EVEN A JERK DESERVES A FAIR SHAKE FROM THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

The Trayvon Martin family claims that their angelic pot smoking son was attacked by George Zimmerman. On the other hand, Zimmerman claims that Martin attacked him and was pounding his head onto the pavement when, in fear of losing his life, he shot the young man.

For starters let me reiterate that Zimmerman is a jerk. It was stupid of him to get out of his car instead of waiting for the police to arrive. He was violating all the neighborhood watch guidelines by confronting a suspicious person and by being armed. But stupidity is not a criminal offense and even a jerk deserves a fair shake from the justice system.

Zimmerman is not getting a fair shake from the justice system. Let’s suppose that Zimmerman’s version is not true and that he was the aggressor in this case. That does not justify Martin’s pounding of Zimmerman’s head onto the pavement. And even if Zimmerman is a liar, he still deserves better than to have the state charge him with murder instead of manslaughter and the feds waiting to charge him with a hate crime carrying the death penalty, all in order to appease the Martin Family, Al Sharpton and his ilk, the black community and white liberal college students, and in order to head off the possibility of ‘Rodney King’ rioting.

The documents released by the Florida state attorney’s office appear to back up Zimmerman’s version of the Trayvon Martin shooting. But that doesn’t matter to those groups and individuals out for Zimmerman’s blood. Angela Corey, the special prosecutor, had all those documents before her when she chose to file second-degree murder charges in a case that, if a crime was indeed committed, did not merit any charges beyond manslaughter.

And there is no way that Zimmerman can get a fair trial what with jurors and their family members facing the prospect of receiving death threats, hate mail and the real possibility of being physically harmed should they vote for an acquittal.

Yes, Zimmerman broke the guidelines set by the police for neighborhood watch groups. Yes, it was stupid for Zimmerman to get out of his car when advised by a police dispatcher not to do so. Yes, Zimmerman is a jerk. But let me repeat: Even a jerk deserves a fair shake from the justice system. And Zimmerman is not getting that fair shake.