joining me now is eugene o'donnell, professor at john j. college at criminal justice. he is a former new york city police officer. and pros kiter. and jonathan cape hart is an opinion writer for the washington post and msnbc con tribi contributor. he is writing about questions he has for the sanford police department he has tonight. thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> eugene, let me start with you. i've been be a be a dacating that the shooter should be arrest end now we are hearing the the sneer on trayvon. >> not only were there major questions about the police investigation on day one but the selective disclosure of information has been a problem. obviously the police and prosecutors have a duty to protect their victims. if you are going to set an

eugene o'donnell, jonathan capehart and melissa harris-perry. >> you can have the last word on our blog. you

eugene o'donnell, jonathan capehart and melissa harris-perry.

eugene o'donnell returning to the show, former nypd police officer and prosecutor, also, joining us bydericks who is a forensic crime scene analyst, expert in analyzing video. grant fredericks, this is our first chance to ask you about this video. what do you think of the relevant points to gather from what you've seen on this video? >> well, i think from the video itself it's pretty clear that mr. zimmerman is able to exit the police vehicle without any assistance. he stands at ease and freely one point of i think important note is that one of the police officers appears to examine the back of his head, which indicates there's something there and he did state that he was injured in the back of his head although the video doesn't show any injury it doesn't mean that there wasn't any. the video is highly compressed. kind of an odd way to release images to the public, the way that the police department did it. the video has been produced in an odd way that makes the objects look a little bit different, in other words, the video has been squished in this case and so mr. zimmerman appears

. >> and eugene o'donnell, what we know about the investigation so far, i mean, it's fairly routine to come upon and fascinating you as a former police officer know these things as well and one of the elements in one of the police reports that suggests to the police they interpreted this as a possibility that there was some kind of occupation is the notion that zimmerman's shirt was wet in the back and had grass stains in the back and maybe a bloody nose but that was not in the first police report so it's starting to become a suspicious element in the case. why did this stuff that would be part of the self-defense come into it later? >> it's entirely possible that the responding officers for whatever reason didn't the confidence that the people have in the justice situation, if you add up some of these issues, both the affirmative issues of evidence and also the apparent misleading statements that it's a clear if it goes in that direction the tremendous amount of deliberations maybe in the defense that the law muddles things and they couldn't move and this is not and because of the pho

. >> eugene, o'donnell, what brings out the top level plays for this situation? >> well, to some extent it's reassuring that they were there. the prosecutor's job is to do justice. it's not to get meshed in legal technicalities and get overwhelmed? what did the evidence show in the case? it does not appear to show a justifiable homicide. and prosecutors have to be courageous in their discharge -- >> what we are seeing as he steps out of the that car, unassisted, by the way, he's handcuffed behind his back in the backseat of a police officer. you know, eugene, i know, it's actually not easy to get out of the backseat of a police car when you're handcuffed or any car handcuffed. go home and try it, people. officers very routinely will assist that person getting out. they were fully confident that this guy can jump out of that backseat by himself with no help whatsoever. when you're looking at this, what are you looking for this in first image we see of george zimmerman after the shooting and killing of trayvon martin? >> well, you have george zimmerman's account, w

eugene o'donnell, stay with me. this is pretty big news. >>> coming up, we will have much more on this breaking news in the trayvon martin case. the top investigator wanted manslaughter charges the night of the shooting. plus, historic battle in the supreme court. the healthcare case that could affect every living american and define president obama's legacy. our experts will weigh in on that and what happened inside the court today. >>> and the human side of healthcare debate. republicans want it repeal a law that is literally saving lives. how is that the right agenda for america? you're watching "politicsnation" from dothan, alabama on msnbc. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these o

but former new york city police officer eugene o'donnell says the case isn't that complicated. >> the vast majority of the issues of this case are pretty straightforward. it doesn't require any great deliberation. to be quite blunt, i think police supervisors, sergeants all over country within 20 to 30 minutes of getting on the scene. there would be an arrest. i don't understand why the whole process seems to be stuck in place and needs analysis. this is not an issue of who killed this man. the issue is there any justification and there doesn't appear to be a bit of valid evidence. >> nbc's ron allen brings us the latest details from florida. >> reporter: bill lee, under enormous pressure, told reporters he's stepping aside. >> it is apparent that my involvement in this matter is overshadowing the process. >> reporter: he had been chief ten months, brought in to clean up the beating by a homeless black man by a police officer's son was caught on tape. since the killing of trayvon martins, lee has defended the decision of not arresting mr. zimmerman, who admits pulling the trigger. >>

i'll bring in proper and current professor eugene o'donnell with us. ne, i want to ask you about that tape that we just saw as a former cop and prosecutor when you see no blood on a guy that claims self defense and then he shot someone who was literally on top of him doesn't that sound like a fishy story to say the least? >> yeah well, the whole story has--there has been a required to put it under scrutiny, and the more that you look at the story, the more that it doesn't seem to hold up to scrutiny. >> so, they also say zimmerman man, he's badly hurt. he's so badly hurt that he had to use lethal force. at most we see something on top of his head that is not bleeding. there seems to be no trace of a broken nose. i had my nose broken. it bled like crazy. i had enormous swelling. as a cop did you ever see a broken nose where there was no bleeding or bruising in a situation like that? >> the objectionable evidence shows that he seemed to be in pretty good shape when he went to the police station and did he not going to the hospital. you're taking his accou

holmes, please come back and keep us posted, and certainly eugene o'donnell. >>> ahead from coast to, americans are rallying for justice and rallies are breaking out all over the country. we'll tell you why the movement will not stop. i habe a cohd. i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! you should know that just one dose of children's advil® gives up to eight hours of fever relief. allowing your little one to get back to building a better afternoon. children's advil.® relief you can trust. [ cellphone rings ] ♪ ♪ you do ♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do ♪ >>> in the words of trayvon's mother, this fight for justice isn't about a black or white thing. it's about a right or wrong thing. and the country is responding in a major way. today, hundreds of capitol hill staffers gathered on the steps for a hoodies on the hill rally. they wore t

. >> eugene o'donnell, i want to draw on your experience at crime scenes responding as a police officer later worked as a prosecutor here in new york city. the police reports which we've been looking at today have some fascinating things to me. i really -- we've got to wait for the autopsy report. but, for example, trayvon was found -- quoting the police report -- laying face down on the ground. now, that immediately raises the question of where -- where is the exit wound? where is the entrance wound? is there an exit wound? we're being told that he was shot straight in the chest. but when the body is found laying face down, you've got some immediate questions about exactly where this bullet was fired. >> the police appeared to leave the playing field, if you read the reports. they got into the business of first aid which is obviously crucial when life is in the balance. their job is also to find the truth. there's actually a part on one of those police reports where the second officer specifically says i did not talk to mr. zimmerman about this. >> that's timothy smith. >> as though he

joining me now is eugene o'donne o'donnell, and we we have a former prosecutor, and an msnbc political analyst and georgetown professor. thank you all for being here tonight. now, eugene, the mayor had to fight to get the 911 tapes released. do you think they're hiding something, or is this normal? >> there is nothing about this case that is normal. the chief says on the tape that you played that he had no evidence to dispute the account that mr. zimmerman gave. we're seeing there was a very rich layer of evidence that strongly suggested no justification. and the idea they would not release the tapes, for what reason would they not? they're vital to showing the deliberation, the mind-set, the determination of mr. zimmerman in this case. >> you would think that maybe someone in the police department didn't want to release the tapes because they dispel self defense and that was the basis they let him go on. >> that's clearly an additional piece of evidence that if they had probably cause to make an arrest at the scene. it may be a surprise to many people, reverend, but i looked at that t

com coming, we're going to bring in tavis smiley, also lawrence o'donnell, eugene robinson, and davidregory. up next, the politico playbook. but first, a check on the weekend forecast with meteorologist ryan phillips from our nbc affiliate in miami. ryan? >> mika, good morning to you. cool start out here in the northeast. clouds on the increase, and we're into the 40s. not quite spring. this is the last weekend of winter. and we're going to get our spring pattern right back in the cards by saturday. 43 in new york, 41 in hartford, 37 in boston. so clouds out there, showers coming in. it's not going to rain all day, but spotty showers, maybe a thunderstorm, highs only in the 50s. but other parts of the nation looking good. down across texas, 70s there, and 80s down in south florida. that's a quick look at the national forecast. stay with us, more "morning joe" coming your way after the break. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough

lawrence o'donnell, and eugene robinson. >>> up next, mike allen with the politico playbook, and willie's week in review. >>> but first, bill karens with a check on the weekend forecast. >> it's going to be split. middle of the country, gorgeous and warm. northeast, you're not going to like it. worst weather in the country, much of wisconsin, milwaukee, green bay. in chicago, that rain will head through your areas. this storm system is going to track today through the southern great lakes, northern ohio valley. eventually that rain will make it to pittsburgh and buffalo. that will be late today. in the northeast, mid-atlantic, you're dry today. but late tonight, we're going to see snow and rain mixture throughout much of new york state, southern new england, including albany, boston, probably springfield. hartford to new york city, probably just a cold rain for you. it's not going to be a fun early saturday morning. saturday afternoon, a bit better. the middle of the country, i mentioned how gorgeous it's going to be. temperatures today in the 70s from kansas city to denver. and look what