The Associated Press Revisits the Trayvon Martin Case

The Department of Justice announced today that it will not pursue a federal civil rights charge against George Zimmerman, arising out of his fatal altercation with Trayvon Martin. That was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but the Associated Press took the opportunity to revisit the case:

George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in a 2012 confrontation with the teenager, will not face federal charges, the Justice Department said Tuesday. …

Zimmerman has said he acted in self-defense when he shot the 17-year-old Martin during a confrontation inside a gated community in Sanford, Florida, just outside Orlando. Martin, who was black, was unarmed when he was killed.

Not only did Zimmerman say that he acted in self-defense, the jury in the case so found. The physical evidence, including wounds to the back of Zimmerman’s head, along with the testimony of the only eyewitness, who saw Martin sitting on top of Zimmerman and pounding his head into the pavement, virtually compelled that finding. And here is a news flash for the liberal media: you have a right to defend yourself against an unarmed person who is beating the daylights out of you, or who you reasonably believe will do so.

Once Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder by a state jury in July 2013, Martin’s family turned to the federal investigation in hopes that he would be held accountable for the shooting.

If Zimmerman acted in self-defense, as the jury found, prosecuting him on federal charges wouldn’t be holding him accountable, it would be persecuting him for political gain.

That probe focused on whether the killing amounted to a federal civil rights violation, which would have required proof that it was motivated by racial animosity. Although Martin’s parents have said Zimmerman initiated the fight…

With all due respect to Martin’s parents, they have no idea who initiated the fight. The jury found self-defense, and that finding was amply supported by the evidence. But for whatever reason, the A.P. and other liberal news sources can’t let the matter go.

…the Justice Department said there was not enough evidence to establish that Zimmerman willfully deprived Martin of his civil rights — a difficult legal standard to meet — or killed the teenager on account of his race.

Self-defense is a complete defense to the federal civil rights charge, just as it was to the state homicide charge. Martin’s race is irrelevant.

“What they told his family and I was that because Trayvon wasn’t able to tell us his version of events, there was a lack of evidence to bring the charges. That’s the tragedy,” [lawyer Ben] Crump said.

One can only hope that the DOJ representatives didn’t actually say this. The Zimmerman/Martin case was a rather clear-cut case of self-defense. The tragedy of Martin’s death has been compounded by the actions of politicians and hustlers who tried to turn the story into one about race. Eric Holder, sadly, was one of that group.

The Department of Justice announced today that it will not pursue a federal civil rights charge against George Zimmerman, arising out of his fatal altercation with Trayvon Martin. That was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but the Associated Press took the opportunity to revisit the case

. . . . and to insinuate, contrary to all evidence, that some other course of action was legitimate (let alone called for).
It is easy to show that the AP has the opportunity, and clear that the AP has the motive, to deceive the public to that effect. As to opportunity, the AP is a virtual meeting of all major journalism outlets. It has been operating since memory of living man runneth not to the contrary. As such, Adam Smith’s dictum that
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public - Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
makes it clear that the AP can, if it so chooses, tell the public half the truth, or even lie.
As to motive, the journalists who thus conspire against the public all want to be important, without having to go to the trouble of actually doing anything important. So they have the incentive to tear down any and all institutions which actually do the things the public needs done. George Zimmerman was a doer in the sense that he was the leader of a watch against burglars in a community which had recently experienced burglaries, including “hot” burglaries in which victims were directly placed in fear of physical attack.
Furthermore, he had a Jewish surname and was light-skinned enough that he could be styled “a white hispanic.” And the “victim” was black. That made him vulnerable to charges of racism, giving those tempted to criticize the illusion of having the moral high ground.

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