The parents of Trayvon Maytin reacted strongly to comments made by the mother of George Zimmerman in a letter saying that the justice system does not work as evidenced by the legal case against her son, who shot the Black teenager a year ago.
“For the Zimmerman family to allege that the justice system doesn’t work simply because they are unhappy their son was arrested in the first place is disingenuous and disrespectful to the very system that is currently affording him every available opportunity to defend himself,” the parents of the slain Florida teenager said in a statement released by their attorney, Benjamin Crump.
“The arrest of an admitted killer is not a violation of due process, it is due process,” the statement continued. “Most will agree that no one has been given greater consideration by the justice system for killing an unarmed child than George Zimmerman.”
The statement came shortly after the release of the letter from Gladys Zimmerman, whose son is a former neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed the 17-year-old Trayvon in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, one year ago. In that letter, she stated that her son was made out to be a “mythological monster” by the media.

Gladys Zimmerman's letter was posted on Twitter Thursday by Robert Zimmerman Jr., who has been speaking on behalf of the family via social media since his brother's arrest.

"April 11 2012 will be forever remembered by the Zimmerman family as the day the justice system failed us as Americans, and as a consequence an innocent man was arrested for a crime he did not commit, solely to placate the masses," she wrote.

George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of the teenager and has pleaded not guilty on the claim of self-defense. Zimmerman claims that after he followed the teenager, Trayvon assaulted him and a fight ensued.

When Zimmerman was not immediately arrested after the shooting of Trayvon on Feb. 26, 2012, pressure was put on the police department and the governor's office to have George Zimmerman arrested. It eventually happened on April 11, 2012.

Gladys Zimmerman also wrote that Crump confused the public and manipulated their perception to sway "the court of public opinion." As Zimmerman's June 10 trial date approaches, the mother stated it was her son's "quintessential birthright" as an American to receive a fair trial (You can read the full letter here).

Florida judge Debra S. Nelson has set June 10 for the trial of George Zimmerman, the onetime neighborhood watch volunteer.

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(Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)