Bob wrote:Disagree with you on all counts.
I didn't say the prosecution did anything wrong or anything other than their job. I said the prosecution failed. The prosecution did not get a conviction. That's not my idea of success.
I saw reasonable doubt too - on the murder charge. I saw none on the manslaughter charge. While the legal analysts might be absolutely right, I have my own opinions too. If I was on the jury I would have wanted to convict on the manslaughter charge. The jury had to reach their decision without the presence of legal analysts in the room with them. I've also seen credible legal analysts on the news shows saying the jury was wrong. As far as I can tell, the legal analysts are split down the middle.
I said the system failed because the only options for the jury were to convict on murder charges, manslaughter charges or acquit. I think they should have had lesser charge options too, but they had no such options. That's why I think the system failed. Self defense or not, there would have been nothing to self defend about if Zimmerman had done what he was supposed to do in the first place. He had no business confronting Trayvon Martin at all. He wasn't a police officer, wore no uniform, and even he makes no claim to have identified himself as some sort of official when he initially confronted Trayvon Martin. From Trayvon Martin's point of view, he had no reason to think anything other than some jerk was trying to harass him and then cause God-knows-what kind of trouble. Zimmerman initiated the trouble, not Trayvon Martin. When a Neighborhood Watch person sees someone suspicious, he's supposed to call the police and let them handle it. He was even instructed by the police not to follow or leave his car. He did anyway. If Zimmerman had done what he was supposed to do and had listened to the instructions of the police, then nobody would have ever heard of Zimmerman or Trayvon Martin.
One thing nobody is disputing is that Trayvon Martin was doing absolutely nothing wrong. He was completely unarmed and merely walking home, but ended up dead at the hands of Zimmerman. The fact that Zimmerman got to just walk out of the courtroom door tells me that something is really wrong.
I also think it is a failure of the system in that state and federal charges don't have to be tried under one umbrella. While I disagree with the jury in this case, I don't think it's right for federal charges to be filed later and Zimmerman could end up, and probably will end up, being tried again for the same incident. I think the system should get one shot at a defendant and that's all. And I think that should include lawsuits or the defendant could end up tried a third time. I think Zimmerman should have been found guilty on the manslaughter charge, but since he wasn't, I think that should be the end of it.