Balta1701

If Florida prosecutors choose to bring a charge of Murder-2, how does the process go where it is reduced to manslaughter? Is that a prosecutorial decision, judicial decision, or something the Jury can do?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 12:06 PM) Yeah, this season has made me pretty sick of Bill Simmons. He's doing too many things, and his articles have damn near no point. Also, how you ignore and don't bother writing about the Bulls having the NBA's best record with these injuries is unforgivable. If Boston's the 3 seed, then the Heat are up first, unless they can pass the Bulls.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 11:47 AM) Rondo was actually hitting jumpers against the Heat the other night. If he keeps that up, that makes Boston very dangerous and I would have to start respecting him as a player. The Celtics shot like 60% on midrange jumpers in that game. No one does that for more than short spurts.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:46 AM) So the difference between a very good catcher and a very bad catcher is under 20%, which, like I said, is a minority of stealing attempts. Over 80% of the time the outcome is determined by the pitcher and the runner. When I sign a catcher, I'm going to worry much more about his hitting and how he handles the pitching staff. If he can throw out runners, that's just a bonus. Just think though about how big the difference was when Juan Pierre was stealing successfully about 75% of the time versus when he was stealing 50% of the time last year. In the former case, it becomes an effective weapon. In the latter case, you're angry every time he runs.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:39 AM) But let's sue a bunch of book publishers and Apple for "price fixing" e-books. Meanwhile, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon freely price fix everything cellular related and nobody bats an eye. Apparently in this case the government actually is going to try to establish that they were meeting at various manhattan restaurants to discuss fixing the prices on e-books, so that's why they can bring that case.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:31 AM) What was IRod's career CS%? 46%. AJ is at 28% and always hung around 30% for his career.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:31 AM) If he does it better than the others, why does he keep getting caught while no one else does? He doesn't keep getting caught. The big name players keep getting caught, but by that time he's already moved on. If he was getting caught, the phrase "Show Cause" would be applied.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:30 AM) Having a piece of evidence proving Zimmerman was the victim would be the quickest way to let the pressure off of this case. So would something that shows Zimmerman actually set out to shoot Martin. Actually, if they had some way of firmly establishing that and they weren't required to release it yet, wouldn't that be the thing you keep private as long as you can as a bargaining chip?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:27 AM) "His life is over, he can't even walk into a 7/11 without fear!" Contrast with Trayvon's life literally being over because Zimmerman shot him to death as he was walking home from a 7/11. Yeah, I just read that as him going to a generic store/bank/whatever and them using that to raise the sympathy card without catching that they specifically said the same store that the victim was walking to. Totally missed the fact that the defense could come right back and note that Martin couldn't walk to a 7/11 either. They can still play the "can't go to the store" card, but they might want to avoid calling it a 7/11.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:28 AM) But that's not the game...the game is that you have to prove he is guilty; he doesn't have to prove he's innocent. Secondly, he wasn't originally charged for a reason. Since then, there has been a s***storm of controversy. Now he is being charged. I don't have a clue what is going on. But if the prosecutor was pressured by the Governor or someone else to bring charges just to let some of the pressure out of this thing, I doubt she would lose her job if he isn't convicted. Well, I have no special insight, but I will at least raise the possibility that he wasn't charged initially because he shot a black kid. If the prosecutor was pressured to bring charges by someone, yeah they won't necessarily lose their job, but they're going to be more than happy to make that known once the case is over.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) Zimmerman's former attny: Zimmerman's current attny: There must be a stronger word than "irony" to describe this. Oh, it took me more than a short amount of time to get why saying "He can't walk to a 7/11" is in fact so ironic and why you'd think that particular statement would be a disaster if it were said in court.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:21 AM) I disagree with that on both accounts. I'm with 2k5. If there was an obvious piece of exonerating evidence beyond what we've seen reported already, there's no way this case gets this far.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:13 AM) And of course he is the only coach in basketball that does that. When did I say that? Cal just does it better than the others, and then scampers away to another job before things actually get exposed.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 10:12 AM) Keep an open mind now...innocent until proven guilty... But the fact that charges were brought at least suggests that there is no current evidence clearly proving his innocence. No additional recording or witness firmly establishing that his initial story was true. If that were the case, then the prosecutor would have been insane to bring charges. It still could be that he's found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt because the prosecutor can't prove the opposite, but if there were obvious evidence exonerating him, then bringing that forward would also help quiet the media storm.

Link

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:56 AM) Not to start a Coach Cal love fest, but what did he get in trouble for at UMass & Memphis? Sports agents were paying Camby to woo him, it wasn't money directly from Cal. I highly doubt he personally advised Derrick to cheat on his SAT. Most of the dirty recruting in college doesn't seem to involve the coaches themselves. It's boosters, alums, AAU people, agents, and even Adidas & Nike. GMAB man, that's the coach making sure he has "Plausible deniability".

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:55 AM) Zimmerman shot a kid to death who was guilty of walking home from 7/11. To me, it'd demonstrate callous indifference to the life of Trayvon. Huh? Talking about him having some version of PTSD and having all this media pressure seems like it'd do the opposite. I'd imagine it'd make him seem more human, they're trying to convince a jury that he was put in a spot where he had no choice but to take the shot and hates the fact that it came to that. Doesn't seem like it'd tell a story of indifference to me

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:52 AM) Not to mention once those 12 people get seated, the first thing the lawyers will tell them is about how Zimmerman is the victim here. They will go through what has happened to him since the shooting for sure. I can't imagine a judge allowing that. That'd be ridiculously off topic and prejudicial.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:46 AM) Thanks to the outrage of this case, you aren't going to find those 12 people. It might take a large jury pool and some extra effort, and the case should be tried somewhere in Florida other than the Sanford area, but it's certainly not impossible like you're making it sound. And of course, since you're blaming the outrage, let's point out, if there hadn't been the outrage, they wouldn't need to find those 12 people.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:42 AM) In a case predicated on him claiming some sort of self-defense? Yeah, right. I'd hope that the jury wouldn't be privy to the finer details of his life amidst the media outcry, it's not the biggest detail of the case and it's certainly not admissable in terms of figuring out his guilt. They'll try to get that story out to the media but that's not one that is going to make headlines. The media outcry though might well make him more likely to take a plea deal.

Bynum hauled in 30 rebounds and gave the Spurs a loss last night. Every other team in the NBA has 16 losses or more now, so the Bulls now have 2 on the loss column on everyone. Beating the Heat puts them darn close to sewing up homecourt thorughout.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:39 AM) Or AJ on the other end of things. AJ, he's saying just suffers because guys like Floyd and Garcia don't know how to hold runners close. If that's the case, then if you looked at a guy with a great throwing arm, he shouldn't be able to go from team to team throwing people out. IRoid gunned people down whoever was pitching. AJ also has gotten to work with Buehrle, who had one of the best pickoff moves in the game.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:38 AM) Painting him as the victim is going to be 100% of the strategy here. The threats on the guys life and the glare of the media spotlight really aren't going to help stop that from working. That shouldn't matter in a court of law though.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:37 AM) I've always contended that the majority of stolen base attempts are made or failed based on the runner's jump and the pitcher's delivery, and only a minority of the outcomes are affected by the throw. The response to that is "Ivan Rodriguez".

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 12, 2012 -> 09:28 AM) They're missing two of the better hitters in the NL...Howard will be back in a month or two, and then hopefully Utley for the second half. They'll be fine. Utley just seems so far along this "Degenerative" path for whatever his legs are doing...even if they get him back, I kinda wonder what he'll give them. Victorino, Howard, Pence, Rollins, Polonco, and Ruiz is the makings of a decent lineup though. What happened to Domonic Brown? Is he hurt?