"Justice for Trayvon" is the rallying cry for those demanding George Zimmerman's immediate arrest in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Yet forgotten in the rush to punish Zimmerman are the components of true justice: a presumption of innocence, dispassionate evaluation of the evidence, due process and color-blindness. Justice means justice for all, and that means both Martin and Zimmerman.
New evidence continues to complicate a case that the media initially portrayed as clear-cut, turning many Americans against Zimmerman. Let's survey the snags, not to discredit Martin's family's account but to illustrate just how little we know with certainty about Martin's death.
Did Zimmerman racially profile Martin in judging him "suspicious"? Here the distinction between racial profiling and holistic profiling is relevant. Zimmerman's friend Frank Taaffe said young black males had committed a string of recent robberies in the diverse neighborhood. Let's assume that is true. If Martin fit the profile of these specific suspects, was unfamiliar in the neighborhood, and was acting strangely in Zimmerman's mind by walking behind houses, then Zimmerman's judgment was appropriate. It remains uncertain whether Zimmerman, mentor to two black children, uttered a racial slur in his 911 call.
Although Zimmerman made a poor judgment in following Martin, it isn't clear that he wanted a confrontation. Zimmerman's father said his son was only trying to follow Martin until he could locate an address to give police.
Who started the confrontation is also unclear. Martin's family says Zimmerman caught up with, confronted and attacked Martin. Zimmerman's family says that after Zimmerman lost sight of Martin and turned back towards his vehicle, Martin confronted and attacked Zimmerman, breaking his nose and repeatedly smashing his head into the concrete. They say that Zimmerman only drew his weapon and shot Martin after Martin saw Zimmerman's gun in his waistband and verbally threatened Zimmerman's life.
Many claimed police video of Zimmerman that night revealed no clear injuries. Zimmerman, however, had already received first aid and the police report shows that he was bleeding from the nose and the back of his head when police arrived. ABC News recently enhanced the police video to reveal what ABC's Matt Gutman says appear to be "a pair of gashes or welts" on the back of Zimmerman's head. The medical records are not yet released.
There are three eyewitnesses in the case; two corroborate Zimmerman's account. One says he saw Zimmerman, below Martin, crying for help while Martin beat him. Austin Brown, a black teenager, says he saw Zimmerman on the ground "moaning and crying for help." Brown's mother has since said police pressured him into giving more information than he remembered, but he repeated the claim afterwards. She may simply be concerned that her son will suffer backlash like Joe Oliver, a black supporter of Zimmerman, who says he has a "target on my back."A third eyewitness says it was too dark to tell who was who.
Only non-eyewitnesses to the scuffle have corroborated Martin's family's account, but two voice identification experts said the screams in a 911 call during the incident are not Zimmerman's.
Media coverage has favored Martin through selective images, descriptions and context. Many simply reported that Zimmerman "confronted" and "gunned down" an unarmed black teenager. For weeks, old photos of a much younger, smiling Martin were shown beside a mug shot of a much heavier, stony-faced Zimmerman. Few reported that Martin was several inches taller than Zimmerman. Zimmerman's reported weight is outdated; he actually only weighs 170 pounds to Martin's 160, according to Oliver. Zimmerman was labeled "white Hispanic," an unusual term helpful to the racial profiling narrative. Few corrected early reports that vastly overstated the frequency of Zimmerman's 911 calls.
Zimmerman's criminal history was reported quickly, but we only recently learned that Martin was repeatedly suspended from school, including for graffiti; was found with 12 pieces of women's jewelry (which he said belonged to a friend he couldn't name) and a screwdriver (a possible burglary tool) in his backpack; or that he might have punched a bus driver. The Martin family's attorney said Trayvon's past was "irrelevant," yet has highlighted Zimmerman's criminal history.
Most recently, NBC ran an edited version of Zimmerman's 911 call that made it appear that Zimmerman volunteered that Martin was black without being asked, when in reality the 911 dispatcher asked Zimmerman to give the race of the "suspicious person" he was calling about. NBC has since admitted it made an error.
This is a very murky case and we still don't know all the facts. More will be released to the upcoming grand jury that will decide whether or not to indict Zimmerman. If the protests and media spotlight forced the Sanford police department to improve a possibly shoddy initial investigation, great. Now we need to be patient and let the judicial system work.
This post originally appeared in The Harvard Crimson
Follow Wyatt Troia on Twitter: www.twitter.com/wyatttroia
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Amazing, the demonstrations at police headquarters (or any where else) will not do a damn thing!! Why? Because the alledged shooter did NOT break the law. If he had he would have been arrested by now!!! Florida law allows the use of deadly force if one feels their life is in jeapardy. If the parents of Martin and all the people who demonstrate want to do something.....get that law changed!!! However understand that if the law was changed tomorrow, they still could not arrest Mr. Zimmerman because it was legal at the time of the incident. If he would be charged and go to trial, they will have a very difficult time getting guilty from the jury. Those who say they will "demonstrate until justice is served" will be holding those picket signs for a VERY long time. Get the law changed so this does not happen again. This is NOT rocket science. Maybe people did not pay attention during Social Study class in school.
How the author of this even thinks he has a valid position on this case, is beyond me.
Justice for Zimmerman? are you serious? And look at all your sources...very laughable, quoting faceless people to substantiate your claims. In what court room will this nonsense hold water? none. If you are going to say something as ludicrous as justice for Zimmerman, at least do the world a favor and bring up some hard evidence instead of the rubbish you regurgitated from Fox or the conservative media. I'm just frustrated that I cannot successfully attack your points without going off the character limit because this is a very terrible piece you have done and it says a lot about the kind of human being you are.
The simple fact of the matter, is that Zimmermann may have "murdered" Brown--but the evidence released so far, does NOT prove that beyond a reasonable doubt.
If this shooting went down as Zimmerman described (Martin beating him, Zimmerman on the bottom, etc.), there should be some physical evidence on the front of Zimmerman's shirt, such as Martin's blood (either drops or blowback). Instead, there is nothing, unless, of course, the Sanford Police allowed Zimmerman to change his clothes in the 34 minutes between the shooting and his appearance at the police station.
The point is that the Sanford Police Department tried to sweep this shooting under the rug, under the guise of "stand your ground" when it is very possible that the one standing his ground was actually Treyvon Martin, not George Zimmerman.
What everyone wants is an open and honest investigation of the facts, not lawyers appearing on television, not second hand (and racist) accounts by his ex-judge father, not columnists' and politicians' assumptions. The problem with doing things by committee, excuse me, grand jury, is that justice delayed is often justice denied.
Now, no matter what facts are found people will either use it to "prove" Z was a murderer. But any facts that prove his innocence is discredited. That's wrong as heck. Innocence is not gauged by popularity.
I was one of the hate Zimmerman's too, then I did some research and my opinion is changed. i blame the SYG law. What made this case so wrong is the race card. It should have never been brought up and has made this into some monster.
The truth will come and I don't think people will accept even that. A jury could find him innocent, but no one will care. That shows a serious problem in all of "us"
Maybe you are right, maybe Zimmerman is innocent. But can you possibly claim that he is so clearly innocent that he shouldn't even be indicted for questioning? This is normal police procedure in your tiny years of life experience?
And then you decry him being tried in the public forum, and yet you use the facts that you have heard to draw opinions about the case..Martin was bigger than the photos, witnesses say Martin attacked him...Do you know these to be facts or are you just going by what you have read Wyatt?
The biggest mystery of all in this case however seems to be why in the world a major media outlet would allow you to write an opinion about this subject, as if anything you have written carries any specific merit at all. Its a childish, un-scholastic piece of junk. I guess Harvard ain't what it used to be.
Z was questioned that night and told his story. If you think him being under oath would make a significant difference, then that will happen if he is indicted this week. Though this article only focuses on identifying the facts available about that night's incident and those involved, the larger problem is Stand Your Ground. Even if Z turns out to have been using justified self-defense (as defined in any state), SYG in Florida has been a disaster and should be reevaluated. If it protects Z from anything but the highest scrutiny, which anyone who shoots another person dead should receive, then that's wrong and yet another reason to revise or repeal it.
Please tell me where I drew an opinion about the case. I drew no opinions about what happened that night. I presented the known facts and both sides of the story. It's up to the reader to decide who to believe or, what may be better, to reserve judgment about what happened that night until we know more.
Every fact I presented is linked to a credible news source. So they're about as close to certain facts as any of us who weren't involved in this case can get. If you don't trust organizations like ABC, CNN, and Time, that's fine. But unless you were there when Martin was killed you are getting your own facts from other media organizations, and your criticism applies to yourself as well.
how old was trayvon on the night of his death ?
a fair and simple response is listing his age
i am not expecting comments other than his age.
There are much better sources with better comments from both sides on the web. You will learn about Trayvon's thuggish tweets, facebook and youtube pages and much critical evidence analysis. For example, Martin could have easily reached the condo where he was staying but most probably doubled back to confront Zimmerman. One blog that is quite good is at waglist.com.
Let me ask you something Ricky J, and even if you can't be honest with me, maybe you'll be honest with yourself. When in this country did we start taking the word of a suspect as enough to clear them and suspend any investigation? I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you're smart enough to realize why it is that police never believe a suspects story until they've done a proper investigation and reached their own conclusions.
The lead investigator didn't believe him, wanted to arrest him, and was barred from doing so. It does not appear that much of investigation occurred beyond the first night. They didn't even bother to locate his parents when they had his cell phone.
That's the outrage. This kid was treated like he was completely disposable.
On the other hand, the source for your opinion about what the lead investigator wanted to do comes from Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, and has not been confirmed by Serino or any official document.
You do make a valid point that there is a seeming case of poor police work in not using the cell phone to try to identify the shooting victim. Equally mysterious to me is the father's failure to report his son missing for three days after the incident.
Not any more.... CNNs investigation reveals he said Cold. Another nail in the coffin for msnbc
It's also human nature to get freaked out if someone' gets out of their car and starts chasing when you're walking home at night.
But if you prefer to make unsubstantiated ad hominem attacks and shut down discussion, I won't be sorry to see you go. You are the one turning this opportunity for learning from each other into a hostile forum. For future reference, you should at least Google your insults so that you know how to use them before posting. Racists usually don't have "white guilt."