Maybe this verdict was “as good as it gets …” per justice.
Zimmerman: Not guilty. Free. Still getting death threats though. Made bail he could barely afford. Had bail his $150,000 revoked and a $1 milliion dollar bail put on him after political pressure was brought. A defense fund raised bail money for him. His wife gets asked about it, says she doesn’t have the money (technically … is this true or not?) but when George again makes bail, threats of her being prosecuted for perjury rise up.
So Zimmerman suffered with a cloud over his head when it looked like local law enforcement wasn’t going to prosecute him because they didn’t have a winnable case. The “new” prosecutors bring in a vastly expanded charge - and lost. Their fall back position … manslaughter, in Florida, could have had Zimmerman in jail for 30 years. They did not even try a lesser charge that they might have won.
But Treyvon Martin is dead, a firearm was discharged and if the case was big (if not valid) it may serve to curb the excess zeal of Neighborhood Watch volunteers who pack guns.
And kids may also re-consider the “coolness” of the gang-banger look, which is more dangerous in the proximity of actual gang-bangers if one is (say) wearing the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood.
Had Treyvon Martin been shot by a kid (or an adult of Zimmerman’s age) of his own ethnicity … is this even a story? Would the wounds on the shooters head be seen as justification for self defense THEN … and any prosecution be seen as racist?
And would this all be worse if George Zimmerman looked a lot “whiter” and didn’t have a hispanic ethnicity himself?
Had Zimmerman been found guilty of murder two would the press be running to any outraged hispanics they could find to prove that “America is racist” anyway?
It is almost surprising some radical hispanic group hasn’t taken up the cause and started crying “lynch mob” as it appeared outside forces were brought to bear on law enforcement (the city Chief of Police in Sanford was forced from his job - when it appears now he did nothing wrong, especially since the superzealous people who wrested the case from him have come up empty.
And in the story before the story the mainstream media has ramped up the possibilities of race riots once the verdict would come down. And any incident anywhere that claims a connection to the case makes page 1 or leads the broadcast.
Meanwhile they get to run their messages again about racial injustice, gun control, etc. etc.
So now Eric Holder gives an “it’s not over …” kind of speech that promises to revise history with the power of his office soon.
And the office has substantial powers. Holder has not approached the heavy handed hubris of Janet Reno so far, but an all out full court press on George Zimmerman might be the biggest insult to hispanics since the “Justice Department” flexed its muscles and showed Elian Gonzales’ relatives a thing or two.
http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2013/04/19/RTXYSLQ/large.jpg
youtube.com/watch?v=AgaacrxsS4c < The entire clip is accompanied by a graphic that says “rescued Elian”. While the reference should be to Donato Dalrymple the man who plucked the drowning boy from the sea - the incident led by Reno’s heavily armed troops seems to get the benefit, as if their home invasion were a “rescue”.
I will always remember Dalrymple’s speech here, even as MSNBC’s reporter repeatedly tries to get him to take blame for the incident or help them spin and justify what happened.
Holder will have quite a ways to go to beat this kind of treatment of an innocent person who is in the way of an administration goal. But he should do nothing. Interestingly Holder’s boss, the POTUS, is making “it’s over” kind of speeches now … so between them, they seem to have every angle covered.
Totally agree. One death is bad enough, we don’t need any more.