Originally Posted By: the G-man
 Originally Posted By: Matter-eater Man

Chris Serino, the Sanford, Florida investigator, filed an affidavit on the night of crime saying he was unconvinced of Zimmerman’s account. However, the state attorney’s office Norman Wolfinger told Serino not to press charges against Zimmerman after he said there wasn’t enough evidence against him.


Lack of evidence would seem to be a different legal impediment than the "stand your ground law." If so, this tends to contradict, rather than bolster, your theory that "stand your ground" is somehow responsible.

In order to charge someone with a crime, there needs to be sufficient evidence to establish probable cause. The fact that a police officer does or does not believe a suspect may not, by itself, be probable cause.

Unless and until there is probable cause to charge someone, the question of justification would not be reached.


Yes.

What good is arresting someone, if it forces the police department to release the suspect within a few days for lack of evidence.

I spoke to a friend of mine who is an officer for the Broward Sherriff's office, and he said they were likely trying to gather the evidence before arresting Zimmerman, because once you arrest a suspect, there's a clock ticking, and if you don't have the evidence in time, you won't be able to hold him, and can blow your case.

So while the media, along with the Al Sharptons, Jesse Jacksons and Black Panthers are demonizing the Sanford police as giving Zimmerman a free pass and not arresting him for alleged racist reasons, the police may be aggressively investigating to build a case that they did not have the evidence to arrest Zimmerman for the first night.