The George Zimmerman trial will be talked about for many years and will certainly be one of those stories for the history books. I have been asked by a number of people what I think about the Zimmerman verdict, and after much deliberation, my answer is that I really don’t know what to think. I agree with the scholars who opine that if the jury followed the law as given to them by the Judge (which they are required to do), there was not sufficient evidence presented by the prosecution to find him guilty of manslaughter or the murder charge.
It would take too long to address all of the nuances which support this conclusion but I believe that to be the correct conclusion. The burden is on the prosecution and they had a difficult case to prove. Even if Mr. Zimmerman was racially profiling and stalking Trayvon Martin, that does not mean that he should be found guilty of either offense charged.
Having said that, the thing I am having trouble with is the following. Trayvon, irrespective of the color of his skin was being stalked by someone who believed he had committed a crime based upon the way he looked and the color of his skin. He was only a 17 year-old boy. I could certainly have a child that age. If someone was stalking my child, the question becomes what would my child do in response. Could he go into a store and call the authorities. Probably. But could he also confront his stalker. Yes, he could. But for Mr. Zimmerman stalking him, the boy would still be alive. Mr. Zimmerman was wrong in how he handled the situation and a boy is dead as a result. As far as our jury goes, they were duty bound to follow the law and apply it to the evidence presented to them. I believe their decision was correct. I also believe that Mr. Zimmerman should face a consequence for what he did. While in a technical sense, it was his gun which ended Trayvon’s life, it was the way he stalked Trayvon after being told by the dispatcher that he did not have to follow him that led to Trayvon’s death. And for that there should be a consequence.
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