Who Decides?

George Zimmerman is presumed innocent. That's the beauty of our justice system. That's why an arrest cannot automatically be equated with guilt. Every accused person is guaranteed a trial by a jury of their peers in which all evidence can be presented. We have this system to protect innocent citizens against wrongful accusation and it works much of the time.

However, the trial system is also there to get dangerous people off the streets so they can't victimize others.

If Mr. Zimmerman had been a police officer, chances are he'd currently be suspended, pending investigation of the Trayvon Martin shooting. Someone, I would hope, would look into an officer's use of deadly force against an unarmed teenager. Someone would question whether this was an incidence of racial profiling.

But Mr. Zimmerman is an ordinary citizen. He'd self-appointed himself as neighbor watch. From what I've heard, he wasn't part of a neighbor watch group and wasn't registered as such. If true, then he apparently was not aware that neighborhood watch members are never supposed to engage a suspect. If they see suspicious behavior, they're supposed to call the police and stay put. That's all.

The 911 recording instructed Mr. Zimmerman not to follow or engage the subject, yet he did. By doing so, he assumed the mantle of law enforcement with no legal right to do so. He became a vigilante. The "Stand Your Ground" bill only applies if Mr. Zimmerman "stood his ground" (from where he made the call) and was being attacked. If he was in his home, protecting his family. If he were walking down the street, minding his own business and was mugged. By following Trayvon after being told not to do so, Zimmerman provoked the confrontation. Even so, since Trayvon Martin was unarmed, he presented no danger. Mr. Zimmerman was much bigger and older than the teenager. He was seen by witnesses to be kneeling, straddling Trayvon's face-down body. That seems to indicate that he could subdue the boy physically.

Not only that, but Mr. Zimmerman had phoned the police 46 times in the last 14 months. The vast majority of the calls were false alarms. Mr. Zimmerman seems to have been a tad paranoid, to say the least. And it makes you wonder how many more paranoid, self-appointed vigilantes there are out there, packing heat, who are calling the cops every day and being ignored. Until they take the law into their own hands.

But this is evidence that a jury should hear. Mr. Zimmerman should be arrested. The arrest, as I've said, would not mean that he's guilty. That's for a jury of 12 hopefully unbiased jurors to decide.

If Mr. Zimmerman is never charged, the system of justice fails, because it means, as a nation, we're leaving it to law enforcement, legislators, and vigilantes to decide guilt and innocence. And for the sake of the innocent, that's not acceptable.

muon