Opus 2013-221: Headlines: Zimmerman Bias?

First, let me say that I don’t have a dog in this fight or a horse in this race.  I am not on the jury.  I am not even following the media coverage as a rule because I don’t believe much of what they tell me.  The article I did read today just reinforces this habit. 

I was checking out the headlines on the Drudge Report and came across one titled, “He’s Going to Walk” under a picture that I assumed was George Zimmerman.

Very quickly you got the position of the author when he said, “Prosecutors are at a distinct legal disadvantage.”  It didn’t take much reading to pick up that the writer thought this was a bad thing.  He thought it was bad because he obviously had issues with people defending themselves with guns and Florida’s “Stand your ground” laws.

How can I conclude the “journalist” had a bias?  Read this paragraph.

“So what happened? How can an armed man who shot and killed an unarmed teen after being told by the police that he didn't need to keep following him, likely be found not guilty of those crimes?:

Do you see certain assumptions here?  Has this man already convicted Zimmerman?  It certainly sounds like it to me.

If you could cut through the bias, his analysis made sense.  To summarize it:  There was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin deliberately or that he was not in fear for his life at the time.  He says that the law requires those things and they are not there.  Fine.  Good analysis.

But he obviously thought in this case that was a bad thing.  He obviously wanted Zimmerman nailed. 

Let me remind you that it is supposed to be hard for the prosecution to convict.  We live in a country where you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.  In civil cases it is enough to be 51% guilty but in criminal cases you need to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  The reason this is the standard is to keep people from being convicted by a deep-pockets government and to keep you from going to jail because people’s emotions were aroused.

Will Zimmerman “walk”?  I don’t have any idea.  I hope that the jury listens to the evidence.  I hope the judge summarizes the law fairly.  I hope that they follow the law.

The results may not be what I want or what you want.  It doesn’t sound like the reporter will get what he wants.  I do hope that they reinforce the rule of law.

homo unius libri