Zimmerman: It was never about Trayvon Martin, it was about prosecution egos.

Prague, CZ
14 July 2013
Thomas Secrest

Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder because, for the careers of the prosecutors, successfully persecuting a charge of 2nd degree murder looks better on their resumes.

The event was simple and straight forward. It's history goes back as far as records. Two men entered into a life or death struggle on only one prevailed. The only real witness was a women listening on the other end of a cell phone call.

Everything that had shaped the life's if combatant came to bare in the moments before the conflict and were fair issues to be examined at the trial.

What was not a fair issue were the possible charges. The state, in the case Florida, has unlimited resources to prosecute a criminal case. Time, money and manpower offer no encumbrances and in most cases, even the judges are technically part of the state's justice apparatus. Any way you look at it, the cards favor the prosecution. The only real advantage for the defense is that the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that their version of the crime is the correct one.

Murder is defined as the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought.  
Second degree murder is the unlawful killing of another human being without premeditation or planning.

Once charged with second degree murder, the state was forced to prove that the killing was unlawful. It meant they had to have clear and persuasive evidence of the exact circumstances of a fight that no one saw.

Did Zimmerman break any laws? I think yes. Did he breaks laws that rise to the level of 2nd degree murder? I think not.

However, the temptation for the prosecution was too great. A young black man that looked like Obama's son, a half white/half Hispanic man, one armed with a gun - one not, a gated white community, racial profiling, vigilantism -- it was all too much red meat for those looking to advance their careers through a media show trail. They didn't give a damn about Martin, not until the media showed up. With the media's help, they became convinced that their unlimited resources could win the day even if the evidence couldn't.

If their egos hadn't gotten the best of them and the charges they had file had been fair and just, perhaps everyone would feel better about the outcome. Perhaps their could have been a trail regarding the issues that could be tested and evaluated and proven or disproven.

In this trail, I think the jury did the right thing. I think they were faced with a conclusion that they all  agreed with. They simply didn't have enough information, about what happened in that life or death struggle, to say if it was self-defense or unlawful killing. They weren't presented with a case in which they could come to a meaningful conclusion. In this case, I think NOT guilty means "we just don't know."

Those who assert that they know what REALLY happened are lying. The jury did only the fair and justice thing, considering the case they were given.

One final thought -- in this case the prosecutors more than likely knew they didn't have the evidence regarding self-defense or unlawful killing. However, as I have suggested, that probably wasn't their yardstick. Instead they evaluated the case as winnable, despite the lack of convincing evidence. It means that Florida state justice system was willing to send Zimmerman to prison, for a very long time, so that a few prosecutors could advance their careers. I find this horribly wrong.