FLORIDA STAND YOUR GROUND LAW SHOULD BE REPEALED

Its been only five days since the verdict for George Zimmerman was announced. The Not Guilty verdict in the Trayvon Martin case reverberated throughout the globe and everyone in America is screaming foul play. Florida's infamous Stand Your Ground Law vindicates people who fear for their lives once approached by someone who presents a threat to you. Problem in this case is a seventeen year old boy lost his life to the hands of a crime watcher by the name of George Zimmerman. Neighborhood crime stoppers are not trained to use guns on civilians, in fact they are to observe criminal activity and call the police if they suspect mischievous behavior. Not in this case, the crime watcher actually was the one doing the crime by carrying a gun and using it on a teenager. You can't go above and beyond your duties, especially when you were told to stand down from radio dispatchers. Zimmerman proceeded to follow his suspect, which led to Trayvon Martin's untimely death. On May 11, 2012 Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville Florida was found guilty and received a twenty year sentence in her case where Stand Your Ground played a crucial role. Fearing for her life, she fired warning shots in the air since her abusive husband blocked the entrance to her house preventing her from leaving. There was a history of abuse prior to this incident, which I find a little disturbing. The fact that the same prosecutor who tried this case was the same one who prosecuted George Zimmerman is a bit perplexing. Angela Corey, the Florida State's Attorney who was also prosecuting George Zimmerman. Florida's "10-20-life" law, enacted in 1999 mandates a 20-year sentence for use of a gun during the commission of certain crimes. Being that Alexander fired her gun during altercation, she was found guilty. Question everyone wants to know is how come the same law that convicted Marissa Alexander didn't apply for Mr. Zimmerman. Her case, no one was injured and she receives twenty years for a person with no priors. Zimmerman takes law into his own hands and walks free. A person is accused of murder, earns over half a million in donations in preparation for his trial and walks away free as a bird. There were a lot of mitigating circumstances in this trial that should have raised a few eyebrows. The whole world is in disarray behind this verdict and if we are to come together as a people, we all need to understand that this is not about race. The laws in Florida need serious looking into and need to be rescinded and outlawed. I don't see why a woman should spend twenty years in prison for trying to defend herself and someone like Zimmerman gets to walk freely. It's not about race because whether he was orange or purple, it wouldn't make a difference to me. Wrong is wrong, and when you commit a crime you need to be held accountable and punished for it. Just because your father is a retired judge doesn't vindicate you or place you above the law. We are a human race above anything else, so if we don't stand up for something we will fail at anything else. This tragedy could have been any one of our brothers, sons, or cousins.