America loves a good criminal case. A
couple months ago I mentioned the Jodi Arias case, the whacko who slaughtered her boyfriend and denied all knowledge of it before changing her story multiple times. Her trial gripped the nation, and she was eventually found guilty of first degree murder. Sometime before her it was the
Casey Anthony case, a mother accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter to "free herself from parental responsibilities". She was found not guilty of first degree murder after a six-week trial, sparking national outrage. And now the latest case. I'm not sure how much publicity this will have received outside of America (minimal probably) but one night early last year a Hispanic 28-year-old neighbourhood watchmen, George Zimmerman,
shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old black kid, Trayvon Martin, in a gated community in Florida. On the night of the shooting Martin was walking through the neighbourhood headed for his step-mother's house where he was temporarily living. After a spate of recent robberies in that neighbourhood by young black males, Zimmerman followed and confronted Martin. According to Zimmerman's account of events, Martin then attacked him, breaking his nose and slamming his head against the pavement, and made a move for Zimmerman's gun. Zimmerman retrieved his weapon and shot Martin in alleged self-defence. Zimmerman was treated for his injuries, questioned for five hours, and released without charge. Amidst a subsequent media circus involving misleading accusations of racism, Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder six weeks later. His trial started five weeks ago and has been all over every news station in the country. The verdict was reached last night: not guilty. And this here in
Union Square today is an example of the inevitable result - more national outrage and protests over what these people claim was a miscarriage of justice with a focus on racism, their argument being that Zimmerman racially profiled Martin and his claims of self-defence are bogus. Incidentally, a 911 call made by a neighbour was released in which Zimmerman can clearly be heard screaming "Help!" multiple times prior to a gunshot.