Mark O’Mara told us yesterday to calm down. Yet as a motorcade raced down a Florida freeway with George Zimmerman in tow, towards the Seminole County jail, the public is anything but calm. Finally, a Florida special prosecutor, Angela B. Corey, has charged George Zimmerman with something substantial, 2nd-degree murder.
A new mug shot of Zimmerman must have been obtained by media services late last night. I share it with you here. Several emotionally charged news conferences wax the tumultuous events of the past 45 days as a snapshot in time; a pivotal point in a roller coaster ride of injustice where Zimmerman’s chance freedom has ultimately been reversed.
While a formal arraignment and indictment of George Zimmerman is still in the works, one can nonetheless assume that Angela Corey, by way of her investigation of the incomplete evidence that was available (the question of what was permanently lost is a crucial one), had enough to arrest George and proceed in charging him with 2nd-degree murder. With Florida law as it stands, this means that prosecutors won’t have to show premeditation, but only that George shot Trayvon when possessed with ‘a depraved mind regardless of human life.’
Overwhelming jubilation swept over Trayvon Martin’s supporters (the world over), as the announcement of Zimmerman’s arrest and the posting of most serious charges hit the newswire. I could feel the collective sigh of relief oozing out of my HD TV set, and especially from the news conference with Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, and an accompanying retinue of legal and political figures who have a good amount of clout. The community had to work very hard, and cry out about the injustice, to get this arrest.
This takes the case up to a dividing point in a sequence of events, charged with electric volatility, and to use a familiar analogy of football, it feels like the halftime. It’s time now for the legal proceedings, which one can’t doubt, will run its course through a jury trial, the likes of which we haven’t seen since say O. J. Simpson. Probably even bigger, when we factor in social media, smart phones, iPhones, and by then, interactive Apple TV.
Yea, Mark O’Mara, George Zimmerman’s newly appointed attorney, urged the public to chill out somewhat at his very wisely conducted news conference yesterday. But we wonder if this ‘public placidity’ is even possible? I suppose, as the case gets good and bogged down in the courts, people will begin to mellow out, pull back, then attempt to look at the events of the 26th of February, at the retreat at Twin Lakes townhouses in Sanford, Fl., with objectivity and abstraction. Then again, maybe not?
The reason for me extending the wrench into the spokes (of justice) like this, is I don’t believe the Sanford police did a very good job of preserving the original crime scene. I’m not so sure they had originally even believed a crime had taken place at all! In fact, I doubt they thought any murder had occurred. The Sanford police just thought George had eliminated another bad punk, potential burglar (wearing a mandatory M.O. hoodie), and had simply done the community a service.
Fortunately, a good deal of audio evidence was preserved, such as the 911 tapes. There were actual eye-witnesses also whose identities are properly sequestered from a volatile public, who cannot be allowed to interfere with them in any way. One woman was looking out her townhouse window and saw the entire incident. What she saw, coupled with the audio evidence, may allow the prosecution to reconstruct the puzzling ruckus with a modicum of accuracy.
*(Take your pick on what news stories you should read. If you have the time, please read as many as you can!)
Fla. prosecutor at center of Trayvon Martin case known for delicacy with victim’s families – The Washington Post
