Whatever the outcome of this case, and however it is framed by either party, what cannot be denied that a young man lost his life, his family is in mourning, and people around the country are showing their support — and they have our respect and sympathy. While certain details regarding Martin may become part of trial, they will never be a part of our online discussion, and we will aggressively moderate comments on our page on Facebook, and discourage others from making disparaging comments.
O'Mara says his team will be moderating comments left on their sites and take a "conservative" view when moderating.
We intend to remain very conservative in limiting such conversations so as to avoid any possible negative impact on the criminal justice system.
Nor will they be using the social media to disseminate information about evidence in the case. Here's what they said initially about how they will use social media.
Speculation and theories about what happened the night Trayvon Martin was killed, is within bounds here, on the factual and open threads, provided they are based on publicly available documents, calls and the like. Character attacks and rank speculation against any party in the case, are not.
I'm glad to see the media has become less sensational and distorted in recent days, and the attacks by the Martins' lawyers on Zimmerman are either being tempered or not getting the same attention they were before. While O'Mara is not going to address these issues, they are still on my radar screen, if they restart.
Until the next document release....
Update: Commenters here do not seem to be aware that the Martin family has had a website for Trayvon for some time. It raises funds. Its stated purpose is "To pursue justice on behalf of Trayvon Benjamin Martin, the son of Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin and the brother of Jahvaris Martin." On the about page, they discuss George Zimmerman. They are also on FB and Twitter. On FB, there are 221,000 friends.
The Martin family attorneys posts news about the case on their firm website.
While the Martins and their attorneys are not "parties" to the criminal case -- the only parties are the State of Florida and George Zimmerman -- they do have an interest in the litigation which is recognized by Florida's state constitution and statutes.
Victims of crime or their lawful representatives, including the next of kin of homicide victims, are entitled to the right to be informed, to be present, and to be heard when relevant, at all crucial stages of criminal proceedings, to the extent that these rights do not interfere with the constitutional rights of the accused.
This thread is now closed.