UPDATE: Zimmerman's brother, who has always struck me as a bit of a moron, went on CNN last night and called Trayvon Martin a "drug runner", amongst other things. Keep it classless, Zimmermans. Also, it has come to my attention that federal charges can still be brought based on the fact that racial profiling was the catalyst for the crime. I won't hold my breath but I certainly hope the case goes that route.
On the rainy evening of February 26, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin returned to his father's gated community in Sanford, Florida after having purchased some snacks at a local convenience store. At that same time, George Zimmerman, a twentysomething resident of the neighborhood, happened to be on his way to run an errand noticed someone wearing a hoodie and called the police department to report the person as "suspicious". He claimed the young man seemed to be on drugs and "looked" like he was up to no good. The dispatcher at the police department told the older man not to exit his vehicle or confront the individual in any way because help was on the way. But Zimmerman fancied himself a neighborhood watchman of sorts and chose to get out of his car and confront this "suspicious" person. What happened from that moment on is known only to two people. But several neighbors heard some sort of altercation, including someone repeatedly screaming, "Help", and called 911 to report it. By the time the police responded, George Zimmerman was bloodied and Trayvon Martin was dead. Zimmerman, a Hispanic-American, claimed self-defense, claiming he'd identified himself to Trayvon Martin, an African-American, as the neighborhood watchman. He claimed Trayvon, who was unarmed, had attacked him and that he'd had no choice but to shoot him in order to defend himself. The police took Zimmerman to the hospital where he was treated for two minor lacerations on his head and a bloody nose. Neither of these injuries required stitches or any significant medical attention. After five hours of questioning, the police decided that there was no reason to doubt Zimmerman's claim of self-defense, so he was released. That's when the story gained national prominence. Allegations of racial profiling and questions about why a teenager would allegedly attack someone he didn't even know flew. Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law, which allows a person to justifiably use self-defense when there is reasonable belief that they will be physically harmed, came under scrutiny. The police investigation was re-opened and Zimmerman did the media rounds with his attorney, changing his story on a few occasions, sometimes he had been familiar with the stand your ground law before the shooting, sometimes he hadn't heard of it until after the shooting. Zimmerman was ultimately charged with second-degree murder and went into hiding as he awaited trial. That trial began three weeks ago and ended tonight in a 'Not Guilty' verdict. And I' in disbelief about it all.
I first heard about this story when it gained national, and later international, prominence and I fell firmly on the side of Trayvon Martin. At first blush, this seemed to be a clear cut case of a man racially profiling someone and shooting them, end of story. A year and a half later, having learned all of the facts, I feel similarly. The prosecution chose not to bring the racial element into the trial, their case being that a wannabe cop decided to take the law into his own hands, confront someone he had no business confronting, attack him and then shoot him. Their evidence to support this was one of many 911 calls where the cries for help, believed by the prosecution to Trayvon, could be heard in the background, Trayvon's girlfriend's description of what she heard as she talked to him on the phone that night, and physical evidence that Zimmerman's life was never actually in danger. The defense, who were incredibly disrespectful towards the judge in this trial, claimed that Zimmerman was not the aggressor, but the victim and that he'd shot Trayvon only after he had been attacked by the teenager. Both sides used the same evidence, they just portrayed it in different lights. The defense claimed the screams for help were Zimmerman's, not Trayvon's, and that Martin had repeatedly slammed Zimmerman's head into the pavement. The way the defense portrayed it, Zimmerman didn't profile anybody, he simply asked this "suspicious" character what he was doing, Trayvon charged him for no reason and Zimmerman felt his life was in danger and had no choice but to shoot. They believed it was purely self-defense. Apparently the jury, made up of six women who were sequestered for the entire trial, agreed since they returned their verdict of 'Not Guilty' in just 16 hours.
I watched a good amount of the trial and I swayed back and forth as to what the outcome would be. My friends and I, all legal junkies, debated the case and each witness as if we had a stake in the outcome. As the prosecution concluded its case I found myself underwhelmed. It is their job to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt and I did not feel that they had proven a murder two charge, which at that time was the only charge Zimmerman was facing (manslaughter would also later be tacked on as a lesser charge). The State's medical examiner was one of the last witnesses and was a hot mess, admitting that he had not reviewed the case since he had conducted the original autopsy over a year ago. Many of the State's witnesses came off as if they had not been prepped beforehand which made their entire case seem like it was haphazardly put together. Almost like they had not had more than a year to prepare. The defense came off as cocky and called half a dozen witnesses to claim that it was Zimmerman's voice calling for help on the 911 tape, although none had ever heard him scream in such a manner before. The defense was, for lack of a better term, annoying. They interjected before witnesses were done answering a question, they bitched about minor crap to the judge, and they were disrespectful towards the judge often interjecting while she was in the middle of talking. But their medical examiner was a very good witness, a very personable guy who dumbed it down for the jury. The defense said it was absurd that such an obvious case of self-defense would even be brought to trial. I felt they did much more than they needed to since the State had not proven the murder charge to begin with. I didn't understand why the State didn't put up more of a fight. There were obvious facts that they never made light of. Zimmerman claimed his head was pounded into the pavement but Trayvon Martin's body was found far from the sidewalk, over on the grass. But no one mentioned that at trial. There were no obvious cuts or scrapes on Trayvon's hands, yet Zimmerman claimed he'd punched him in the nose. Never heard about that either. There were several "well if that's the case, then why does the evidence show otherwise" moments but none of them were pointed out by the prosecution. We kept wondering if they were saving all of this info for closing arguments but they still said nothing about it, and they badly needed all the help they could get after their parade of witnesses fell through. The defense did not win this case so much as the prosecution lost it.
Even though I believe the prosecution dropped the ball, I still am at a loss about the verdict because they did prove the manslaughter charge. Murder required the State the prove that Zimmerman acted with ill will, hatred or spite but manslaughter requires that they only prove two things; Trayvon Martin is dead and George Zimmerman intentionally committed an act or acts that caused that death. They did prove that, and today the jury asked for the definition of 'manslaughter' to be read back to them so obviously they were considering it. But I guess they didn't think the State proved it. Something else the prosecution did not point out was that the screams for help on that 911 call stop altogether as soon as the shot is fired. If it was Zimmerman screaming, why does he stop at that point? Zimmerman never explained why he pursued Trayvon Martin, other than when he told the police dispatcher that the "suspicious" person was a "fucking punk" who was walking slow and "looks like he's on drugs". How do you look like you're on drugs, especially from that distance? And why would someone walking in the rain while wearing a hoodie be considered a "punk"? Trayvon was on his cell phone talking to his girlfriend and walking home. Nothing suspicious about that.
To say that this was not racial profiling and that the verdict is not a statement about civil rights in this country is a lie. George Zimmerman wanted to be a cop but the closest he could get was to be a neighborhood watchmen, a rent-a-cop basically. He got out of his car because he thought he had more authority than he actually did. Would he have gotten out of that car, or even called the police, if Trayvon Martin was not African-American? I do not believe he would have. I think if Trayvon had been Hispanic or White or any other color in creation, he wouldn't have drawn two looks from Zimmerman and the rent-a-cop would have gone on about his night. No one would have been killed on that night if Trayvon Martin had not been African-American. This was racial profiling, plain and simple. However, I do not believe George Martin intended to shoot him at all. I think the most likely scenario is that Zimmerman left his vehicle and approached Trayvon and, not seeing any form of official identification or hearing Zimmerman identify himself, he refused to explain who he was or where he was going. I do not believe Trayvon attacked Zimmerman in any way. Maybe Zimmerman attempted to detain Trayvon or simply refused to let him go on into the neighborhood and they began to scuffle. I think they probably rolled around on the grass during the altercation, which explains how Zimmerman received his minor injuries. Two small cuts on the head are not at all consistent with being "slammed" into the concrete, it's more likely that he rolled onto a few small rocks on the grass and they just pierced the skin. Maybe at some point Trayvon did pin Zimmerman down and that's when he pulled the gun and fired. They are the only ones who know the actual series of events and one of them is unable to speak. The other one, I believe, has twisted his story to his own benefit and will probably never tell the truth, although he can never be prosecuted for the crime again. Regardless of how things unfolded, none of it ever happens if George Martin stays in his car as he is instructed to by law enforcement. He IS responsible for the death and should have been convicted of manslaughter. But what's done is done now.
This case has been interesting. I know people who are on Trayvon's side and people who are on Zimmerman's side but the one thing everyone has in common is how vehemently they believe in their cause. There seems to be no middle ground in this case for anyone who has followed it. A few polls of the nation seem to suggest the same thing as they're all 50/50 about whether or not the jury got it right. As the parent of an African-American child, it's upsetting that no one will be held accountable for a death that would not have happened if race were not such a big deal in this country. It could very easily be my kid who is walking down the street and is harassed or, god forbid, killed because someone doesn't like the way she looks. People like to pretend that race is no longer an issue just because we elected a minority President, but it's as much of an issue as it's ever been, if not more. This case became the national story it is because of race. If Zimmerman shot a Hispanic kid or a white kid, the media would not have cared. And had he shot either of those races and just had the exact same trial with the exact same evidence, I bet you money he would have been convicted. But the fact that he shot and killed someone of another color made everything in this case polarizing from the start. No one wants to touch something so racially charged. After hearing the verdict tonight, I felt similarly to how I did when the Casey Anthony verdict came down. Shocked and upset. I followed the Anthony case religiously from the very beginning and it has some things in common with this case. They're both Florida cases and both, I believe, had prosecutions that overcharged their defendants. The Anthony prosecutors, although much better at their job than the Martin prosecutors, could never have proven the first degree murder that was their first charge, anymore than the Martin group could prove second degree murder in their case. When you overcharge and THEN tack on lesser charges, you are asking for trouble. Also, in both cases the lesser charges were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, yet both defendants were acquitted. I believe it's possible that the Martin jury did not see manslaughter but the Anthony jury had to have had something else going on that caused them to acquit her (ie. they thought they'd get a bigger payday with a controversial verdict, or something else to that effect. Or they might actually all be that stupid, who knows.). But is Florida ever becoming the place to commit murder, of any kind, and get off scott free. Something in the water, maybe. The other thing both cases have in common is that they became more about the accused than the victim in the end. At a press conference after the verdict tonight, one of Zimmerman's lawyers actually said, "This trial was always about George Zimmerman" and I wanted to reach through the TV and clock him. That was the problem. The case was all about Zimmerman when it should have been all about Trayvon Martin.
