Just released: a groundbreaking report with

[an] inclusive examination of the profound racial and ethnic disparities in America’s criminal justice system, and concrete ways to overcome them.

The full report is here. It is co-sponsored by co-sponsored by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, the Foundation for Criminal Justice, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, and the New York County Lawyers’ Association.

The scope of the disparity: [More...]

Panderfest: The Department of Justice is setting up a public email address for tips on George Zimmerman.

Amid pressure from the NAACP and several Democratic lawmakers to pursue Zimmerman, the department has set up a public email address asking for any tips or information regarding the case.

This is nothing but a Neighborhood Watch program gone wild. Report your suspicions and three-times removed gossip. It's just more pandering to private interests. [More....]

(Song here)

I'm sure there will be people outraged by the presence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of Rolling Stone. I'm not one of them. I'm looking forward to reading the featured article about him.

[RS Editor Janet]Reitman spent the last two months interviewing dozens of sources – childhood and high school friends, teachers, neighbors and law enforcement agents, many of whom spoke for the first time about the case – to deliver a riveting and heartbreaking account of how a charming kid with a bright future became a monster.

I just wish they hadn't called him a "monster." Hopefully the article will provide some unbiased insights into Jahar from people that really knew him. It comes out August 3. [More...]

Anderson Cooper's interview with Juror B-37 is airing now.

Some thoughts as I'm watching. Juror B-37 said it wouldn't have made any difference if GZ had testified. The result would have been the same. To me that furthers the argument the state miscalculated by introducing his police interviews, re-enactment, and particularly his Hannity interview.

A prosecutor legal analyst on the show just said the defense got the jurors to look into GZ's heart. Actually, it was prosecutor John Guy. In his rebuttal closing, Guy asked the jury to look into George Zimmerman's heart and find hate. He talked about the window into George Zimmerman's soul. He told them to use their "G-d given common sense." They followed his suggestions. Unfortunately for the state, in doing so, they rejected the conclusion he though they would make. Another big failure in their argument. [More...]

The mistakes of the prosecution in the George Zimmerman trial began with overcharging Zimmerman with second degree murder. But they went far beyond that. USA Today has a new article, Experts: Prosecutors Failed to Humanize Trayvon Martin.

While the state played the emotion card hard in closing, there was a disconnect and the jury wasn't swayed by it. Why? Because one thing the jury never got to hear was the story of who is Trayvon Martin? He was never personalized or humanized.

What many may not realize is that this was a strategic decision the state made, not an unintentional omission. The defense had let the prosecution know that once the state introduced evidence of Trayvon Martin's good character, the floodgates would open and it was ready with an avalanche of text messages, photos, videos, school records and more to fight back. While I have no intention of discussing the specifics of what the defense would have introduced to counter the state's character evidence, it's available for all to see at the Zimmerman legal case website. It's referred to in pleadings and court orders. Please do not include details in your comments, or they will be deleted. [More....]

The interview of George Zimmerman juror B-37 on Anderson Cooper last night was extraordinary for the detail the juror provided about the deliberations process.

Shorter version: Zimmerman acted in self-defense. He was credible. Race was not a factor -- the jurors never even discussed race. Martin attacked Zimmerman. 5 of the 6 jurors believed Zimmerman was screaming. The sixth wasn't sure, she thought it might be Martin. Zimmerman did not act from ill-will or hatred. If anything he was over-eager to help others, which is indicative of a good heart.

Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with this juror, and taking into consideration she is speaking only for herself as to why she voted to acquit, it is clear from her statements that the jury as whole unanimously agreed the state failed in this prosecution. Which makes Angela Corey's interview, aired on HLN last night, every more bizarre. [More...]

Updated to reflect the original article has been edited to make clear B-37 signed with a literary agent who is seeking a deal for her book, but she doesn't actually have a book deal yet.

Zimmerman juror B-37 and her husband have a literary agent who is seeking offers for their book on the George Zimmerman trial. What a surprise (not) - her husband is an attorney.

What B-37 said during the voir dire round on pre-trial publicity (from our forums where it was live-blogged.) [More...]

Here's an open thread for all topics except George Zimmerman. Please use a Zimmerman thread to comment on his case.

Thanks again to everyone who donated to TalkLeft this past week. It has been a huge help, and I will send thank you emails soon. I like to respond to every contributor, and this week there were a lot of them, almost all in response to our Zimmerman coverage.

I'll be back tonight.

HLN is promoting an interview with Angela Corey and Bernie de la Rionda tonight in which the preview has Corey describing George Zimmerman as a "murderer." Poor choice of words. Not every killing is a murder. Some are excusable, some are justifiable, some are murder.

The jury instructions say:

A killing that is excusable or was committed by the use of justifiable deadly force is lawful. If you find Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, you will then consider the circumstances surrounding the killing in deciding if the killing was Murder in the Second Degree or was Manslaughter, or whether the killing was excusable or resulted from justifiable use of deadly force.

[More...]

Lawyers are hitting the airwaves en masse to opine on the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. I gave up TV commenting in 2008 (12 years was enough), but having spent so much of the last 16 months analyzing every detail of the George Zimmerman case here and at our forums, I made an exception yesterday for a quick appearance on CNN. Since I've received requests from a few readers, I'm posting a short clip of the last thing I said.[More...]

Here's what I wrote last week on the legacy of the George Zimmerman case. It's as true today as it has been for the past 16 months.

The legacy of this case will be that the media never gets it right, and worse, that a group of lawyers, with the aid of a public relations team, who had a financial stake in the outcome of pending and anticipated civil litigation, were allowed to commandeer control of Florida's criminal justice system, in pursuit of a divisive, personal agenda.

Their transformation of a tragic but spontaneous shooting into the crime of the century, and their relentless demonization of the person they deemed responsible, not for a tragic killing, but for "cold-blooded murder," has called into question the political motives and ethics of the officials serving in the Executive branch of Florida's government, ruined the career of other public officials, turned the lives of the Zimmerman family, who are as innocent as their grieving clients, into a nightmare, and along the way, set back any chance of a rational discussion of the very cause they were promoting, probably for years. [More....]

Here's an open thread for all topics. except George Zimmerman, who has his own threads.