No one should be charged with a crime unless prosecutors themselves really believe that the person committed a crime.
Yet, the prosecution and their own experts’ language consistently showed a lack of certainty. Prosecutors aren't supposed to bring cases where the best they can say is that something might “possibly” have happened or that there was a “chance” that it did.
Whether it's George Zimmerman or John Doe, no one should be charged with a crime unless prosecutors really believe that the person committed a crime.
Usually defense attorneys are the ones trying to get prosecution witnesses to concede that alternative explanations might be possible. In the Zimmerman trial, even the prosecution couldn't get definite statements out of their own witnesses.
By the end of the trial, with the prosecution conceding that Travyon Martin was likely on top of Zimmerman, prosecutors were forced to speculate that possibly Martin was about to get off of Zimmerman when he was shot. That, by itself, completely undermined the prosecution's claim that Martin was the one calling for help.
The case was so weak that the local Sanford District Attorney refused to bring charges against Zimmerman. That is why, on the orders of the governor, an outside District Attorney, Angela Corey, had to be brought in to handle it.
Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee was fired because he also refused to charge Zimmerman with a crime.
Even the lead detective on the case, Christopher Serino, told the jury he believed Zimmerman's version of the events.
Many people jumped to conclusions without knowing the facts. Even before they could read the police reports, many conservative commentators claimed early on that Zimmerman had acted improperly.
Comments by President Obama, Al Sharpton, and others surely stirred up the racial aspects of the case and appear to have led some blacks across the country to attack whites to avenge Trayvon Martin.
