Is it something in the water there?

What is it with the Orlando area lately that seems to lend itself to national attention killings.  First we have Lightning's girl of his dreams, Casey Anthony, getting off on a murder charge.  Almost everyone thought she was guilty but she got off.  Lack of evidence killed that case.   But Lightning spoiled his chances with Casey when he brought his wife down with him in February.  Now there is George Zimmerman, who many people also believe is guilty of murder.  The problem is, I don't know what actually happened and neither does anyone else alive except for Mr Zimmerman. Did he do some things wrong? Obviously he did. The 911 dispatcher told him not to follow the kid yet he did. Still it was his "volunteer job" to be on the Crime Watch so as long as all he did was watch I don't see the issue. But somehow his following a kid he thought "suspicious" turned into the two of them fighting and one of them dead. I believe he has at least some culpability in this. He could have remained in his vehicle the entire time and waited for the cops. If the kid confronted him while he's in his car, he's still armed and he's delaying the kid while the cops are on the way. His leaving the car at some point is where everything gets confused. That opened the door for everything that followed. Did the kid attack him? Did the kid mouth off at him and pissed him off enough that he shot him? We don't know. And that is the gist of it. WE DON'T KNOW.

I don't know, the media doesn't know, the PQ doesn know, Lightning doesn't know, Al Sharpton doesn't know, and Jessie Jackson doesn't know. Does Zimmerman's story make some sense? Obviously it does or the cops would have arrested him that night. Though the pics in the media don't show the injuries, he apparently had been hit and had injuries consistent with it. Again, wiithout proof of something else, we have to take Zimmerman's word for it. For now. The cops are still sorting out the forensic and crime scene evidence to make that determination. The only thing we know for sure is the kid was not running away from Zimmerman like he was urged to do on the phone as he was shot in the chest, not the back. So Zimmerman's story makes sense from that angle. The cops may not necessarily believe his entire story but if they arrest him that night, then the clock starts ticking and there was not enough evidence, according the the state's attorney, to convict him. If he is arrested and his attorney refuses to waive the speedy trial rule (and why should he?), then the states attorney has limited time to put this case together with very little evidence. Not arresting him keeps the clock from ticking. They can arrest him next month, next year or 20 years from now, there is no statute of limitations on homicide. So this rush to arrest him is at best premature. And could damage the chance of actually convicting him.

I wonder if Misters Sharpton and Jackson remember the Duke University Lacrosse case. In that case, the prosecutor did rush to judgement and it turned out he was completely wrong. He is out of a job, the lacrosse season was lost, the kids were branded even though they were innocent, the girl is branded as a liar and the incident is a classic case of rush to judgement. In that case everybody lost. Except Al and Jessie, they just kept on doing what they do. When I see either of them step forward when a black person kills another black, or a hispanic or even a white guy, then I may listen to a word they say. Till then, I don't want to hear from either of them. I'm just glad this happened in near Orlando (again), and not here. If they were spouting off like this in my area and I had to deal with all that crap from them, all the protests and screams of "Arrest Zimmerman" I might have to stand my ground too.

So now here we all stand.  George Zimmerman and his family are being castigated.  If he is never charged they all have suffered damage to their names and reputations.   You have famous people all commenting on this like they KNOW what happened.  They don't know crap.  Even our President had to put in his two cents.  Really??  There's not enough going on out there that he has to chime on about a guy killing a kid and claiming self defense?  Why, because it was a black kid and a white/hispanic man?  What would he have said if it was a white man and a white kid?   This crap needs to stop.  Let the authorities do their jobs and stop grandstanding Al, Jessie, Obama, Congresscritters, Media, etc.   As I said earlier, arresting George Zimmerman when you basically have no case is absolutely foolish.  The speedy trial clock starts ticking and there is no way with the evidence they have that his attorney would waive his right to speedy trial.  Not only that, suppose they charge him with murder and it gets to trial and the states attorney realizes they have no chance of a murder conviction, that it looks like he could get him on involuntary manslaughter, he is stuck because once the speedy trial period has run, the prosecution cannot amend the charges.  And so Zimmerman walks because the jury won't convict him of murder and the prosecution can't charge him with a lesser crime.  Or the opposite.  They charge him with manslaughter now and someone comes forward 6 months later during the trial and gives them info that proves it was murder.  They cannot amend the charges to murder at that point.  Zimmerman spends 10 years in jail when he should be doing life. 

My final word is on the "stand your ground" law.  A lot of people have asserted how bad this law is when Zimmerman's attorney asserted his client was using it as his justification.  I think he's gonna have a hard time making that stick when his client ignored the 911 dispatcher's instructions to not follow young Mr Martin.  And he left his car.  Then again if he was jumped from behind as he asserts, he was on his back with a broken nose as he asserts, and fired in fear of his life as he assets, he may just get off.  But let's keep in mind that just because this is Florida, it doesn't mean the jurors will be stupid.  Yes Casey Anthony got off but based on all I saw, she should have.  Do I think she was involved in her baby's death?  YES.  Do I think the state was able to prove she was involved?  No they didn't and the proof was in the verdict.  If Mr Zimmerman is charged, the jurors will have an opportunity to weigh that evidence as well.  One final thing to consider is that recently a tow truck owner in Tampa was convicted of 3rd degree murder for firing into a car he had towed when a guy tried to drive it off.  He did it to protect himself and an employee he claimed but the evidence and the jury pointed to the fact that he was not in danger when he shot and now he is in prison.   Most jurors, outside of the OJ Simpson case, are not stupid.  They can tell the difference between a story and the turth.  Hopefully this time the truth comes out. 

PS  One thing that lends a least a little credence to Zimmerman's story in my opinion was that the cops were already on the way and arrived on the scene within 4-5 minutes at most from the time of the shooting.  Not much time to stage a scene, especially with other people calling the cops and such when they heard the screaming and the shot.  It is not known who was screaming.  But 4 or 5 minutes is an eternity if you're laying there with a bullet wound.  It's also an eternity if you're getting your head bashed into the ground.  By many accounts, Mr Zimmerman appears to be a cop wannabe but it is also true that his work helped solve and prevent a number of crimes in his neighborhood.  While many people have made up their minds about what happened, I think I'll wait until some actual evidence is presented before I make up my mind.