Media Coverage & Justice in the Courtroom

Originally, I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about the Trayvon Martin case, since I am pretty positive that people are sick of hearing about it from every single news source known to man.  But I really feel that something needs to be said about the way the media is presenting this information versus how the information should be approached in a courtroom, and how the people of the jury will make their decision.

As of yesterday, George Zimmerman faces charges of second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012.  It took the Florida Prosecutors 45 days to formally charge Zimmerman.  I'm sure some people are wondering why it took this long for him to get arrested.  There are a number of contributing factors:

1.) Simply a bad law.  There's no other way to put it.  The so-called "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida basically says that a person is allowed to use deadly force, rather than retreat, against another person as long as they are acting in self-defense.  In most other states, take North Carolina for example, you are only allowed to use deadly force in self-defense if you are in your own home. I don't understand why the Florida lawmakers did not anticipate a highly controversial case like this coming to court with creation of this complicated law.

Florida's Controversial "Stand Your Ground" Law

2.) Media controversy.  If you haven't noticed, this case has been talked about in the media non-stop since late March.  There has been hatred, threats of violence, threats of death, and many communities in just a complete uproar over what happened.  I admit that I was obviously angry when I first heard about what happened, and I sympathize with the Martin Family.  But the only problem with my initial "anger" was this -- I don't actually know the full facts and details of everything that happened.



3.) Uncertainty of the facts.  Following up on the tail end of my last point, there were so many "eyewitnesses" with conflicting stories, that we may never know what really happened that day.  Even some of the news reporting on the story was distorted, and in some cases, completely false, and retracted.  The Florida Prosecutors wanted to hear as many perspectives as they could before determining the possible fate of Zimmerman.  With all the facts that they presently had, the conclusion they came to was to charge him with second-degree murder.

   Florida Prosecutor, Angela Corey, on a News Show Discussing the Trayvon Martin Case.

 
I do not have any predictions on what the outcome of the trial will be.  All I know is that it is going to be hard-fought trial for both sides of the case.  My only hope for the trial is that justice is served, and that things in the courtroom are more fair than they have appeared in the media realm.