Neither Zimmerman following Martin, nor Martin walking through the neighborhood, constituted a crime. Although I am of the opinion that Zimmerman should have ceased following Martin when the dispatcher told him to do so, the fact he continued is not a crime as he was not legally obligated to stop following Martin. A dispatcher has no legal authority to tell anyone to stop doing something, whereas a law enforcement officer could do so, depending on the circumstances, and failure to comply with a lawful order is considered a crime. Regardless, the fact remains that Zimmerman continued to follow Martin and the end result of that was Martin's death. From the beginning, there was no disputing these facts. When interviewed by Sanford Police, Zimmerman claimed self-defense and there was evidence to support that he was defending himself from Martin's physical aggression. Who instigated the physical confrontation is only known by Zimmerman, as there are no living witnesses to the initial confrontation. Based upon injuries to Zimmerman's face and head, and the apparent lack of noted injuries to Martin during autopsy, minus the gunshot wound, it would appear that Zimmerman's invocation of self-defense was valid. As alluded to earlier, I believe if Zimmerman had discontinued following Martin as instructed by the dispatcher, this chain of events would have been avoided, but no crime was committed by either until the physical confrontation began. Although I don't believe Zimmerman should have been arrested that night, based upon the known facts of the case, I do believe the case should have been presented to a Grand Jury for determination as to whether or not probable cause existed to charge Zimmerman with a crime in connection with the death of Martin. This was not done and the decision apparently rested only with the State Attorney and there were media reports that the investigating officer wanted to pursue charges against Zimmerman (Trotta, 2012). This is where the wheels fell off the wagon and …show more content…
By presenting the case to a Grand Jury, I believe the political backlash could have been avoided. Had the Grand Jury chosen to indict, Zimmerman could have argued self-defense in front of a jury, as he eventually did so successfully. Conversely, had the Grand Jury chose not to indict Zimmerman, it would have been the collective opinion of a body of local citizens making that determination as opposed to a State's Attorney who was easily portrayed to be motivated by personal opinion. Reference
French, David. "Conservatives and the Trayvon Martin Case: Has the right rushed to the wrong judgment?" Commentary, June 2012, p. 51+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A291355219/OVIC?u=tel_a_bethelc&xid=682d6bf9. Accessed 28 July 2017. Trotta, D. (2012, April 3). Trayvon Martin: Before the world heard the cries. Reuters. Retrieved from: