O'Mara: George Zimmerman will ask state to cover $200K-$300K of his legal bills

[branford]

43. I care about the rights of all defendants, regardless of race.

I've been interested in and advocated for the rights of the accused, as well as prisoners and former felons, since my time interning at the National Institute of Justice at the DOJ in Washington, D.C., while attending college. I continued my advocacy in various clinics during law school, and focus on related political advocacy today in NYC.

These individuals comprise a minority group at best ignored, and more generally hostilely received, by the general public. The fact that the vast majority of individuals in the criminal justice system are also minorities only exacerbates their already very bad situation.

You appear to imply that since I do not openly share your self-righteous hatred of George Zimmerman, that I do not care about minority defendants. You could not be more wrong.

The blind hatred of you and others toward Zimmerman has rendered you incapable of seeing far larger, more liberal concerns and sadly turned many into hypocrites. I tire of reading how no one would, or even should, care if Zimmerman, or his family or attorneys, received some "street justice." The attitude has even extended to members of his jury. I read comment after comment that because of Zimmerman, we need to remove the protections against self-incrimination, give prosecutors more discretion, lower the standards of proof in criminal trials and other similar, extremely right-wing, nonsense. How will these positions that are informed solely in response to the rage induced by one man help the primarily young, minority men in the criminal system.

The OP article and many responses are proof of my point. The article describes a very liberal law that permits reimbursement for legal expenses of those acquitted of crimes. I would not be surprised to learn that many Public Defender offices in Florida with very tight budgets benefit from this statute. Nevertheless, simply because Zimmerman may also benefit, it now deserves irate criticism. How will eliminating a law which seeks to help those who are acquitted of crimes benefit the minorities that those same posters smugly claim to want to protect?

I cannot ameliorate your rage (or even your continuous sarcasm) and care little of your opinion of me. The simple fact is that I will likely still be actively advocating for the forgotten, primarily minority men, in the criminal justice system long after some new issue or person has become the subject of your ire.