It is difficult one way or the other not to be emotional over the Zimmerman Case.It is also impossible to profess an opinion; pro or con on the outcome of the trial without someone accusing you of being a bigot or racist.
There is no denying that Zimmerman shot and killed Martin. Unfortunately there were no witnesses to the incident. Therefor the prosecution could not prove that Zimmerman instigated the physical encounter. One trial witness who testified said that he saw two men struggling on the ground and the bottom one clothing resembled what Zimmerman was wearing. That and the expert's uncontested
testimony about the angle of the shot wound; plus pictures of Zimmerman's face shortly after the police intervened made it impossible for a jury to come up with a verdict based on without reasonable doubt.
To damn our Justice system every time we don't like its results is to criticize the Civil Rights that
are the basis of the freedom we receive via the Constitution. The "if Zimmerman had not done this or if Martin had not decided to cut through the condo complex should not have an impact on the law that a person is innocent until found guilty without reasonable doubt.
British law and much of the rest of the world is the opposite; a person is guilty until found innocent.
Too often when the responsibility of proving innocence is on the accused the outcome is wrong. It may be impossible to provide evidence that the individual could not have committed the crime.
Even in our system all too often a innocent individual is found guilty; it is better to let someone go free than to incarcerate or execute a person who committed no crime.
I would not have wanted to be one of the six jurors. Would you if you were a juror been able to come up with a verdict without being influenced by preconceived opinion?
Finally there is no justification for destructive mob actions after an unpopular decision. That action is criminal, the truly innocent suffer and those who should be punished are not. Those who twittered that the "hood" should take care of Zimmerman should be punished for inciting violence or vigilante action.
What is my opinion on the verdict? I reluctantly accept it because it was the result of due process under our laws. Do I believe Zimmerman is guilty? Yes but not of the crimes he was charged. What he is guilty of I do not know. Florida law which permits defensive action if the shooter believed that his life was threatened may have saved him from involuntary manslaughter, I don't believe that was raised as an issue. At best reckless endangerment might have been applicable because he did carry a legal gun but continued to follow Martin despite be told to back off. But that was not a charge, and all who are blasting the jury would have found even a conviction of that level to be unacceptable.
The last words are; if you violently object to the verdict, then go live in Russia, or Iran, or Darfur or many other countries that do not have our justice system. I am sure you will not be happy.
9:10 AM: Today's papers and TV media note that the Feds are going to proceed with an investigation to see if Zimmerman (legally) broke any Federal Laws. That is good but I fear that it may become a political bonanza rather than a true pursuit for justice.
The Federal courts can not determine the issue of murder or manslaughter. The issue of deprivation of Martin's Civil Rights by following through with intent to kill him may be difficult to establish since at the trial who started the conflict could not be established.
What is being forgotten is that Martin himself legally was not "without blame". He was not on "Public Property". He was inside a "gated community" in other words on private property. This fact could validate Zimmerman's decision to as a member of a Neighborhood Watch team to follow him despite 911 instructions to back off.
I believe that Martin's using the condo complex as a short cut was just following a universal practice since there were several entrances to the complex. Thus he was acting out of naivete rather than malicious intent. This may be an issue in a Federal Case investigation.
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All those that believe this issue is not about race is naive or just in denial. The problem is, if Zimmerman were a Black man, this incident may have never even reached national attention. The problem is because Trayvon was Black, Sanford PD didn't even arrest Zimmerman...protests had to take place even before an arrest was made. I AM OUTRAGED at the fact that life (if you happen to be black) is not valued by this country's justice system, that is the message they sent by acquitting Zimmerman. The message is, if you're black, the rules are different. A Black woman in the State of Florida has been given a sentence of 20 years for firing warning shots into a ceiling when her abusive husband tried to attack her in her own home. No one died, no one was even hurt, but she has been slapped with 20 years....The Zimmerman case IS NOT COMPLICATED, I'm so sick of people saying this. In my opinion, it's only COMPLICATED because he's not a black man. Michael Vick went to jail for dog fighting (same state of Florida)....RACE IS AN ISSUE IN THIS COUNTRY! I'm very nervous for my children, if one of them are killed in cold blood, my judicial system says, they're not that important.
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ReplyDeleteWrong deletetion; The original post should read "NOT declared Innocent"
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Bailey, Thank you for commenting, You are right and no one should deny it. A major issue in this case is race and I will return to that.
However, and absolutely important is respect and confidence in our laws and court systems.
If you are willing to accept that this was an impartial jury that declared Zimmerman not guilty of either of the two charges and understand that he was NOT declared INNOCENT, only because there was an absence of reasonable doubt; then the outcome was a triumph for our justice system.
If you feel that despite the testimony at the trial he should have been convicted then perhaps you would prefer to disregard our system and perhaps have every case heard and decided by one or three “judges” who are servants of those in power.
Our freedom in being judged by our peers will be lost along with many and potentially all of rights under the Constitution.
The one other question that may impact on a Federal investigation is: Was this an impartial Jury”.
As to the racial issue; you are right no attention would have been given to the "incident" (I don’t like that term) if both parties had been black. If Zimmerman had been black and Martin white the hue and cry would have been so great that Z would have been convicted before he had any kind of a sham trial. This is what we have to avoid at all costs.
We must prevent Mob pressure from creating a lynching situation.
Racial pressures are bad no matter who applies them. Justice should be equal for all; that is what the fight should be.
If the federal government should decide no federal laws were broken by Zimmerman will we revolt against that decision? I hope not because that would be anarchy.
My personal belief is that there will be charges filed of deprivation of Civil Rights.
Doc, one correction to your statements. Trayvon was NOT on private property. He was walking to his father's condo, where he was staying. Therefore, he had a right to be on the premises. In fact he was only a few hundred feet from his father's condo. I for one was not surprised by the verdict, after all we are in America where Blacks have never been considered equal.
ReplyDeleteTerri thank you. I was under the impression from the media at the time that Trayvon was staying with family who lived on the side street.
ReplyDeleteThat would put a different light on the incident.