George Zimmerman Walks: A Nagging Sense that Justice Wasn't Done

     That he is paying no price at all is very jarring. It just seems wrong that you can shoot to kill a 17 year old unarmed boy-aiming directly for the heart and get no time at all. 

     In response to the verdict, Al Sharpton had this to say in a statement posted on his Facebook page:

      “The acquittal of George Zimmerman is a slap in the face to the American people but it is only the first round in the pursuit of justice. We intend to ask the Department of Justice to move forward as they did in the Rodney King case and we will closely monitor the civil case against Mr. Zimmerman. I will convene an emergency call with preachers tonight to discuss next steps and I intend to head to Florida in the next few days."

     https://www.facebook.com/realsharpton/posts/10152974559095231

     Trayvon Martin's family are understandably heartbroken but being strong:

     "Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, who lost their son a few weeks after his 17th birthday, were not in the courtroom. In a statement released early Sunday morning, their attorney, Benjamin Crump, said the family was heartbroken, and that they thanked people around the world for their support.

“Trayvon Martin will forever remain in the annals of history next to Medgar Evers and Emmett Till,” he said, “as symbols for the fight for equal justice for all.”

     http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/us/george-zimmerman-verdict-trayvon-martin.html?hp&_r=0

      In the aftermath many feel that justice wasn't done but it still suggests are country is in a much better place than it was in the past-like during the 90s-that there have been no riots. There were peaceful protesters very disillusioned:

      "Outside the courthouse, perhaps a hundred protesters who had been gathering through the night, their numbers building as the hours passed, began pumping their fists in the air, waving placards and chanting “No justice, no peace!” Sheriff’s deputies lined up inside the courthouse, watching the crowd, who were chanting peacefully, but intently.

      "By 11:20, more than an hour after the verdict had been read, the crowd outside the courtroom had begun to dwindle; fists were no longer aloft, placards had come down."

     "Among the last of the protesters to leave the courthouse lawn was Mattie Aikens, 33, of Sanford. She had been standing outside since noon, holding a bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona watermelon drink, which Mr. Martin was carrying the night he was shot. More than an hour after the verdict, she was still shocked. “He should have went to prison,” she said. “He should have just got guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.”

     What explains this verdict? The verdict brings to mind other verdicts in very widely followed trials like the OJ Simpson trial were there is a large divide among the public on the question of justice and where many feel that justice was not done. 

     There are many things about the trial that can be questioned. For one thing, some legal experts argue that the Florida law made it a very high bar coming in that Zimmerman could be found guilty-with its very controversial Stand Your Ground law. 

     "The shooting brought attention to Florida’s expansive self-defense laws. The laws allow someone with a reasonable fear of great bodily harm or death to use lethal force, even if retreating from danger is an option. In court, the gunman is given the benefit of the doubt."

    Also the composition of the jury has garnered criticism. One thing that surprised me is that the jury only had 6 people on it-I thought jury's usually had 12 members. Evidently different states have their own number of jurors. 

    The fact that the jurors were 6 non Black women certainly raises eyebrows. So many don't feel justice was done last night. I certainly don't. Nevertheless, it is a fact that I and other folks weren't on that jury. We don't know what was and wasn't heard. 

    The way the legal system works, you can get the wrong verdict-based on the prospective innocence or guilt of the jurors-and still have a fair trial based on what was actually said in the court room. Part of the trouble is that Stand Your Ground is such a dubious law. As Jonathon Capeheart says, we don't have to like a verdcit to respect the process. 

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/07/13/we-must-respect-the-george-zimmerman-acquittal/

    In the OJ case, I also thought that justice wasn't done-that a man who had both abused and finally murdered his wife walked away. However, through both a civil trial-and then to be honest some very creative methods by law enforcement-OJ finally did pay the price. 

    As the Rev. Sharpton noted, the Justice Department also stepped in regarding the Rodney King case. So there remain avenues to see that Mr. Zimmerman not walk away wholly scot free. First of all, there is the civil trial remedy. 

   Then there is the Stand Your Ground law itself. At the least this law needs to be questioned anew. Let's keep the Martin family in our thoughts and prayers. May they have strength and find some level of closure  in some way.