Is this why they want Mr. Zimmerman charged?

The bloggers at The Last Refuge may have identified a factor that might underlie the behavior of the family and lawyers of the late Trayvon Martin. Here’s an excerpt from their article.

The Trayvon family is not seeking justice in the form you would think. No, they are seeking monetary justice, or more directly monetary gain. THAT is the motivation; and the absence of an “arrest” is what stands between them and their ability to sue in civil court.

Ask yourself why would anyone want an arrest without a conviction?

“We are not asking that he be convicted; We are asking that he be arrested”

Why is that so important?

The answer can be found in the statutes of Florida law surrounding Justifiable Use Of Force (Statute 776) which outlines in Statute 776.032

Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force:

. . .

Note that in section 2 of the immunity statute 776.032 a person is “immune” from criminal or CIVIL action if they are not arrested. The arrest itself can be interpreted as “Probable Cause” [that] the force, or action taken, was unlawful.

Remember the key distinction between guilt or innocence in Criminal vs. Civil trials. In criminal trials the burden of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. In civil trials the burden of proof is “with a preponderance of the existing evidence”; this is where probable cause comes into play. For the purpose of “monetary justice” it only takes an arrest; a subsequent conviction is not necessary.

Without an arrest there is no standing for a civil case awarding monetary damages to Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fuller against George Zimmerman, the HOA for The Retreat At Twin Lakes, and possibly the City of Sanford and all of their respective insurance companies.

Without an arrest there is no implied probable cause which could lead to Compensatory and punitive damages for wrongful death.

They need an arrest. They DO NOT need a conviction.

The other approach to a monetary victory would be a “Federal” civil rights investigation and possible arrest on federal civil rights laws. Hence a better understanding of why attorney Benjamin Crump is fabricating information to the Federal Department of Justice.

There’s more at the link. The entire article makes very interesting and worthwhile reading.

I fear that the author may well be correct in his analysis of the situation. All too often situations like this boil down to a simple ‘follow the money’, to determine why certain actions are desired by one or the other side of the case. It seems that even deliberately whipping up racial hatred and inflaming ethnic tensions may be nothing more than a pretext to inflame public opinion against the prosecuting authorities in Florida, trying to force them to arrest Mr. Zimmerman as a way to calm the storm of controversy that’s erupted over this case. It may well succeed in doing so, of course . . . but it seems it would also play right into the hands of those who may want to use it for monetary gain.

Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the case, one can only hope that such attempts will not succeed. That would merely compound the existing tragedy.

Peter