Tabitha Zimmerman

Unfuckingbelievable!

The jury found George Martin "not guilty" in the killing of Tabitha Zimmerman! According to jury instructions, which read verbatim the Stand Your Ground law, the jury found that George Martin feared for his life and was justified in killing 17 year old, Tabitha Zimmerman.

George's version of that night was that he spotted an attractive blonde girl, clad only in tight short shorts and a tank top, walking through the neighborhood with a bag of Skittles (candy) and a can of Arizona Ice Tea. She was "up to no good". He said: "Those sluts...they always get away..." He began to follow her...

According to George, he stopped following her and was returning to his SUV when Tabitha attacked him. There were no witnesses to that but, a neighbor did testify that he saw Tabitha on top of George, fighting him. Tabitha's friend testified that Tabitha had told her on the phone that a "...creepy, old man..." was following her, possibly to rape her. George Martin had called 911 to report her being in the neighborhood. On the 911 recording of the call, someone is heard screaming for help but, it wasn't clear if the voice screaming belong to the teenage girl or George Martin.

The story made headlines mostly because it hadn't made headlines. Under Florida's Stand Your Ground" law, George Martin hadn't even been arrested by the police. He had been taken into custody  but only for the most perfunctory of investigations. Determining he met the criteria for SYG, they let him go without charges.

Tabitha's parents, having lost a daughter, were outraged that so little had been done in the investigation of their daughters death. In no time, Women's Rights advocates became involved. This caused Fox news to question why, in this post gender society, "Everything STIll had to be about gender?"  We had had a female Secretary Of State, for godssake! As far as Fox and many reichwingers were concerned, this was simply a case of self defense.

Though Tabitha hadn't broken any laws that night, millions of people on the internet were convinced she was intending to break laws that night. She had smoked marijuana in the past and also been suspended from school! There had, after all, been break ins in the neighborhood, and attractive, teenage girls had been seen in the vicinity at the time. And, of course, being an attractive, young woman, people were sure she had "led him on..." That's what they do, the internet said.

Famous women and men took up the cause. People wore short shorts and tank tops and carried signs that said: "I AM TABITHA ZIMMERMAN". Curiously they were all known liberal women like Oprah and Ellen and men like Sean Penn and Michael Moore.

This caused Fox and Rush Limbaugh to question why this was a gender issue. Indeed. Why wasn't it simply an issue of someone killing someone who made them fear for their life? The law didn't specify white men killing teenaged white women. George Martin, doing his *job* as a Neighborhood Watch Person, feared for his life from the young woman who, on the internet at least, was 6'4" and 250 pounds even though she was actually of average height and weight.

Well, Tabitha must have seemed that big while she was beating George's ass that night but she was just a typical teenage girl. In the end, the bottom line was as it was presented to the jury. They felt that, George Martin feared for his life and therefore, met the stringent criteria of the SYG law that they had been instructed to follow by the court- "Did he fear for his life?"

Well, yeah! Golly, I would! Who wouldn't?

The legal system had not asked them if they thought George Martin was an overzealous idiot who took the law into his own hands and murdered a teenage girl because she got the better of him in a fight. It's all in how you ask the question, in court. The law loves yes or no answers because nothing highlights the rainbow of life's questions like black or white answers.

Did I say "black or white"? I don't know how race got into this. Sorry 'bout that! Please don't be scared...this couldn't really happen, right? I'll just need a yes or a no on that. Thanks! You are free to go!