Final Thought on Zimmerman: Read the Jury Instruction

From the messy desk of Paul Levine

 Last week, I posted this, on Facebook, after the STATE'S witness, Mr. Good, testified that he saw Trayvon Martin on top, punching Zimmerman: 

 

"I've hung around courtrooms for 40 years as a newspaper reporter, lawyer, novelist and TV writer. But I've never seen the state of Florida bring a weaker case than the one against George Zimmerman. (And that includes the time State Attorney Dick Gerstein charged Meyer Lansky with a crime for coming through Customs without a prescription for his heart medication). Regardless of the morality of what Zimmerman did, there was insufficient evidence to convict him of a crime." 

 

[As for Lansky...it was ulcer medication.  Noted defense lawyer Roy Black reminded me that Lansky's alleged crime was possessing the medication without having the prescription bottle with him at the time.  Obviously, it was a harrassment prosecution, and the judge directed a verdict in Lansky's favor.  I covered the trial as a rookie reporter for The Miami Herald and found Lansky to be a charming old guy.  Tiny, as I recall].

 

 

Here's the key jury instruction in the Zimmerman case:

 

"If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in anyplace where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."

 

I submit to you that, given the EVIDENCE presented and that instruction, the jury had no choice but to acquit.

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Cleaning out files this week, I came across this 15-second network commercial for "Solomon vs. Lord," which these days is being sold exclusively on Amazon Kindle here.

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If you missed Sunday's "Pulp Friction" interview with comedy writer and Emmy winner Carmen Finestra, you can find it here. 

Paul Levine