Monday, July 15, 2013

Contrary to News Reports, Robert Zimmerman Was Not Found Innocent in the Death of Trayvon Martin

Zimmerman Not Guilty of a Criminal Act, But Guilty of a Crime in the Minds of Most of Us

Except for a small group of hard core fanatics, everyone who followed the case of Trayvon Martin and his death at the hands of Robert Zimmerman knows that Mr. Zimmerman did a horrible thing.  Yes he was found not guilty of criminal wrong doing in the case, but society does and should and will hold Mr. Zimmerman accountable for doing one of the worst things a person can do in a civilized society.  His actions, motivated by racial prejudice led to the death of an unarmed teenager.

Mr. Martin’s death was entirely preventable, and it was entirely preventable by Mr. Zimmerman.  There was no need for him to be armed in his patrol of his neighborhood.  There was no need for him to leave his vehicle and confront Mr. Martin.  And there is no doubt that Mr. Zimmerman was motivated by the fact that Mr. Martin was an African American.

A nation that better regulated guns, a nation that respected the right to own a gun but also recognized that this right requires vigilance and regulation and oversight would not have had a case like the Trayvon Martin shooting occur.  But that nation is not the United States, at least not in 2013.  And thanks to those fanatics who place the right to bear arms above all other rights, including the right to life that nation will not be the United States for decades to come. 

But eventually it will be the United States, it will just take time.

As for Mr. Zimmerman, our suggestion to him is that when all of this is over he look up the word 'remorese' in the dictionary, as he is obviously unfamiliar with that term.  Mr. Zimmerman was portrayed as the victim here by his team,

“The prosecution of George Zimmerman was disgraceful,” Zimmerman’s attorney Don West said after the verdict. Mark O’Mara, another Zimmerman attorney, wondered aloud at a news conference “how many civil lawsuits will be spawned by this fiasco.”

Mr. Zimmerman had his day in court.  Mr. Martin did not, he is and will remain dead.  Contrary to his lawyer's comments, Mr. Zimmerman's trial was not disgraceful.  In this nation, thankfully so far,  when you shoot an unarmed person whom you have stalked even after being told not to by the police, you go on trial.  Mr. Zimmerman was found not guilty.  But he will never be innocent.

And just for the mental exercise, try to imagine the scenario is the racial classes of the two men were switched.  Imagine the commentary by Republicans and Conservatives if Mr. Zimmerman had been African American and Mr. Martin were white.  Really let that flow through your thoughts and then try to get the ugliness of what would have been said and written out of your mind.  Not an easy task.

1 comment:

  1. The quality of reporting on the trial and all the surrounding legal issues was shockingly bad.

    All the hallmarks of bad American legal reporting were present:

    -False story framing. The media wanted to make the case not just about race, but also Florida's Stand Your Ground Law, so for months we endured pointless articles about Stand Your Ground. It should have been obvious from the start that Stand Your Ground wasn't applicable because Zimmerman pursued Martin. Zimmerman did not raise Stand Your Ground.

    -Idiot experts. Countless articles quoted "legal experts" who were just guessing or providing analysis that was worse than what common sense could tell you. It should have been obvious to real "experts" that the prosecution lost the case when its key witnesses provided unclear or pro-defense testimony.

    The clincher was when Zimmerman did not testify. A smart defense attorney knows to have his client decline to testify when an acquittal is likely. It's an easy way to play it safe. Real "experts" would have looked at the evidence at that point and said an acquittal was almost certain. But the media doesn't want to take a real position so it quotes from people who have wishy-washy opinions.

    -Failure to report on the real stories. We get articles about the relatively small protests and demonstrations against the verdict, and calls for federal prosecution that will go nowhere. I want to know how this case got prosecuted so badly. I don't know if this was a winnable case due to the key witness being dead and the eyewitnesses being useless for the prosecution (each person who said Zimmerman was the aggressor was contradicted by an equally credible defense witness). But everything about the prosecution's strategy seemed incompetent, almost designed to fail. How did this case of all cases get assigned to such awful prosecutors?

    As for Zimmerman's legal team, don't read too much into what they're saying. They are posturing so they get more business from defendants who are deep in denial.

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