A few thoughts about the George Zimmerman trial
Mood: thoughtful
Posted on 2013-07-15 10:52:00
Tags: essay
Words: 157

- "Not guilty" doesn't mean "he didn't do it", it means "the prosecution couldn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt". There really wasn't a ton of evidence at the trial, and obviously Trayvon Martin wasn't there to tell his side of the story.

- It sounds like the dominant narrative is something like: Zimmerman is wandering around the neighborhood, sees Martin who he thinks looks suspicious based on some sort of profiling (racial or otherwise), follows him and eventually confronts him. Then there's a fight and Zimmerman shoots Martin.

- While there's certainly an element of "self-defense" there, the fact that Zimmerman caused the confrontation (after being told not to by 911 dispatchers and, hopefully, common sense) makes me feel like he is somewhat culpable for Martin's death - if he hadn't confronted him, none of this would have happened. Manslaughter feels like an appropriate crime to charge him with.

I thought this was a pretty good take on the trial.

1 comment

Comment from spchampion:
2013-07-15T12:32:16+00:00
I thought this would have been an excellent use for the Scottish verdict, if we had such a thing in our legal system.

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