Will it go to a jury?

George Zimmerman has now been arrested for shooting Trayvon Martin. (AP Photo)

George Zimmerman has now been arrested for shooting
Trayvon Martin. Martin’s parents say that’s all they
wanted and under Florida law, that may be all they get.

Take the case of Michael Monahan who was charged with
murder. Not second degree, first degree. And he didn’t
just kill one unarmed person, he killed two.

They were all on board Monahan’s 35-foot sailboat a
year
ago when an argument broke out. Monahan admitted that the
two other men never laid a hand on him, and they were 20
feet away when he opened fire and shot both of them dead.
But last September, the judge dismissed all charges
against Monahan because, since Monahan “perceived imminent
violence,” he was simply Standing his Ground.

And so a defendant who had once faced the death
penalty, walked away a free man without a jury even
hearing the case.

Last January, Greyston Garcia caught a thief making off
with the radio from his truck. Garcia gave chase and when
the crook swung a bag of stolen radios at him, Garcia
buried a knife in the guy’s chest and killed him.

Garcia himself then took off with the stolen radios,
hid the knife, and sold two of the radios. He was
eventually charged with second degree murder, same as
George Zimmerman, but two weeks ago, the judge ruled he
was just standing his ground when the crook swung the
radios at him. The case was dismissed.

Now, in the Trayvon Martin case, Martin hadn’t stolen
anything and he wasn’t aboard somebody else’s boat. But
what’s pretty clear is that under the Stand Your Ground
law, arrest doesn’t necessarily lead to trial.