Mindhunters | Trayvon Martin

Let’s See Some More Official Outrage

By Mark Olshaker On August 23, 2013 · 7 Comments

President Obama speaking about Trayvon Martin

Outrage over the senseless shooting death of Australian Christopher Lane by three depraved and soulless teens has prompted vocal and vehement commentary from many quarters and even a call from some Australian officials for their countrymen and women not to visit the United States. This is all natural and understandable.

But unless I have missed it, there has been no public statement from the White House or President Obama on the scale of his remarks on the Trayvon Martin case.

Why not?

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Mr. Lemon the Strong

By Mark Olshaker On August 12, 2013 · 1 Comment

CNN Anchor Don Lemon

To my way of thinking, no one on television of late has displayed as much courage, insight and class as CNN news anchor Don Lemon. Lemon was the first of his profession to come out publicly and state that he is gay, paving the way for others such as Anderson Cooper. But that act of courage is not what I’m talking about here.

It is his straight talk about a subject that should concern all of us: crime in the African American community.

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The Problem With the Zimmerman Trial

By Mark Olshaker On July 19, 2013 · 13 Comments

Trayvon Martin & George Zimmerman

UPDATE: As President Obama said today:

“Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago,” Obama said, adding that “it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.”

In the wake of the not-guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman, the passion and controversy surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin have only grown. And that is not an unexpected outcome. The major problem with the trial and verdict, as I see it, is that we cannot just let it be about itself.

Inevitably, it takes on higher significance, meaning and symbolism beyond its own particulars. It is, in sum, all about confirmation bias.

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The Zimmerman Verdict

By John Douglas and Mark Olshaker On July 15, 2013 · 16 Comments

George Zimmerman

As we have often noted, our criminal justice system is not foolproof. In such murder cases we’ve analyzed as the West Memphis Three in Arkansas and Amanda Knox-Raffaele Sollecito in Italy, we have stated unequivocally that, abetted by misguided and incompetent prosecutors and judges, the juries got it wrong.

We’re not prepared to say this in the George Zimmerman murder trial in Sanford, Florida. We’re not saying Mr. Zimmerman was innocent in the death of Trayvon Martin, but that is not the jury’s job and never has been.

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Prosecutorial Overreach?

By John Douglas and Mark Olshaker On July 8, 2013 · 20 Comments

George Zimmerman

There is, perhaps, no single more important decision a prosecutor makes than determining what to charge a defendant with in a given action. With the lessons of the Casey Anthony trial still fresh in our minds, we wonder whether the decision to charge George Zimmerman with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, was a strategic overreach that could doom the chances of obtaining a conviction of any sort.

We are not here to judge Mr. Zimmerman’s guilt or innocence. That is up to the jury. But let’s take a look at what we know and don’t know.

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