You are just being silly. You know that Zimmerman’s statement haven’t been released. We only know that the prosecution has said that he made false statements during his questioning.
You should also know that a federal decision maker doesn’t need to actually rely on anything Zimmerman said for a 1001 charge to stick. Only that they might have used it.
I don’t know why you think a judge would take heat on this case when Gaudin gives them cover to kick it to a jury.
Check out the King Case. Notice this involves lying to State Livestock Inspector about a valve.
Yes, I know they don’t have to actually rely on it. That’s fine. Why don’t you share what statements Zimmerman might have made that involves federal jurisdiction and which a federal decisionmaker might have relied upon?
Yes. I read the case. Water, irrigation, and riparian issues in general have a clear federal interest. No surprise there.
Since the charge will be a federal hate crime, I suspect all of Zimmerman’s statement’s will be admissible. The FBI has already been interviewing the witnesses at Twin Trees.
In this case the FBI, Judge and Jury are the decisionmakers.
I’m not actually suggesting that it is desirable that the Feds do this, but I’m pointing out that they can if they want to.
The amendments are critical, since they removed the requirement that Martin be engaged in a federally protected activity. A man has already been convicted for running a car with 5 Hispanic men off the road.
That would actually be 18 USC § 249. But OK. I agree that the feds could charge Zimmerman with violation of that section, alleging that he killed Martin because of Martin’s race, with a firearm that moved in interstate commerce.
I don’t agree there’s any chance of conviction with the evidence we now know.
But you argument is the decision to charge him or not could be influenced by his statements, and therefore any lie could be prosecuted under 18 USC 1001.
So I’m asking you to identify, specifically, what statement Zimmerman made to the state authorities (or the FBI) that would be reachable under 18 USC 1001.
You know that his statements to police haven’t been released. I only have the prosecution statements about Zimmerman’s statements to suggest that some of them are subject to 1001 prosecution since the jury will use them during a federal trial and that some of them are false or misleading.
I also suspect that the ‘coon’ comment will be used to demonstrate racial bias and support the hate crime charge.
The beauty part is that the feds don’t have win on the hate crime charge to get a conviction on the 1001 charges.
The state of Florida seems to have abandoned the claim that he said “coon.” The affidavit in support of the charging document alleges, under oath, that ZImmerman said “fucking punks.”
Perhaps the feds can also try O’Sheen and Gilbreath for violation of 18 USC § 1001?
You are right that they feds would not need a conviction on the hate crime charge to get a conviction under § 1001. But they would need to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that ZImmerman lied.
I never understood that part. It sounds like ‘coons’ to me. I could believe ‘goons’, but It doesn’t sound like ‘punks’ to me.
I wouldn’t rule out 1001 charges against the witnesses at this point.
Since Zimmerman’s statement took three hours, plus the time for the reenactment , I don’t think finding grounds for perjury will be that hard. The trick is to talk that long and not lie. I also found on reading about Federal Perjury law that it doesn’t actually have to me a lie, but even misleading statements count as perjury. Apparently that comes up a lot in tax cases. I’m especially curious if Zimmerman said at any point that Martin touched this pistol during the struggle.
It will be interesting to see if the Feds file charges before the election, but that should probably be a different thread.
The audio in the link below sounds A LOT like he says “punks” to me, especially when that is the word I’m waiting to hear.
If someone tells you before you hear it that the word is “coons”, you are much more likely to hear that as the mind is now primed to. See video below for an example.
I was watching the hearing and the judge decided that Zimmerman and his wife lied about the money in their paypal account during the bond hearing and revoked Zimmerman’s bond. He has 48 hours to report to the jail.
