Independent Artist Magazine October/November 2013 | Page 33

veloped, there was no narrative on
the prosecutions part of what happened that night.  They did not give
the jury a clear vision of their case
and consistently hammer home
key points.  Much was done in the
presentation of the states case that
was counter productive.  Evidence
that was favorable to the defense
was in effect put into the case by
the state!  The witnesses that were
put on the stand by the prosecution
were either entirely unprepared
or very beneficial to the defense.  Much ado has been made of
Rachel Jentel who was billed as the
star witness for the prosecution.  Ms.
Jentel was on the phone with Trayvon while he was being pursued by
George Zimmerman.  While many
have labeled her as uneducated and
worse due to her style of speech
while testifying she was in fact compelling, direct, honest and stood her
ground on key points while on the
witness stand. That being said,  from
the minute she stepped onto the
stand it seemed to me that she was
had not been at all prepared by the
prosecution as to what to expect
during the actual trial. Other witnesses seemed to overpower the
prosecution and go off in their own
direction.  While I could not watch
the trial in its entirely I watched as
much as I could and saw a good
portion of her testimony in particular and the trial in general.
 The prosecutions performance that I witnessed in this case
was pitiful.  Actually it was shameful, almost criminal itself.  To use
an analogy, if this was a sport you
would say they threw the game.
This is the thought that was continuously in my mind as I watched
the state present its case to the jury.
It wasn’t so much that the defense
won the case as it was the state
giving it away.  The case now has
been adjudicated and a decision
rendered. That decision must be
lived with.  While some have spoke
of possible  federal intervention or
civil suits that remains to be seen.
This case also served to
show again the racial divide in
this country.  For anyone who may
have harbored the delusion that

we were past race as a country
this should serve as a wake up
call.  From Zimmerman initially
thinking that Trayvon was “up to no
good”, following him and ultimately
killing him to the police response
and prosecution of the case to the
many hateful statements posted on
many web sites by people who are
apparently White Americans it was
all about character.  The perception of Trayvon Martin’s character
or more precisely the lack thereof
as an individual and by extension
every Black male in the country.  From the time he was killed his
character was also assassinated. I’ve
seen this tactic employed on many
other cases and I’m sure others have
also.  We watched in this case as
everything from school suspensions
to facebook photos were used to
place in the minds of the public justifications for his death.  It was used
to help portray him as a basic thug,
a wanna be gangsta as many have
called him.  They were used to imply
that his killing was not criminal and
was justified and that he was violent
and had it coming to him.  Trayvons
actions which included nothing
more than talking on the phone
while walking home were considered to be suspicious. Truly this was
not because o