Remember that line from 'Training Day?' . . . 'It's not what you know, it's what you can prove' [View all]

[RZM]

I suspect this is what's going on with Zimmerman. I don't doubt that the legal minds in Orlando have been looking at this for a while. I suspect that if they thought they had enough evidence to charge Zimmerman and stood a reasonable chance at getting a conviction, they would do so (and still might, though I kind of doubt it). It looks like the cops screwed up and he might never face trial because of it.

I'll bet this actually happens all of the time. Except we never hear about it because it's like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around. If nobody knows or cares about an event, nobody notices when no criminal charges result from it. The difference here is that this shooting made national news. Plenty of other shootings don't and in many of those, nobody is ever charged. I've heard before that police know who the killer is in most murders, but that doesn't mean they are able to marshal enough evidence to get a charge, let alone enough that will get a conviction.

As we all know, the justice system doesn't always comport well with what actually happens. It should, but it doesn't.