Dear Editor,
I am amazed at the type of coverage given by my favourite television station, CNN, to the George Zimmerman murder trial. The reporters, commentators and so-called experts have reduced a serious murder trial into a soap opera. It is unbelievable that a national TV station could devote so many hours to televise not only the trial, but silly comments from attorneys who are considered experts. It is a shame.
It is more than a TV trial, and the views expressed by some experienced lawyers are total nonsense. How can someone know what was operating in the minds of Zimmerman, the witnesses and experts who testified. What is laughable is that while the jury are deliberating, the so-called experts are discussing on national television what they thought was operating in the minds of the six women who were considering the verdict.
The legal system in Florida and the United States on the whole is so different from the English legal system. Look at Adam Harris, the editor in chief of the Kaieteur News and reporter Rehanna Ramsay who were fined by Justice Brassington Reynolds for contempt of court for reporting what transpired in a voir dire, because the jury was absent. I recall in 1965 a robbery trial was aborted because the reporter, my good friend, Vic Hall, reported in the Evening Post that one of the accused in the Smith brothers’ bank robbery trial was acquitted for robbery two weeks before the bank robbery trial started. Defence counsel Fred Wills brought it to the trial judge’s attention and said it would be prejudicial to his client. The judge agreed and ordered a mistrial. Compare the two incidents in Guyana to the Zimmerman trial.
Judge Debra Nelson’s instructions to the jury were merely on the law on homicide, manslaughter and self defence. She did not analyze the evidence as is done by judges in the Caribbean, but it seems as if the TV reporters and experts went overboard with this which to my mind is outrageous and silly.
Another point I wish to make is that the jury selection took several days and they came up with a panel of six women ‒ five white women and a Hispanic. What is amazing is that the defence lawyers were happy with the panel. And while the jurors are deliberating law enforcement officers in Sanford, Florida are gathering their forces together in case there is a riot if Zimmerman is acquitted. My god, this is so unfair. The big question is why the law enforcement officials make their plans against any possible demonstration public. (Editor’s note: The jury returned not guilty verdicts on Saturday night.)
Yours faithfully,
Oscar Ramjeet
