Yes, Zimmerman should sue Angela Corey for defamation
[See addenda below, as well.]
Not for anything that happened during the trial itself, of course. She gets immunity for that.
But the minute I heard that Corey had given a post-trial interview to the media in which she called Zimmerman a murderer, I knew this was (and I hate to use this overworked word, but sometimes it’s really appropriate) unprecedented. Prosecutors just don’t do that after acquittals. It shows disrespect for the system they serve, and it is a defamation of a person who is now officially Not Guilty.
Alan Dershowitz has been harshly (but correctly) critical of Corey since she drew up a misleading and deceptive affidavit against Zimmerman back in 2012 in order to start the ball rolling towards the trial, bypassing the usual grand jury process. Now Dershowitz has more to say, and he’s not the only one:
Outrage is growing over the jaw-dropping statement by Florida state prosecutor Angela Corey that George Zimmerman, acquitted of murder and manslaughter in the death of Trayvon Martin, is still a “murderer.”
Renowned civil-rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV that Zimmerman has reason to launch a defamation of character case against Corey.
“Clearly he is somebody who was acquitted by a jury on the grounds of self-defense and she shouldn’t be going around second-guessing the jury verdict and calling him a murderer,” the veteran Harvard Law professor said.
“He probably has a defamation action against her. She has no immunity as a prosecutor for appearing on television and if I were his lawyer I would think seriously about bringing a defamation lawsuit against her.”
On an interview taped after Zimmerman’s acquittal Saturday and airing Monday night on CNN’s Headline News program “HLN After Dark,” Corey is asked for a word that comes to mind for the former neighborhood-watch volunteer.
“Murderer,” she says after several seconds of silence.
Other noted legal experts also expressed their disgust at Corey’s remark, agreeing with Dershowitz that it could spur legal action by Zimmerman.
“That is shockingly inappropriate, unethical conduct by a prosecutor. And frankly, she might very well be sued for it ”” and properly so,” noted criminal attorney and CNN legal analyst Paul Callan told Steve Malzberg.
“Prosecutors get immunity when they’re acting within the scope of their employment as prosecutors. But appearing on a TV show doing a word association game is not going to give her immunity. Now that’s really stunning.”
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy said the “murderer” crack was “disgraceful ”¦ a reprehensible thing to do.”
Once Corey is a private citizen again—which I’d like to see, because she ought to be removed from office and disbarred for her misrepresentations on the affidavit—then she can say anything she wants.
[ADDENDUM: Much more here, this time for prosecutor de la Rionda:
In an interview with ABC, Bernie de la Rionda suggests when a defendant doesn’t take the stand there is something wrong with the defendant and that he must be a coward. This is absurd, and the presumption of innocence in this country is part of the bedrock of the criminal justice system. It’s outrageous that a prosecutor would do that. And think about it: have you ever seen a prosecutor suggest such a thing? It never happens.
Angela Corey says, “Nobody just gets a gun out and shoots, even trained police officers. When they’re on the ground, with a suspect on top of them, they can’t get their guns out that quickly.” I thought the evidence was that Zimmerman was being beaten for about 45 seconds prior to firing his weapon. One witness, for example, talked about Martin doing a “ground pound,” repeatedly punching Zimmerman while straddling him…
Prosecutor John Guy said he thinks there was a struggle and that Martin saw the gun “and was backing up.” No evidence was presented in court that Martin backed up. Guy just makes this up from nothing. It’s unconvincing, and it’s disingenuous in that it contributes to the appearance the prosecutors are simply butthurt and that there is no ethical or moral limitation on what they will do or say when going after someone and/or trying to save their own skins. They will stop at nothing. And recall there was evidence presented in court Martin reached for the gun (Zimmerman’s recorded statements). There was also evidence Martin had the opportunity to go for the gun (during the “ground pound”).
I’ve never seen behavior like this. I expect it from civil lawyers, but not people with the backing of the state when someone’s life and freedom are on the line.
These people are running wild, crossing lines all over, violating conventions of public behavior that have been in place for a long time. And although I don’t want to blame everything on Obama and/or Holder, I can’t help but notice they have set the tone for such transgressions and do not respect old limits for what a chief executive and the attorney general should do and say and comment on, limits that have usually been respected by presidents from both parties. The fish rots from the head.]
[ADDENDUM II: I found this comment at Ace’s, which I think is spot on (unfortunately):
What they are doing is inciting the mob to murder. They are openly and overtly saying that a vicious, racist murderer has been allowed to go free. It’s an invite to vigilantism, and they f-ing KNOW it.
I actually don’t think it will work in terms of riots, although it certainly could help cause an incident or two or three. Some such incidents have already been reported to have occurred, but on a piecemeal basis and a small scale.
Zimmerman has a cause of action against Corey and perhaps the others. But this is bigger than Zimmerman. They are undermining the system they have been charged with upholding. They should all be fired and disbarred. I don’t know the procedure for firing, though. If it’s up to Rick Scott, fagettaboutit.
Corey was elected, so she might have to be impeached, which I doubt will happen—unless the mechanism would be disbarment, which I believe is ordinarily done by the state bar association. I have no idea what the Florida Bar Association’s position would be on her behavior, although I know what I think it should be.]
First reactions:
This indicates this trial was politically motivated all along because, of course, the verdict didn’t change the politics of the case. Contrary to her position in the case as a state prosecutor, she is motivated by ‘social justice’, which is different in kind from criminal justice.
Corey is inviting vigilante behavior, the real hang-em lynch mob kind, not the misuse of the term applied to Zimmerman by Mitsu.
Not only defamation but corruption of the justice system. She needs to be sued out of her funny money and disbarred so she can’t continue this sort of thing. Zimmerman can’t afford all the fights but I think there are enough groups and individuals who believe in justice that lawsuits can, and should, go forward.
Further, the DoJ needs to be sued so that if the head of that organization spits venom during an ongoing trial he is expected, and if necessary forced, to resign. I’m not sure what they can do with the office of the president, but he also should be sanctioned for his involvement, to include at least civil and perhaps criminal charges. Not holding my breath, but it needs to happen.
Didn’t Corey threaten to sue Dershowitz and others who criticized her for libel? That is rich.
Doom,
Don’t forget civil suits are taken by lawyers on a %age basis of the payout, usually 33% but sometimes up to 50%. Zimmerman will not have to pay a dime, except for court processing fees, to sue the pantsuit off Corey, et.al. Heck, I’d even add the governor of Florida to the case for appointing that scrunt in the first place and giving in the race hustlers.
—–
Steve,
Corey called Harvard to complain about what Dershowitz said and wanted Harvard to discipline him. Gave Dershowitz a chuckle.
Yes, a lawsuit and, in this case, calls for disbarment are part of what needs to happen to the left whenever possible. Hit them where it hurts.
Corey is clearly incompetent.
Mitsu:
Nope, not incompetent at all. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and it is not a lack of brains or knowledge or skill that dictates it. It is politics.
She is corrupt. There is quite a difference.
If Mr. Zimmerman was a Hispanic and not a “white” Hispanic, Corey would be excoriated. Being “white” means you may be called anything and everything without worry.
Corey is a Republican in a lean-Republican state. What “politics” would motivate her? Speaking in this fashion is a pure violation of legal ethics at the very least. It’s stupid and achieves nothing.
Mitsu – she’s about as Republican as you are, which is not at all.
Their deviations are not accidents…
they WANT race war…
just think, they are making Charles Manson ahead of his time
LIMBAUGH: JEANTEL CALLED ZIMMEMAN A HOMOSEXUAL PREDATOR… WARNED GAY MEN GO AFTER CHILDREN… DEVELOPING…
White jogger beaten…
Baltimore Witness: Group of Blacks Beat Hispanic Man, Yelling ‘This Is For Trayvon’…
Soul singer attacked after dedicating song to Trayvon…
‘You m–—f––, you started this!’
VIDEO: CBS Reporter, Photographer Attacked…
Zimmerman’s Parents in Hiding from ‘Enormous Amount of Death Threats’…
Salon has to go back 40 years to find similar events of white on black… (and not so similar given volume)
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2013/07/13/justice-for-trayvon-the-revenge-quest-begins-even-before-zimmerman-verdict-comes-down/
HATE CRIME: 4 “Urban Youths” Killed Victim by Brutally Beating Him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNtbiol-DTA&feature=player_embedded
and when this happened to newsomes, did people riot and attack? since they were tortured and raped, there was no idea of self defense or such clouded things
Blacks are 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against whites than vice versa.
Federal Statistics of black on white violence, with links and mathematical extrapolation formulas.
http://www.examiner.com/article/federal-statistics-of-black-on-white-violence-with-links-and-mathematical-extrapolation-formulas
New Black Panthers Reveal That George Zimmerman Is a “No Good Jew”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwvWYiDvLZc&feature=player_embedded
Forwards…
Vpered…
Voorwoorts…
Angela Corey is a sorry excuse for an officer of the Court! She needs to be brought up on charges of official misconduct and obstruction of justice. Corey should be disbarred and sweeping the Court house floors. GZ should sue her for defamation of character. If I lived in Florida, I would be protesting her office. Corey is disgraceful, full of ill intent and hatred! Send her out on her unethical high horse right back to the rock she crawled out from under!
Republicans can engage in your game of “who is a real Republican?”, that’s not my field of expertise, obviously. Yes, I am not a Republican at all, I’m a Democrat. Corey’s official party affiliation is Republican, so she’s a hell of a lot more Republican than I am.
Oh Mitsu, how naive you are.
For starters: Florida is a swing state since the 90s in presidential elections. Its Republican governors in recent years have all been notorious RINOS, especially Christ, who later became a Democrat. The present governor, Rick Scott, is not supported by conservatives. The Republican Party in Florida, for the most part, is similarly not conservative.
It was Scott who pursued the Zimmerman case originally and appointed Corey. What was his political motive, and Corey’s? It stands to reason it was not conservatism but self-preservation in the feeding frenzy that has been public opinion in the Zimmerman case, plus the fear of civil unrest (ie riots) in his own state. For Corey it’s the same, plus her own ego: winning the case is everything, once she took it on. Hers is an elected office, and she has been embarrassed by her performance in this case and is currently in trouble for it. Her reputation has suffered. She is doubling down and trying to justify her own behavior.
If you’re interested in the politics of Scott’s decision, see this:
More black retaliation:
http://wreg.com/2013/07/15/man-claims-attack-was-trayvon-retaliation/
Mitsu:
The point is not whether she’s a “real” Republican, or whether she is more or less Republican than you. What a non-sequitur! Who cares if she’s more Republican than you?
The point is the political reasons for her actions, despite her being a Republican (be she RINO or be she “real” Republican). See the quote I added to my comment above about that.
Okay, I accept that reasoning, Neo, as evidence of political motivation. But keep in mind here that Angela Corey is the same prosecutor who charged an African-American woman with assault with a deadly weapon for firing warning shots into a wall at her estranged husband to frighten him off. She wasn’t aiming at her husband. She got 20 years for this because of Florida’s rather draconian sentencing laws. This is a case that has enraged liberals, so if Angela Corey is politically motivated she does manage to infuriate people on both sides of the political spectrum. Not exactly the best politician ever.
>Who cares if she’s more Republican than you?
That was just in reference to a comment, above, which you may not have read: “I Callahan Says:
July 16th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Mitsu — she’s about as Republican as you are, which is not at all.” I wasn’t responding to anything you wrote (which, as usual, is far more well-argued than the comments many of your commenters make, even if I don’t always agree with your conclusions.)
When a country is being run by corrupt individuals from the president and his choices on down to judges and specal prosecutors, what can we expect.
When Obama said, “If I had a son he would look like Trayvon.”what he should have said is, “If I had a son he would act like Trayvon.” This is because they are both criminal, punk thugs who step on the rights of others.
And now, they are fomenting more trouble and the wild rumpus has begun. Martin’s “honor guard” finds that the only way to truly assuage their grief and “honor” Martin is to attack innocents and loot! Nothing honors a thug like the theft of a big screen TV and we know Martin would approve.
Heck, I think even the jury has a right to sue Corey for disrepecting their honest verdict.
kit:
See my addenda to this post.
In California, the State Bar prohibits attorneys from disparaging the court system. To declare that a person just found not guilty of second degree murder is, in fact, a murderer, certainly amounts to disparagement of the court system. Presumably, Florida has similar rules to California in this regard. Please, someone in Florida should file a complaint with the Florida State Bar.
Extract the cash from these low life public servants and I believe we’d begin to see a behavioral change. Few from “our” side ever confront them and their nonsense. Confront them and make them pay for their idiocy-in cash!
Bar associations have the responsibility to enforce ethical rules for lawyers, but unless something like mishandling client’s funds is involved they tend to be very far behind the curve.
Witness, for example, how long and under what pressures it took for the NC bar to act on Mike Nifong’s clearly outrageous acts during the Duke Lacrosse case.
Judging by the local press, Angela Corey is despised by the people in her community, Duval County, and I hope she is vulnerable in the next election.
I am disappointed in Pam Bondi’s role in getting this mobocracy going. Used to love her; now I want her out of office.
Prosecutorial abuse has gotten out of hand in the federal system as well as in some (many?) states. Consider Conrad Blacks ordeal which he describes in “A Matter of Principle” or what was done to Sen. Stevens of Alaska.
With justification the middle class is beginning to lose trust in the system and that does not encourage me to have much hope for the future of this country.
From the get go this entire travesty has been part and parcel with the agenda of the divisive, corrupt Obama regime. Its all about pay back for whitey’s (America’s) sins as defined by BHO and the rest of the race baiting agitators. I could care less if Corey is a dem, a repub, or member of the tuna casserole party. She was acting on orders from above. The responsibility for this sordid affair resides in the White House. The blood from any violence spurred on by the race baiters will taint race relations for a decade or more.
She should be sued, she should lose, be disbarred, tried in criminal court, and (after being found guilty) she should spend the rest of her life in jail.
That may sound harsh but isn’t it pretty much what she tried to do do an innocent man?
I worked for Angela Corey for years. She is obnoxious leader and absolute bully. She has used her office to abuse and belittle many, including her staff. She is not bright…failed Bar exam. She is arrogant and mean. All under her know this. Her closest friend was removed as asst state atty by prior State Atty for manipulating a jury. Angela is great friend of Pam Bondi….that’s how she got this assignment. They were both prosecutors and became gender buddies.
The IT Dir she fired knows a great deal about her spying on staff personal mails, to include sending investigators to surveill employees at their home. More will come out if the lid gets opened.
I hope GZ sues her for defamation. Her remarks after trial were idiotic. She evens has public relations expert on staff. She ignored all advice, as she always does, because she seeks public attention and thinks her ideas are inherently correct. When others argue, she is even more intent on fighting back. She is embarrassment to Florida.
Racist-Alert!:
“There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps… then turn around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
― Jesse Jackson
ASA4:
Well, she must have passed the Bar exam at some point.
Corey’s career is one bad decision after another. A defamation suit couldn’t happen to a nicer person.
Mitsu.
Another thing you know and hope–unsuccessfully as always–about the African American woman and the warning shot.
She left the house, went to the garage, got the gun, returned and fired.
SYG does not apply when you leave and return. The sentence is built into the law and the judge’s discretion is irrelevant.
Thus, this is not an SYG case. I tell you this not because I think you don’t know it, but because you think we don’t know it.
Speaking of the warning shot case, there’s FAR more to it than just someone firing into a wall (warning shots aren’t legal, btw).
See what Richard said re: warning shots. I posted at the same time.
One could argue the mandatory sentencing rules, but as far as the cases go – way different.
Mitsu:
In case you’re interested in more facts, here’s the actual story of that “warning shot” case, rather than the media distortions you’ve been fed.
By the way, that doesn’t make Corey right, nor does it make Florida’s law that requires a mandatory minimum of 20 years in a felony case involving a firearm right. I don’t like mandatory sentencing in general, and I think that law is particularly pernicious in some of its applications.
Democrats and Leftists like Mitsu are still talking about following in the VP’s authoritarian command to fire warning shots?
I would think the former police chief of Sanford and the initial lead investigator of this incident might also have a cause of action against Corey, et al. Their careers were damaged and their reputations sullied because of Corey’s witch hunt.
Look what she did to me…I’ve decided it is time for my side of this story to come out!
coreyparker-murder-trial.blogspot.com.
Richard Aubrey, 3:18 pm — “I tell you this not because I think you don’t know it, but because you think we don’t know it.”
A related phenomenon, something I have observed often: with many people, they debate, hoping that *I* don’t have command of the facts that support my position — even if *they’re* aware of them. Rest assured they will not be happy to clue me in. They’re just hoping I’m in the dark.
It’s human nature. But it does not make for intelligent discussion of ideas, it makes only for “gotchas” from people who’d rather prevail in debate than intelligently discuss anything.
Lawyers use a Devil’s Proof sort of logic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probatio_diabolica
The Left is very good at utilizing it. Unlike logical fallacies, which are clear, these are a sort of “twisted logic” and the Greeks, at least, knew of such rhetorical methods.
They set things up so that it forces you to prove something, but that something isn’t a claim of yours, but a claim of theirs. Thus they say that Republicans X, if you can’t disprove X, then you can’t deny that X is true. Since X was actually done by Obama, there is no proof, per say.
Regarding the discussion about Corey’s political affiliation, I don’t think it is really relevant.
She is from Duval County, Fl. In Duval County white people are Republicans and Black people are Democrats. She had to be a Republican to get white support; and Democrats would not support a white candidate. So, she is sailing under a flag of convenience so to speak. I expect that she has burned her bridges with the Republicans of Duval County.
Corey is known in the legal community as a very ambitious and self-serving individual. I get my information from a retired Duval County Judge.
Scott is a mystery.
I do
This whole mess reminds me of “Showboat’s” miscegenation scene. Remember that just one 16th-part black makes you “black”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZYlHQHbLk0
Now that palefaces are the Scorned Ones, it’s reversed, and George is a white man.
Angela Nifong Corey.
Very unprofessional of a prosecutor to say something like she did. As a side note, it is great that society is debating this question, a civil one! The criminal law seems to dominate the news and this is refreshing. It is still interesting even if someone isn’t threatened with jail time.
Angela Corey and Baldy Bernie disgust me because they are crooked and liars. They should be disbarred and prosecuted themselves and also George Zimmerman should sue her for slander. They both are complete Idiots.
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