Justice was handed down.
by mkriegh
I went to bed before the Jury came back with its verdict of not guilty on murder two and acquittal on all lesser charges. My facebook friends are filled with rage over the verdict and are pronouncing it an outrage and evidence of a justice system that is broken. They are ashamed of their country. They are disgusted with their fellow country women and men.
I am not at all surprised by the acquittal. Nor do I think it was a miscarriage of justice. That I am not surprised by the verdict has nothing to do with a belief that the system is flawed or a conviction that six female jurors from a southern state are racist and incapable of delivering justice. It has everything to do with the failure of the state to produce enough evidence to convict. I did not watch the trial proceedings very much, but my wife has the news on all the time and the presented facts of the case got repeated over and over and over again. I was pretty sure that the jury would not be able to find guilt on a murder charge. I thought manslaughter possible but am not surprised that the jury was unable to convict on that charge either. With reasonable doubt as the standard of conviction, the bar was relatively high. I can see how there was not enough evidence to be sure beyond a reasonable doubt. There were no witnesses other than the defendant. And as much as we would like to convict based on our gut instinct about what may or may not have happened and about what the intent of the defendant was, the system would be broken if we did so. Here is an analysis from the New York Times:
But because of Florida’s laws, prosecutors had to persuade jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Zimmerman did not act in self-defense. A shortage of evidence in the case made that a high hurdle, legal experts said.
Even after three weeks of testimony, the fight between Mr. Martin and Mr. Zimmerman on that rainy night was a muddle, fodder for reasonable doubt. It remained unclear who had started it, who screamed for help, who threw the first punch and at what point Mr. Zimmerman drew his gun. There were no witnesses to the shooting.
NYT – Zimmerman Is Acquitted in Trayvon Martin Killing
I believe there is racism in this country. I believe it possible that racism was a factor in the unfolding of events that led to Trayvon Martin’s death. I believe that George Zimmerman contributed to the circumstances he found himself in through the decisions he made. But I have no idea what happened at the moment of confrontation, which is all this case could have been about in criminal court. I don’t believe the results of this case are a vindication of the defendant but I do believe the system worked as it should have. We will have to find other things wrong to make right, there are plenty of them. But how the justice system operated in this particular case is not one of them in my opinion.
What Intelligent Life is Made Of 
Our collective disappointment has everything to do with the difference between procedural justice and social justice. Procedural justice appears to have been served. If not, there will be appeals. Social justice may lie in the processes of civil rights prosecution and civil tort proceedings. “May,” since there are procedural constrains there, too. Social justice is aspirational. We have yet to distill Social Justice into Procedural Justice. There is work to be done….
My shock and dismay are as deep as anyone’s, especially when I listen to those who celebrate the “justice” done by the trial jury. They seem to celebrate Social Justice when there is no Social Justice to be had in this jury trail, even 50 years after MLK’s “Dream” speech. All too often “the color” of one’s skin trumps the “content” of one’s character. Social injustice is very much with us.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply Joe. I agree with what you say here for the most part though I am still a bit surprised at the “shock and dismay” as it implies a belief that the “procedural justice” outcome should have been different. That it could not have been different is my principal point. We have a long way to go in this country about a lot of things. Guns, civil rights of all kinds, and much much more. I just don’t think it was reasonable to expect the criminal prosecution to have helped us along our way.
I can agree with you on the “smaller” point regarding what might be a reasonable expectation given the law, the judge’s instructions to the jurors, the prosecution and the defense’s testimony and such.
My “but” is the implicit “social contract,” a “covenant” that we all enter that demands “justice” in and from our institutional and social arrangements. We call it Social Justice.
This is the “moral” glue that holds any community, any society, together. When that contract is broken, that covenant is torn to tatters, there will be a public outcry regardless of the known, perhaps unavoidable limitations of courtroom justice. There will be (moral) “shock and dismay.” And, there was.
Trayvon did not have to die. Zimmerman did not have to shoot him. The entire sequence of events did not “have to” happen. But it did. A precious life was lost. And, as far as most can tell, race played a huge role in the outcome. We see racial prejudice throughout our criminal justice system. We come to expect it and, still, we are “shocked and dismayed.” We incarcerate black men at rate and for durations that should “shock and dismay.” .Something is wrong and it needs “fixin’.” But fixing does not seem to be at hand. There is shock and dismay for all who do not believe that Trayvon Martin got his “just deserts.”
Hence, my “shock and dismay.” I am “white.” My family comes from Europe. I was born during WWII. I was in college in 1963 when MLK “Had a Dream,” and Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. That bill built social cohesion except among those who sought to continue their Jim Crow ways and embittered by the outcomes of the Civil War but 100 years earlier. Those who opposed Civil Rights, called their opposition “State’s Rights.” Still do.
Today, see ethnic prejudice in Immigration Law, Food Stamp and Medicaid and Medicare funding and in Voter Registration law. All this is going on as Zimmerman went to trial. This is the social context of the trial. It is an unavoidable nexus of social happenings. We should know what to expect from the criminal justice system but our hearts cry out for a broader justice that is yet to be had. The social and economic justice we cry out for is still a work in progress…. Our (implicit) social contract and the moral sentiments that attach to it demand nothing less of us.