Big Red Car here.  Been watching the Sunday morning shows today.  Wow!

I wonder what trial these guys were watching because it was apparently not the trial of George Zimmerman which resulted in a NOT GUILTY verdict.

Let’s be honest here

While I am pretty sure that Trayvon Martin is not going to be immediately canonized, perhaps with time his involvement with drugs, guns, crime will be overlooked.  Who am I to say?  Choir boy?  Well, uhhh, not so much.

There was a trial and the government had sufficient time and resources to prepare its case.  A jury found George Zimmerman NOT GUILTY in less than two full days of deliberation indicating it was not a very tough decision.

The case against George Zimmerman

The government had ample opportunity and resources to prepare its case.  They developed a theory that supposedly supported a charge of second degree murder under Florida law.

They knew the requisite proofs of such a charge.

They identified their witnesses, marshaled their physical evidence and supposedly matched their testimony and evidence to meet the requisite proofs of the charge of second degree murder.

One has to suppose that some supervisor oversaw this process and checked off each and every requisite proof of second degree and said — “OK, this witness will get us this one.  This piece of evidence will get us that one.  Looks like we can get them all in front of a jury.  We should be able to meet our burden of proof.  Let’s go pick a jury and try our case.”

As it turned out, some of the prosecution witnesses provided incredibly powerful testimony and evidence for the………………………………………DEFENSE.

The prosecution did not come close to proving its case.  Did not know the testimony of its own witnesses.  Embarrassed themselves really.

Why was this case ever brought in the first place?

The greatest power and burden of a prosecutor is the decision to undertake any case.  The prosecutor must look at the facts, testimony and evidence and decide — “Can we meet our burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that a second degree murder was committed here by George Zimmerman?”  This is called prosecutorial discretion and it is the last step before launching into a case.  Can we prove the charges or not?  Can we meet our burden?

What is obvious, in retrospect, is that this burden was not met and a reasonably talented prosecutor — and her supervisor — should have been able to ascertain that awkward fact long before trial.  The prosecution could not carry this burden — beyond a reasonable doubt.  It did not carry this burden and it was not even close.

One of the prosecution witnesses said that Trayvon Martin was on top of George Zimmerman engaging in a MMA “ground and pound” thrashing.  Wow, that is not very good testimony for the prosecution, right, Big Red Car?  Right, Grasshopper, that is very good testimony for the defense.

Somebody should have yelled “calf rope” long before that awkward testimony ever saw the light of day.

Verdicts

Juries do not render innocent verdicts.  They render guilty or not guilty verdicts.

Is George Zimmerman innocent?  That is an unanswered question.

Was George Zimmerman found not guilty?  Well, yes, indeed he was.  A jury was empaneled, listened to weeks of testimony, evaluated all the evidence and rendered a reasoned and unanimous verdict.  NOT GUILTY.

The verdict was delivered in a fairly short period of time.  It was unanimous.  It was apparently not very difficult to arrive at that verdict.  One has to ponder that fact.

There are many who will not accept this verdict.  They want the power of the law but they do not want to accept the verdict rendered under those same laws.  That is unfortunate.

Race

What role, if any, did race play in this show trial?

It was regrettable that President Obama felt it necessary to inject his own personal meddling into this trial by saying:  “If I had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon Martin.”  This immediately elevated the issues far beyond what was real.

[Did the President mean to suggest that his son would be a pot smoking little criminal?  I think not and that is an uncharitable but true characterization of the victim, no?]

George Zimmerman is a Hispanic man.  Is he a “white” Hispanic or a “brown” Hispanic or a “black” Hispanic?  Who cares.  It has nothing to do with the evidence or testimony.  He was a defendant and nothing more.

When the race zombies, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, arrived it was clear that the show trial was going to become a race circus.  And it did.  [By the way, can you believe how much weight Al Sharpton has lost?   That Jenny Craig is really working for him.  Good on ya, Al.  You are actually getting a bit too skinny.]

This case was never about race and it did not need to be about race to obtain a fair hearing and a fair verdict.  It was supposed to be about second degree murder and a “self-defense” defense.

Some very hard truths

Trayvon Martin was a young man who had already, in his tender young life, colored outside the lines as it relates to drugs, truancy, guns, violence, promiscuity and crime.  h

He was not the choir boy of his 13-year old sweet pictures.

If his parents loved him as they indicated, then they should have focused that love on helping him confront and overcome the challenges that were painfully evident in his life.

The young man was at his father’s house for two weeks because he had been expelled from school.  This was not Vacation Bible School or a church trip.  He was already on the wrong side of authority and the law.

Did that justify his death?  Of course not.  Of course not.  Of course not.

But it did it put him in a place and a rendezvous with destiny that could have been avoided if his rearing and parenting had been more effective.  Unfortunately, Old Sport, the answer to that question is an undeniable YES.

The Big Red Car says that with substantial trepidation and does not judge any other parent’s abilities or discharge of their duties.  Nonetheless, Trayvon Martin would not have been there that fateful night if he had not been expelled from school for two weeks.

The bottom line is that having been subjected to a full and fair trial, George Zimmerman was found, not innocent, but NOT GUILTY.  Fair minded folks will accept that verdict, reject the hate mongering of Jesse and Al and get on with life.  Let’s learn something from this and love our children and guide them to a safe path in life.

But, hey, really what the Hell do I know anyway?  I’m just a Big Red Car.  God bless you all.