Trayvon Martin fallout
Lewis DiuguidYou knew it was coming.
Bill Lee, police chief in Sanford, Fla., was relieved of duty Wednesday in the ongoing fallout from the Trayvon Martin shooting. Lee was on the job when charges were declined against George Zimmerman in the February slaying of the 17-year-old because of Florida’s stand your ground gun laws and Zimmerman contending that the shooting was in self-defense.
However, nationwide protests forced a re-examination of the case, leading to homicide charges against Zimmerman. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Zimmerman and his wife are now jailed after trying to keep secret a bonanza of funds they had acquired from donations after the homicide.
That and other things that have surfaced have seriously indicted Zimmerman’s credibility and eroded the public trust in Lee believing in Zimmerman. It all led to Lee’s ouster.
Johnathon Busby
12 months ago1) This would never have been an issue in the media if the police had so much as investigated Zimmerman. Some of us would still have objected if, then, they declined to charge him, but that’s different from declining to investigate in the first place. I’m happy to see him lose his job over this.
2) “…acquired from donations after the homicide.” We know someone was killed, but we don’t have a legal conclusion that a homicide has taken place. In all fairness to Zimmerman.
Phil Cardarella
12 months agoJon: Even an accidental or justified killing is a homocide.
Hey, everybody should watch the tape of Zimmerman walking the cops through the event on the next day. There is no way he will be convicted of Second Degree. It is arguably a manslaughter — like the cops wanted to charge him with THAT DAY.
He is not a monster. He may or may not be a racist. What he is is a fool with a gun — one of a couple of million — in a state that encourages those fools to wander about armed. NRA heaven.
It is the smart, wealthy guys who make money and gain office from perpetuating that insanity who are the real criminals.
Personally, I feel people were fully justified in protesting the failure to even investigate Mr. Zimmerman after he killed Trayvon Martin. Clearly, there were grounds for an investigation—this was far from being a “slam-dunk” self-defense case. And, while I am not a lawyer, I would agree with Mr. Cardarella that it would appear that a strong case against Mr. Zimmerman can be made for manslaughter The unfortunate thing about the protests in this tragedy were that there has been an unsubtle threat of race riots if Zimmerman is not sentenced to life in prison: The slogan “No justice, no peace” chanted at Trayvon Martin rallies is the same slogan used by rioters in Oakland over the subway shooting case. The late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes put it best when he wrote in 1915 with respect to the Leo Frank case: “Due process does not become due process by securing the assent of a terrified jury.” That was true for Leo Frank, it was true for Emmitt Till and it is true for George Zimmerman. “The more things change the more they remain the same”. Sincerely, Respectfully and In Christ, Ernest Evans
Steve Alleman
Kansas City
12 months agoSure, Kay, only a white writer could possibly have any objectivity.
Phil Cardarella
12 months agoActually, it is inaccurate to say that there was no investigation. The detectives took him into custody that night, and videotaped him walking through the events on the NEXT day. The detective recommended filing manslaughter charges.
It was the ProSECUTOR — based on the interpretation of the nutty “stand your ground” law who refused to file.
No one is less reluctant to criticize bad police work than I am — but the cops are getting a bum rap. They did their job.