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Jacksonville Daily Record

Judicial Spotlight: Get to know five 4th Judicial Circuit Court judges Jacksonville Daily Record He is often asked to discuss his work on the Michael Dunn and George Zimmerman trials two recent homicide cases that garnered national attention. Other service activities include judging mock trial competitions and speaking to Boy Scouts about the ...

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Judicial Spotlight: Get to know five 4th Judicial Circuit Court judges - Jacksonville Daily Record

George Zimmerman being found dead by a security guard in a hotels womans bathroom is a death hoax. There is no truth to the report that the controversial figure was found dead.

Zimmerman is known for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder. As of 2015, he remained the subject of media interest due to ongoing controversy over the Martin case. In addition, he has been involved in other violent incidents, with allegations of violence made against him since he was acquitted of the murder of Martin.

Now, where did this death hoax originate? Channel23News published the article reporting that Zimmerman was found dead in a womans bathroom. You can read the story below.

A security guard smelled a putrid odor coming from a stall in the women restroom of a Marriott hotel. While surveying the area a person was observed on their knees behind the door. After several unfailed attempts to communicate with the individual local authorities were notified and arrived 20 minutes later. The Orlando Police Dept. entered the area only to discover George Zimmerman, 38 year old Hispanic male, head down in a toilet bowl of feces.

However, the above story is fake news. Channel23News is a prank website apparently operated by a Korry Scherer from Milwaukee, WI. according to Hoax-Alert. The site lets visitors create their own realistic looking fake news stories to prank friends and family. The above story is just another example of a realistic but fake news article.

Here are some examples of people sharing the fake news on social media.

This has not been the first time Zimmerman has been the subject of fake news. In March 2014, the Cream Bmp Daily web site published an article reporting that Zimmerman had accidentally shot and killed himself while loading a gun.

911 first responders found George Zimmermans lifeless body at a Florida gun range after responding to an emergency call that he shot himself while loading his weapon.

Im not saying we took our time getting there, but weve shown up faster to black neighborhoods. According to a first responder, they stopped at every light, didnt use a siren and drove behind an elderly woman all before finally arriving on the scene. If he was a rapper hed be more famous now that hes dead, but nope! Everybody just glad hes dead.

As noted in Cream Bmp Dailys About page, that web site deals strictly in satire:

CreamBmp.com Written by comedian CREAM. This website is comprised of satire and parody of current news and urban culture. For entertainment purposes only.

What did you think of the death hoax about Zimmerman? Did you believe it or see people sharing it falsely on social media? Let us know in the comments section.

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George Zimmerman Found Dead By Security Guard In A Woman's ... - Business 2 Community

Oregon Daily Emerald

Manggala: My journey of understanding 'Black Lives Matter' Oregon Daily Emerald Sure, George Zimmerman looks like an awful person, but what could I prove that the justice system couldn't? Unfortunately, people still have this frame of mind to this day. I remember learning about Michael Brown a couple years later. The Black Lives ...

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Manggala: My journey of understanding 'Black Lives Matter' - Oregon Daily Emerald

Tom Lyons Columnist @tomlyonsht

When a bill passes with ease and is quickly signed by the governor, and the good intent is obvious and no corporate lobbyist seems to have a secret angle, the resulting law might well just be a rare good idea with no downside.

That is the way some have promoted a bill to help hide certain mug shots and arrest records from the public eye, and I get it. But Im not so sure.

The new law allegedly aims to help wrongly accused people avoid eternal problems with background checks that could otherwise forever portray them as arrestees and criminal defendants.

Good cause. A real problem is being tackled here. There are websites that not only post mugs of everyone arrested everywhere in the country, but also have a nasty business model to make it pay: They notify arrestees that the site will remove their photo for a fee.

Pay up, or the worst photo ever taken of you stays Google-ready for viewing by every potential employer, landlord or mother-in-law from now on.

That extortion-like practice should be outlawed. But the new law does something else instead.

Though most jail photos may show people who are later found guilty of something, major or minor, some are acquitted or their charges are totally dropped. And yeah, it is unfair that arrest records and their accompanying mugshots dont say so.

In those often unflattering jail photos, the innocent look just as guilty as everyone else.

So to help those people and maybe harm no one except sleazy website operators who make their living from something that smells a lot like blackmail and extortionthe new law automatically seals the otherwise easily found arrest records of those found not guilty or who have all charges dropped.

As advertised, the law will also somehow force websites that already have the photos to remove them without charging a fee.

That all sound flat-out good? If so, you are probably not a reporter.

Journalists doing legitimate news stories, including say, on candidates for local office, often have good cause to look up any previous encounters with police and the justice system. No matter how such cases turned out, they can be revealing.

Sometimes the key point of interest is why the heck the charges were dropped in such years-old cases. Sometimes, whats hidden when records are made hard to find is a story of well-connected arrestees who repeatedly had DUI or domestic violence charges that quietly disappeared.

Nothing to see here!

In such affluenza-related cases, defendants who already got too much protection arent the only ones happy to have the arrest trail swept away, too. Those in the justice system who make dubious decisions to drop charges will be equally glad if, years later, reporters never pick up that trail or ask questions.

Nearly every editorial futilely criticizing the bill said there is no reasonable basis for removing the records and photos of many not guilty arrestees. Too many are newsworthy.

Most such editorials use famous examples like George Zimmerman, who famously succeeded with a self-defense claim after he followed and then fatally shot a teenaged pedestrian named Trayvon Martin.

But Zimmerman is a poor example, in some ways. His arrest cant be obscured by any law. His trial was major news. The law cant help him become low profile now. And besides, he soon started loving publicity and adamantly seeking it.

There was a time, though, when not-guilty George Zimmerman could have become a better example. For a while, his arrest was little known and prosecutors had decided not to charge him. What if it had gone that way and there was no public outcry?

A law making that arrest disappear from the usual background searches could well have helped that zealous fighter of imaginary crime stay totally unknown. That would have been a great help to Zimmerman next time he went seeking a security guard job.Im glad no employer that hell ever talk to will be in the dark about his arrest and acquittal.

So, despite mixed feelings, I cant feel glad that a new state law helps all not-guilty arrestees keep their jail visits a secret. Too many of those stories deserve to be told.

Tom Lyons can be reached at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com

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Lyons: Unfair arrests cause unfair background checks. But is this law the fix? - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

If youve ever wondered how seriously state legislators value your constitutional right to open government, you can thank the Florida Society of News Editors for bringing it out in the sunshine.

The problem is worse than we thought.

The FSNE unveiled its first Sunshine scorecard last week, grading all 160 legislators against their votes on public record bills that Floridas Amendment Foundation either supported or opposed.

Not a single state lawmaker received an A. Only nine had a B. There were 71 Cs which is considered average. And half of the legislators received a subpar grade, with 77 Ds and three Fs.

Florida might have the nations most robust open government laws, but theyre clearly under assault by our lawmakers. The public should be outraged, especially after a legislative session in which much of our budget and policy was decided behind closed doors.

For decades, Florida has been the countrys shining example of how to keep politicians honest. Were one of the few states that guarantee open government in the state constitution. And Florida takes it a step further, requiring the Legislature to pass bills for exemptions. In theory, that should keep lawmakers from gutting the Sunshine Law.

But legislators have continued pecking away at openness.

Floridas Sunshine Law now has nearly 1,200 exemptions. Under the guise of privacy issues, state officials have hid details about children killed in foster care, seniors killed in nursing homes, and prisoners killed while locked up.

Lawmakers have hidden from the public how much taxpayer money is given to companies for incentives and how much vendors are paid by contract.

This year, the Legislature tried to put a giant dagger in the Sunshine Law by allowing two or more elected officials from the same governmental body to speak about official business privately away from the public. More than half of the Florida House voted for it, but state law fortunately requires two-thirds of the Legislature to vote for Sunshine Law exemptions. That one didnt pass, but plenty supported for it, including eight lawmakers from Broward and Palm Beach counties.

If that wasnt enough of an eye opener, the Sunshine scorecard makes it clear that not enough politicians care about your right to open government.

Im getting some really interesting responses (to the scorecard), Barbara Petersen, president of Floridas First Amendment Foundation, told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. People are asking when are you going to score the courts? People are paying attention to it and the legislators seem to be paying attention to it as well.

Neither party fared well on the scorecard but Republicans especially struggled the most common grade for Democrats was a C-minus while more of the GOP scored a D-plus.

No South Florida Republican scored higher than a C and most were D-plus or lower. While four Broward and Palm Beach County Democrats scored B-minus or B-plus, many had Ds.

Its unacceptable. Florida needs to return to its roots as a state that prides itself on open government.

Petersen admits the scoring system isnt perfect. No one received an A because a single bill that was opposed by the First Amendment Foundation passed unanimously. That bill shielded the arrest records of people who are found innocent in court. The First Amendment Foundation was right to oppose it.

If a person is accused of sexual assault in four counties, but not convicted, it shows a pattern of criminal behavior, Petersen said earlier this year.

It also wipes away the arrest records of public figures like Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman who were exonerated in court but remain suspicious in the public eye.

Expect changes to next years scorecard to give credit to lawmakers who helped improve bills the First Amendment Foundation initially opposed.

This had never been done before and of course there are some little kinks that need to be worked out, Petersen said.

The Sunshine scorecard will only improve, and were fortunate to have a transparent tool that keeps politicians honest. Now its on them to prove they care about your right to an open government.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary OHara, Andrew Abramson, Elana Simms, Gary Stein and Editor-in-Chief Howard Saltz.

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Florida lawmakers failing open government | Editorial - Sun Sentinel