Martin / Zimmerman

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer",
-- English jurist William Blackstone


I've been thinking about Zimmerman / Martin a lot.

I was a public defender for a long time and I am a staunch defender of the rights of all people (even those charged with crimes).  Unlike many, I can't get mad at the jury.  This case was difficult b/c legally, he was likely not guilty -- my criminal defense friends might even agree.  We were not in the courtroom every day.  We did not see every piece of evidence that the jury did.  We did not hear every witness.  Even if we did, they were charged with following the law.  I think they probably did that.  We might disagree with the law (and I might), but I can't disagree with the verdict.

This entry, though, is not a moral defense of what happened.  Clearly, Zimmerman's actions caused that boy's death.  If he stayed in the car, as he was ordered to do, Martin is alive.  As Jason Alexander wrote here, if Zimmerman does not have a gun, he probably doesn't follow Martin b/c he does not feel like he is invincible or something special.  He would have let the police do their jobs (this is not a commentary on guns).

This might have been race related and I am not naive enough to think that if  the races were reversed, he Zimmerman would still have not been convicted (stats bear that out). Zimmerman's idiot actions, though are not 2nd degree murder (or even manslaughter).

What is more disturbing to me  are the protests around the country related to Zimmerman.  I heard reports of dumpster fires, vandalism, assaults, throughout the country today related to the Zimmerman verdict.  Is that what we have become?  Rioting when something does not go your way?  Protesting for one victim, when there are hundreds of victims around the country?  Marching for a shooting in Sanford, FL, when there are shootings 3 blocks from where I sit?  Marching for Travon Martin, when there are children in STL (and ever city) not getting sufficient care at home, not getting sufficient eduction, and not getting sufficient nutrition to survive in this world (let alone prosper).

People should use this as a wake up call.  Not a wake up call regarding the value of black life or whether the criminal justice system works (I'd submit it does work and that is why the verdict was not guilty -- those jurors were not affected by the outside world -- they considered the evidence and acquitted).  This should be one of many wake up calls that there is a lot that needs to be fixed and we should get started getting some of that shit done.

Have a nice day and be easy

-- cp