State v. George Zimmerman

I have been asked about the Zimmerman trial a lot.  Not because I know more than anybody else regarding the facts, but because I am a prosecutor.  But I’m also a mom.  And I’m also a human. 

And the case breaks my heart.

As a prosecutor, I knew this would be the verdict.  Not because I think our system is corrupt.  I love our system.  The justice system is imperfect, as is our society, but in a democracy we must have trial by jury.  Otherwise, one person will be judge, jury and executioner.  And that is dangerous.  And would result in many opinions much worse than what happened in Florida.

So why did I know this would happen?  Because “beyond a reasonable doubt” is a ridiculously high burden to meet.  We need to have that high burden to ensure that innocent people do not lose their liberties.  However, I also think that in cases like this…the high burden results in the wrong decision. 

To explain myself, I have personally been involved in very difficult “no charging” meetings. In many instances, prosecutors must tell victims “we can’t file charges in your case”.  Otherwise stated, we must tell them we know what happened, but we can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.  We get the reasoning.  Our investigators get the reasoning.  But the victim who knows it happened?  How can they ever understand it?  They can’t.  And that’s what makes the meeting so difficult.

Am I saying that the Zimmerman case should have never been charged?  Absolutely not.  I don’t know all the facts in the case, and I haven’t read the reports and talked to witnesses.  There’s nothing that annoys me more than people not involved in a case telling those involved what should happen.  You know the types.  The anonymous commentators on the Rapid City Journal, or the individuals loudly talking in the hallway about how so-and-so doesn’t know what they’re doing.  Or the Facebook posters saying things like “I know what happened, and the jury must decide………or they are morons.”  Well, actually…you don’t know.  Thanks.

So when I say this is my opinion, I am not Monday Morning Quarterbacking, and I am not smack talking any parties.  Because I am well aware that I am a citizen that lives in Rapid City, South Dakota.  I was not involved in the trial, and I don’t know the intricacies of what went on…both on the day Martin died, and throughout the days of the investigation, preparation and trial of Zimmerman.

And when I say my opinion, I am well aware that it is based on what certain media outlets chose to report.  And certain outlets (I am talking to you, Fox News and MSNBC) presented their “unbiased journalism” either for or against Zimmerman. That’s another blog post entirely, and I’m not going down that road.

So here is what I have to say:

What George Zimmerman did was wrong.  He profiled a child based on his physical appearance.  He was a wanna-be cop who had a history of calling the non-emergency number to dispatch to report suspicious people.  Or as he called Martin one of several “fucking punks”.

What if Trayvon Martin was walking back to a house with skittles and a juice drink?  What if that’s all that he did?

What if he started to run because he was being followed?  Stalked? Profiled?

What if he was scared?

Or, what if he turned around and told Zimmerman to fuck off?  Although rude, it’s not illegal.

And what if Zimmerman, the wanna-be cop, decided he needed to teach a mouthy kid a lesson?

And what if he attacked first? (after ignoring instructions from a dispatcher to wait for a law enforcement officer)

And what if Martin defended himself?

And what if he got the upper hand?

So Zimmerman can now argue self-defense because the person using self-defense got the upper hand on him?

And what if the only thing Martin did was scream “help”?

But what if that was Zimmerman who yelled “help” after Martin defended himself?

That’s a lot of what ifs.  And what ifs poke giant holes “beyond a reasonable doubt”.  Therein lies the problem in this case.  That’s why I believed the verdict would go this way.  There were too many what ifs, and the prosecution couldn’t answer them.

The only person who knows what actually happened is Zimmerman.  A man who called non-emergency dispatch regularly, who grouped young people into “fucking punks”, who gained 100 pounds on his muscular physique before trial and who connived with his wife to speak in code about hidden money for bail and legal defense while incarcerated and waiting for trial.

But was he a victim?  I don’t see him in that manner at all.  I think he created the situation.

So did the jury get it right?  Based on how the evidence was presented to them, I think they came to the only verdict that they could.  There was too much doubt and unanswered questions.  And that makes me sad.  And I get why people are angry about it.

Do I understand this anger?  No, I personally don’t.  And I never will.  Because when my two young sons go outside to walk down the street to get ice cream, visit their friends or go play to the park, they will always just be wearing hoodies.  And they will get to their destination.

And the fact that I have friends who worry that their sons might not, because of how they look, really makes me sick.