I'll admit

I haven't glued myself to television news and watched everything to do with the George Zimmerman trial. I haven't spent hours watching the pundits and experts analyse the case. I don't know all the evidence presented to the jury. I do know that, according to CNN's George Zimmerman found not guilty of murder in Trayvon Martin's death that the jury apparently had reasonable doubt regarding both the second-degree murder charge and the option they had of manslaughter.

Earlier in the day, the jury had asked the court for clarification on its instructions regarding manslaughter. The jury couldn't have even posed such a query a few days ago: Judge Debra Nelson ruled Thursday, over the defense's vehement objection, to include manslaughter as an option for jurors, in addition to a second-degree murder charge.

To convict Zimmerman of manslaughter, the jurors would have had to believe that he "intentionally committed an act or acts that caused the death of Trayvon Martin." That charge could have carried a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, though the jury was not told of that possible sentence.

For second-degree murder, the jurors would have had to believe that Trayvon Martin's unlawful killing was "done from ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent" and would be "of such a nature that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life."

So Zimmerman is a free man, or as free as any person who's already been convicted by public opinion can ever be, even though he stalked a teenager who was minding his own business when the authorities specifically told him not to, sought out an altercation, etc. I get that he no doubt felt his life was endangered when the blows came, but he went out of his way to put himself into that position. I get that they couldn't go with either of the charges, because of the reasonable doubt as to his intention to kill Martin. There was no option for 'involuntary manslaughter', apparently. But, he intentionally chose to pursue the matter and I really hate this feeling that justice wasn't served in this case, and that a boy needlessly died due to an adult's decision to pursue a series of actions that led to a gun being used against an unarmed person. I feel so sorry for his family. Regardless of the race issue, what Zimmerman did was wrong, although apparently not successfully prosecutable in the state of Florida.

I saw something on Twitter earlier from Jay Smooth, @jsmooth995, that was posted before the verdict: 'The fundamental danger of an acquittal is not more riots, it is more George Zimmermans.' There will always be those who will blithely decide to take the law into their own hands, but a conviction might at least have given them some pause. This makes me sad and disappointed. Justice may have spoken, but I don't think it was served.