Here it is...something for everyone.
However, in the end it was the case and not the prosecution that was demonstrably weak. The fact is that we had no better an idea of what happened that night at the end of this trial than we had at the end of that fateful night. Jurors dont make social judgments or guesses on verdicts. While many have criticized Zimmerman for following Martin, citizens are allowed to follow people in their neighborhood. That is not unlawful. It was also lawful for Zimmerman to be armed. The question comes down to who started the fight and whether Zimmerman was acting in self-defense.
There is also no evidence as to who threw the first punch or committed the first physical act in the struggle. A juror could not simply assume Zimmerman was the aggressor. Zimmerman was largely consistent in his accounts and his account was consistent with some witnesses. After 38 prosecution witnesses, there was nothing more than a call for the jury to assume the worst facts against Zimmerman without any objective piece of evidence. That is the opposite of the standard of a presumption of innocence in a criminal trial.
SEPARATING LAW AND LEGEND IN THE ZIMMERMAN VERDICT | JONATHAN TURLEY
This is from the blog of the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAYs board of contributors, Jonathan Turley.
I've been reading his contributions quite a bit during the trial, and I think he hit the nail directly on the head, especially his comment "Jurors dont make social judgments or guesses on verdicts".
You can believe what happened was right or wrong, moral or immoral, justified or not justifiable...but this case was about the law, and what could be proved.
We have a justice system that guarantees a presumption of innocence.
That means unless the prosecution could PROVE that Zimmerman was the aggressor, the jury must give him the benefit of the doubt.
And the prosecution couldn't, still can't nor could a federal prosecution prove who initiated the assault.
The evidence necessary to prove either Martin or Zimmerman were the initial aggressor does not exist.
Now, you can have the opinion that Zimmerman getting out of the car, or Zimmerman following, or Zimmerman observing makes him the aggressor, but that is not a fact.
None of those things make Zimmerman the aggressor.
Each of these actions is absolutely legal and more, a constitutionally protected right.
Since we will never know for sure who the initial aggressor was, we have to go to the next best thing...what we do know.
We know from eyewitness testimony that Martin was on top of Zimmerman.
We know that John Good came outside and said he was calling the police.
We know that Martin had zero injuries at this time.
We know that one of the participants was yelling for help and the other was NOT yelling for help.
We suspect it was Zimmerman yelling for help, due to John Good's testimony.
If Martin was NOT the aggressor, this was the time for him to stop punching and hold, announce it.
That didn't happen.
Had it, that would have been it...Martin would be alive today.
But it didn't, help arrived but Martin didn't stop, he continued to pummel Zimmerman.
Why?
If he was afraid of Zimmerman, he would have embraced reinforcements.
If he was the aggressor, he wanted to finish what he started.
Will we ever know for sure...probably not in this lifetime.
But was the verdict the correct one given the evidence.
Resoundingly yes.