By Doug Newman
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Posted at Daily Paul. Published in The Denver Post.
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Even if you disagree with the acquittal of George Zimmerman, you have to admire the jurors’ courage. They were under absolutely immense pressure to convict. However, they were in the courtroom and heard all the testimony and observed all the evidence. All any of us outside the courtroom knew was what the media told us.

The Due Process guarantees of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments protect everyone, regardless of the severity of the charges, the weight of public opinion against the defendant or any external political or social circumstances. They protect George Zimmerman and they protect terror suspects. And if they don’t protect everyone equally, they don’t protect you or me.

Among the vilest aspects of American history is the historic inability of ethnic minorities to get a fair trial. Everyone has a right to Due Process regardless of their ethnicity as well as of the ethnicity of those they are accused of harming.

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The Denver Post limits letters to 150 words, so the above is what I submitted. However, I will add that in the last hour or so of deliberations, the jurors asked the judge for clarification of the definition of manslaughter. They tried to convict him of something. However, in the end, they evidently could not convict him of anything, so their only option was to acquit.

Please know that I did not pay much attention to this trial. Nor did I take sides during the proceedings. Nor am I in any way happy that Trayvon Martin is dead.