead investigator filed the paperwork to arrest Zimmerman.

[bemildred]

12. I'm just saying the premise is false. Therefore the conclusion does not follow.

Police misconduct certainly did not hurt Rodney Kings case, or many others. On the other hand, sometimes police misconduct is aimed at protecting a perp, a very common situation in race violence or crimes against women, and then exposing it may force prosecution and (perhaps) conviction, where it would not occur if the police misconduct were not exposed. This seems more like the latter case.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. In the Rodney King case, police were the bad actors

Here many are questioning the cops as part of a coverup.

[CAVEAT] What scanty information that has been released so far show that the first responders acted appropriately[/CAVEAT] We also now the lead investigator asked for an arrest. Beyond that we don't have much of a clue.

[bemildred]

14. Ya think?

But they were not trying to help Rodney, the perp, whereas in this case their (Edit: alleged) malfeasance was in support of the perp, and that is why the exposure of their malfeasance has already harmed the perp, he's on trial for Murder II.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Didn't the lead investigator file to arrest Zimmerman?

[Junkdrawer]

11. Yep. Then it was reversed by Wolfinger. After that....

it looks to me that the lead investigator got in line and worked to cover-up/ignore evidence that pointed to Zimmerman's guilt.

See witness statement here:

http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-national/woman-says-she-witnessed-trayvon-martin-shooting-video