On Saturday, the all-female jury declared George Zimmerman not guilty of the charges brought against him in the Trayvon Martin death. After he was acquitted of manslaughter and second-degree murder charges, the GPS device he had on him was removed. He will also be getting his gun back. His lawyers believe he needs his gun now more than ever.
President Obama immediately followed up with a statement on Sunday reminding the nation that in order to honor Trayvon Martin’s death, we should be asking ourselves whether we are doing enough on gun control.
Obama said, “The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy … But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm … And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves … how we can prevent future tragedies … That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”
Trayvon supporters took to streets across the nation and groups pressured and lobbied to get what they perceive as justice – which they feel has been denied.
In reaction, the DOJ has promised to look into the incident again and try to find whether anything went amiss in the investigation, and whether there was any chance to reopen prosecution.
The Justice Department released a memo observing “we have an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin. The Department of Justice’s Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial …(to) determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate …”
Zimmerman maintained during the trial that his act of shooting Trayvon Martin was an act of self defense – the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was not so.
However, after the trial on media, it is difficult to presume that George Zimmerman would ever be able to return to a normal life or find a job again. On the other hand, the tragedy of Trayvon’s untimely death remains on the hearts of many.
After the jury verdict, Zimmerman’s defense attorney suggested that Zimmerman’s safety would still be an issue. He said “There still is a fringe element that wants revenge … They won’t listen to a verdict of not guilty.”