Hello Bob,   
      
   BK>Ok, Trayvon Martin is back in the headlines.   
      
   How can he be?  The boy is dead.  And buried.   
   What others are saying about the boy is back in   
   the headlines.  But not the boy himself.   
      
   BK>My interpretation:   
      
   Trayvon Martin was black.  His parents are black.   
   That should tell you something.  If you need somebody   
   to explain it to you, just look at what a Facebook   
   posting claims what was said by East Baton Rouge   
   Parish District Attorney Jesse Bankston Jr. -   
      
   "These people make up their names!  What kind of name   
   is Trayvon?  It's no wondere he got shot."   
      
   The NAACP says that Bankston made those comments on   
   July 18 in State District Judge Lou Daniel's courtroom.   
      
   The NAACP is really mad about what Bankston said -   
      
   "It's our view that if what he said is true, we call   
   on the D.A. to terminate him immediately."   
   - Mike McClanahan, president of local chapter of the NAACP   
      
   I hate to bust your bubble, but Bankston is right.   
   The Martins are black.  Not white, Asian, or Hispanic.   
      
   BK>TV once more did it's damage. Just as in the OJ trial it looks   
   BK>like the judge and lawyers played to the cameras. No trial   
   BK>should be broadcast.   
      
   TV trials are all the vogue these days.  HTN ratings at #1 ...   
      
   BK>As to the outcome, the prosecution was so inept, so incompetent,   
   BK>it appears the prosecutor didn't want to win that case. She felt   
   BK>she had to take it to trial, but winning it might have been bad   
   BK>for her politically. So she overcharged and conducted the worst   
   BK>prosecution she could. Or so it appears.   
      
   It was a weak case to begin with.  Especially for second degree   
   murder.  Even for manslaughter was a stretch, given Florida's stand   
   your ground law.  On top of that, the jury was confused by the   
   instructions given when going into deliberations.  Rather than   
   explain the instructions, the judge instructed the jurors to   
   read them again.  Why?  Because the judge did not want to take   
   the chance on the case being declared a mistrial by not fully   
   explaining the instructions.  Best to let the jurors figure   
   that out for themselves.   
      
   BK>This same prosecutor got a black woman convicted for firing a   
   BK>warning shot when she felt threatened by her ex-husband. That   
   BK>woman got something like 20 years for not killing him. Seems   
   BK>stand your ground only works one way.   
      
   Excsues, excuses.  Quit making excuses.  Sure, the prosecutor   
   screwed up.  But that is not what lost the case.  Attempted murder   
   is often easier to get a conviction than murder itself.  Also,   
   keep in mind that killing and murder are not the same thing.   
      
   BK>That case stinks of politics from the beginning. The shooter is   
   BK>the son of a retired judge. The original detective wanted to   
   BK>charge him with manslaughter. A cop on the scene called it   
   BK>negligent manslaughter in his report. Yet it wasn't even   
   BK>investigated as a possible crime after that, until   
   BK>demonstrations began. Top brass did not want it prosecuted.   
      
   Although conspiracy theories abound, this case was no conspiracy.   
   A certain ineptness by the prosecutor, to be sure.  But ineptness   
   is not a conspiracy.  Nor is a weak case.   
      
   Just because a detective wanted the prosecutor to charge   
   Zimmerman with manslaughter rather than second degree murder   
   does not mean that Zimmerman should have been charged with   
   either.  And it certainly does not mean it would have been   
   a slam dunk had the prosecutor only charged Zimmerman with   
   manslaughter.   
      
   BK>Get the cameras out of the courtroom, and enforce the law   
   BK>equally.   
      
   In order for the prosecutor to have gotten a conviction for either   
   second degree murder or manslaughter, the jury would have had to be   
   comprised of six black women, all of them from poor neighborhoods.   
      
   If we started convicting people based on emotions rather than   
   evidence, this entire country would be pure hell to live in.   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)