Interesting thing about the suspects' lawyers.

[Mickalino]

Almost all of the time, defense lawyers for criminal suspects are insisting their clients are innocent, making excuses for them, and claiming the cops "got the wrong guys". But I'm not hearing anything like that from these lawyers. In fact, they've been very sympathetic to Taylor, and almost seem accepting of the fact that their clients will be spending a lot of time behind bars. I wonder why they're not vigorously defending their clients, and why this seems to be an exception. Is is because the police have a huge amount of evidence stacked up against them. Or maybe because a plea bargain is coming ?

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

First of all, outside of Law and Order, defense attorneys usually say nothing.

Moreover, you play the hand you are dealt.

If you are an attorney, and your client has confessed, you would be an idiot to me arguing innocence. What you are looking for at that point is the most favorable sentence.

[AKM311]

Probably because they confessed? LOL!

[allan1058]

Almost all of the time, defense lawyers for criminal suspects are insisting their clients are innocent, making excuses for them, and claiming the cops "got the wrong guys". But I'm not hearing anything like that from these lawyers. In fact, they've been very sympathetic to Taylor, and almost seem accepting of the fact that their clients will be spending a lot of time behind bars. I wonder why they're not vigorously defending their clients, and why this seems to be an exception. Is is because the police have a huge amount of evidence stacked up against them. Or maybe because a plea bargain is coming ?

ummm maybe because of the confessions????? haha

[Passizle]

Its probably the evidence and the kids confessions. Once you confess... its over. Plus... I kind of felt from the beginning that this was an "accident".

I know the kids were wrong and effed up and I hope they rot, but on the same note, I feel that they feel horible for what they did. As I have read in the papers, Taylor knew these kids, employed them and invited them to parties at his house.

I think the kids reallyu did not mean to kill Taylor. They were scared (for good reason) and things just turned south.

Either way, I hope they make an example out of them and that the prosecution "rethinks" their non-premeditated murder charge.

In my books, if you bring a tool (gun) to do a job (robbery) you PLAN to use is. That is the definition of pre-meditated. At least thats how I see it.

[Pookie]

...that may be...but Erik Rivera's lawyer has been all overthe media (at least locally) shooting off his mouth--turns out he's his lawyer in an ongoing/current drug charge case--and the idio lawyer is mouthing of about his client being a victim of his circumstances, etc, etc. It was disgusting listening to him.

[33]

Keep in mind these are likely public defenders who don't make a lot of money and lose a lot of cases.

[Pookie]

I feel that they feel horible for what they did. As I have read in the papers, Taylor knew these kids, employed them and invited them to parties at his house.

Don't fall for that.

That's exactly what the defense wants you to believe. They are going straight for the sympathy jugular.

ST did not know these kids. He'd employed one once to mow his yard at the rec of his sister, who was dating his friend's cousin. As for the "parties", it was one, and the one doing the inviting was Jazmin Taylor, all of 14 years old, not Sean, in honor of her birthday.

[jg42]

I think most defense attorneys will tell you their job is to see that the judicial process if played out fairly. Unfortunately some have other motives, especially in high profile cases.

[Pookie]

Keep in mind these are likely public defenders who don't make a lot of money and lose a lot of cases.

Probably. But the media has made a point of stating that Eric Rivera's lawyer is on of the most prominent ones in Ft Myers.

[Skinfan56]

are they still implying that rivera was the shooter? if so, i wonder if the punks collaborated to "say" that he was the shooter, since he was the only one under 18 years of age and are hoping that he can recieve a lesser sentence for being a minor.

[nace14]

not only are there confessions, but there is also the issue of mitigating circumstances that they are going to vigorously defend. the theme of their case is going to be along the lines of "this was a horrible tragedy, but my client did not go there to commit a murder and reacted to sean with a machette."

when they have a damning confession that says that they were robbing the house and sean appeared and got shot, the lawyers can only argue so much. lying to the jury and the public is the worst thing that they could possibly do.

[33]

Don't fall for that.

That's exactly what the defense wants you to believe. They are going straight for the sympathy jugular.

ST did not know these kids. He'd employed one once to mow his yard at the rec of his sister, who was dating his friend's cousin. As for the "parties", it was one, and the one doing the inviting was Jazmin Taylor, all of 14 years old, not Sean, in honor of her birthday.

Pookie, it was Sasha Taylor's party. It was her 21st bday.

[Pookie]

are they still implying that rivera was the shooter? if so, i wonder if the punks collaborated to "say" that he was the shooter, since he was the only one under 18 years of age and are hoping that he can recieve a lesser sentence for being a minor.

Not sure...but I know local media has been reporting (as of last night), as they were covering the ectradiction from Ft. Myers to Miami, that they (the 4) were giving conflicting stories and that each one was blaming the other.

[Passizle]

Don't fall for that.

That's exactly what the defense wants you to believe. They are going straight for the sympathy jugular.

ST did not know these kids. He'd employed one once to mow his yard at the rec of his sister, who was dating his friend's cousin. As for the "parties", it was one, and the one doing the inviting was Jazmin Taylor, all of 14 years old, not Sean, in honor of her birthday.

I'm not falling for anything... I just think the kids fell guilty for what they did.

As far as sympathy?

I hope they get 10 years hanging upsidedown from their toe nails for staters.

Battery acid spong baths, followed by rub downs with rock-salt. The you lay them down on beds of broken glass, followed by another rub down... with rubbing alcohol...

Then we can neuter them by feeding them their own testicles. No one like that should be allowed to have offspring.

Tehn, tie them up in a closed room lined with football equipment and let Seans family, friends and team mateshave a go at them after they are all tendered up.

Finally release them from a plane... over Iran with American flag parachutes.

[Neophyte]

the theme of their case is going to be along the lines of "this was a horrible tragedy, but my client did not go there to commit a murder and reacted to sean with a machette."

This whole idea is likely correct and just pisses me off more. It smacks of the criminal suing the home owner for shooting him. Sorry but if you enter someone else's house in the middle of the night without an invitation then you are just asking for whatever you get. These kids are not victims and it turns my stomach that some damn lawyer might even consider portraying them that way (even though I could have predicted it would happen).

Shakespeare was right...

[Pookie]

I'm not falling for anything... I just think the kids fell guilty for what they did.

I understand what you're saying...but given the little we know about these kids, we do know one thing. They have no conscious. They knew EXACTLY what they were doing from the moment they drove 100m into Miami and broke into ST w/ a gun. The element at surprise that ST was there is secondary. And we can't confuse them being scared crapless w/ them being remorseful.

The "they feel remorse and guilt" is lawyer-speak BS.

[Polo3]

I'm not falling for anything... I just think the kids fell guilty for what they did.

As far as sympathy?

I hope they get 10 years hanging upsidedown from their toe nails for staters.

Battery acid spong baths, followed by rub downs with rock-salt. The you lay them down on beds of broken glass, followed by another rub down... with rubbing alcohol...

Then we can neuter them by feeding them their own testicles. No one like that should be allowed to have offspring.

Tehn, tie them up in a closed room lined with football equipment and let Seans family, friends and team mateshave a go at them after they are all tendered up.

Finally release them from a plane... over Iran with American flag parachutes.

Dammmmnnnnn, I would hate to piss you off:laugh:

[Mr. S]

most of these lawyers get along and know the judge/prosecutors/etc.... Also, as mentioned, most lawyers are not like the guys you see on tv shows. Those shows are still dramas, and likely so, the lawyers need to show more drama.

Those 3 minute power speeches are not common at all.

Basically, these defense attorneys are going to try and argue against the charges in hopes of getting lesser charges and/or plea bargains.

[RedskinInExile]

Keep in mind these are likely public defenders who don't make a lot of money and lose a lot of cases.

A Public Defender's Office can't represent more than one defendant in the same crime (it's a conflict of interests since one defendant's best defense may be to lay the blame on another defendant and you can't have two guys represented by the same organization trying to bury each other), so at best, only one of the guys are represented by a PD. The rest are appointed "conflict counsel"-- private attorneys who agree to take these folks off their hands

Also, it's defintely wrong to assume PDs are incompetent or don't care about the outcome. Sure, there are bad apples (like in all professions), but the majority care very deeply about their clients, and many are actually damn good lawyers who don't feel like cutting throats in private firms

[Clinton "F'n" Portis]

I am not buying a word of it..this may go a little off topic...my younger brother was hit hard by this and immaturely decided to email one of their friends on myspace...I told him not to that let God judge and just leave it be and do not give those cowards the time of day....

He said his thing and one of the killers friend replied back "haha we toasted that n*****, thats how we roll"

so either he was just trying to piss off my brother or he/they mentalities are nothing but punks and the ones that are in jail are only showing remorse to get out of jail or to get a lighter sentence

[Veretax]

heh Kind of like the one Line Chris Rock had in Lethal Weapon 4 "If you cannot afford an attorney we will provide you with the dumbest ------- lawyer" or something like that. Can't remember the line verbatim :/

[turbodiesel#44]

I think the kids reallyu did not mean to kill Taylor. They were scared (for good reason) and things just turned south.

Either way, I hope they make an example out of them and that the prosecution "rethinks" their non-premeditated murder charge.

In my books, if you bring a tool (gun) to do a job (robbery) you PLAN to use is. That is the definition of pre-meditated. At least thats how I see it.

Yep. I hope they all get the same as Rivera. I shouldn't matter who pulled the trigger. Home invasion resulting in death = death, in my opinion. But they will likely get off with 15 - 20 years.

[Russell Shotgun]

You're not going to hear a lawyer champion about his clients innocence when there are already confessions given by some of the suspects.

I don't imagine this will go to trial. As far as the law is concerned (and I'm not that familiar with FL law, but do know about the general doctrines involved), whatever these kids INTENDED to do doesn't really matter. They are charged with robbery, use of a firearm, and felony-murder.

The felony murder doctrine is a real interesting principle of law which allows someone to be convicted of 2nd degree murder (which means the unpremeditated - or unplanned - killing of another) when someone dies as a result of the defendants' commission of another violent crime (such as rape, armed robbery, aggravated assault, etc.). This doctrine has been used to convict a suspect running from the police after a shootout when 1 cop accidently shoots another cop, thinking its the suspect. The suspect could have been 5 miles away from the accidental shooting, but he can still be convicted of felony murder because his unlawful actions caused the accidental shooting of the cop (of course, there are caveats and limitations, but you get the basic concept).

I'm not sure if they can charge all 4 with felony murder even though there could have been only 1 triggerman firing the fatal blow. But either way, I expect the suspects to plead guilty and try to get a lesser sentance. The sentencing phase, not the guilt-or-innocence phase, is where you are going to hear the defense lawyers try to make excuses for the clients' actions.

The sentencing phase will give Jackie, Pedro, and Sean's family the opportunity to testify about how the loss has affected them personally. That should be heartbreaking. Also, I don't know how things go in Florida, but there might be a possibility for either Gibbs, Snyder, or Gregg Williams to testify about how the loss of Sean has damaged their organization. Could be another chance to honor Sean and talk about the impact he made for their organization, especially how he could have affected win/losses and profits for the team. Although this might be a bit of a stretch.

Any FL lawyers want to comment? Could this be possible?

[Pookie]

I am not buying a word of it..this may go a little off topic...my younger brother was hit hard by this and immaturely decided to email one of their friends on myspace...I told him not to that let God judge and just leave it be and do not give those cowards the time of day....

He said his thing and one of the killers friend replied back "haha we toasted that n*****' date=' thats how we roll"

so either he was just trying to piss off my brother or he/they mentalities are nothing but punks and the ones that are in jail are only showing remorse to get out of jail or to get a lighter sentence[/quote']

Holy Mary.

I highly rec. you bro keep that message, do screen shots, take all necessary measures to secure the message and forward that to counsel.

I look at it this way, if I was ST's family--which this past week all of us became--I'd want that info in the hands of the attys.

Granted, it may not do any good. No one may pay attn to it...but what if maybe, just maybe, it had an impact on--if nothng else--the character of these mofos? Your little bro has nothing to lose. Ask him to think about it.