Jimmy Carter says thejury made the right call in finding George Zimmerman not guilty. “I think the jurymade the right decision based on the evidence presented, because theprosecution inadvertently set the standard so high that the jury had to be convincedthat it was a deliberate act by Zimmerman, that he was not at all defendinghimself,” C arter told Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA-TV. On Saturday,Zimmerman was found not guilty by a jury in Florida. He shot and killed17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012, Zimmerman maintains in selfdefense. The former presidentand Georgia governor discussed the verdict, and what it says about race inAmerica, in an on-camera interview with the station. “It’s not a moralquestion, it was a legal question, and the American law requires that the jurylisten to the evidence presented,” Carter said. “The action that was taken inthe courtroom was not to bring in the race issue at all. The prosecutionavoided that subject quite clearly.” Judge Debra Nelsonruled that prosecutors could argue that Zimmerman “profiled” Martin, but onlyif they avoided suggesting Zimmerman profiled the 17-year-old based on race. Asked what theZimmerman verdict says about race, Carter compared it to other high-profilemoments involving race and violence in U.S. history, such as the police beatingof Rodney King and the ensuing 1992 Los Angeles race riots and theassassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. “I think eventually,no matter how deep the moral feelings and personal feelings might be amongAfrican Americans or others, with time passing they start seeing what can we doabout the present and the future and put aside their feelings about the past,”Carter said. “I think that’s what’s gonna happen in our country.”
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