Sunday, July 14, 2013

Zimmerman NOT Guilty


On February 26, 2012 George Zimmerman (then 28) shot and killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin an unarmed African-American teenager who was minding his business walking home from the store. On July 13, 2013 Zimmerman was found not guilty by a jury of his peers, six white women.

The reality is Zimmerman was long preparing for a showdown. He had been Mixed Martial Arts training for 18 months; he was enrolled in criminal justice classes. His best buds in law enforcement advised him. He was carrying a concealed weapon.

George Zimmerman is the best example of a person who should never have a gun permit. A person who sees bad guys at every turn. A person who places himself in a position of pseudo authority, in his case the Neighborhood Watch captain, which he thought gave him the right to lord over others. A person who goes to Target to get groceries on a Sunday evening strapped with a Kel Tec 9mm handgun. He had to carry a gun, as he never knew when he would run into those “fucking punks”.

In what common sense would see as an open and shut case of guilt on Zimmerman’s part, in the world of criminal justice it is not quite that simple.  The world of criminal justice relies heavily in interpretation. The interpretation of laws, the interpretation of words, the interpretation of evidence. It relies on stacking the jury with people who lawyers think they can convince to see things their way. It relies on money, in having enough to buy expert witnesses to come in and testify to your version of events. It also relies heavily on its ace on the hole “beyond a reasonable doubt”.

These types of trials are often not about justice, forget who wins or loses. They are not about the little people, those being the victims and/or the defendants. Once they reach the world stage they become career boosters for the attorneys involved, the judges, the TV news anchors and the so-called experts who are the guests on their shows. They are about the forthcoming movie and books deals (Zimmerman’s friend Mark Osterman penned his book early), celebrity appearances and making money.

Trayvon Martin’s parents have been a model on how one might carry themselves publically through unspeakable tragedy. They are not “street people” you know, the seemingly ignorant ones that everyone can comfortably say “they had it coming”. Trayvon’s mother Sabrina Fulton has been employed 24 years with Miami Dade-County. She is a college graduate, married to Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s dad at the time of his birth.  Tracy Martin is a truck driver. They were a tight family unit. Both mother and father actually lived near each other in Miami. Martin Sr. was visiting his fiancée in Sanford and Trayvon was with him because he was suspended from school.  I can only imagine the little road trip was to give Trayvon some father/son “get your act together kid” time.  

As of now there was no way of knowing if any further remedy will be sought regarding justice for Trayvon Martin or punishment for George Zimmerman. Today we know that Zimmerman was found not guilty and is a free man. Today he is free to roam the streets again, free to carry his concealed weapon.

In reality Zimmerman will never be a free man again. Soon enough the financial support will stop, his wife will divorce him. He will spend the rest of his life a pariah, an embarrassment to his people, to his judge father, to those same peers that once had his back. They will soon find association with “Georgie” uncomfortable once the blinding lights of the media are turned off and reality sets in. After all, who wants a dinner guest with blood on his hands from killing an innocent kid?