I keep seeing these articles from the right about how appalling the whole Trayvon Martin case is because people are “politicizing” it, or “jumping to conclusions,” or assuming a racist motive. I find it all crushingly boring. At its simplest, this case is about a boy who was minding his own business and lost his life. But it’s also about the man who killed him and remains free. Why is he free? Is it because the police believed his story? No, the lead investigator recommended charging him with manslaughter. Is it because of the Florida Stand Your Ground law? The chief of police claimed that the same day his department asked the prosecutor to bring charges. Plus, the law doesn’t seem to apply to the facts in this case. The Stand Your Ground law would not appear to have anything to do with why Zimmerman wasn’t charged. Is he free because witness testimony backs up his story? Not that I can tell. Other than officer Tim Smith’s police report, I haven’t seen any witness testimony that backs up his story.
For some unknown reason, this man killed someone and was not charged with a crime. We know the state prosecutor made the call, and then recused himself from the case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. But we don’t know what that conflict might be. Did he know Zimmerman’s father? Did they talk to each other the night of the incident? We don’t know.
But it isn’t appalling that people think this poor unfortunate boy’s death should be adjudicated. By all means, let Zimmerman bring forth any evidence he can to sustain his claim that he was attacked, injured, and fearful for his life. Let him prove that he received medical care, that his head had a wound so bad it ordinarily would need stitches, and that his nose was broken. He can bring forth the medical records his family says will back up his case. He can bring forth the fire department medic who supposedly tended to his wounds.
But none of these witnesses can be compelled to speak up until there is an arrest, charges are brought, and there is a discovery process.
That’s all people want. Zimmerman killed a boy. Let him explain why he had to do that to a jury of his peers. And let’s have another investigation into why the state prosecutor did not bring charges and find out why he had a conflict of interest in the case.
Is that so hard? Do we have to inject all kinds of irrelevant crap into this case?
