Zimmerman Prosecutor Angela Corey's Smile Is Under Fire

A post-verdict statement made by Angela Corey, Florida attorney general for the prosecution of George Zimmerman, came across to many viewers as callous and bizarre — Corey, who had just lost her case, spoke with a certain air of victory (more than one observer noted that the perceived satisfaction and attitude of gracious thanks was almost Academy Awards acceptance speech-esque) and what the Boston Herald’s Peter Gelzinis described as “the weird smile of an event planner.”

That smile, accompanied by her key phrase — “This case has never been about race or the right to bear arms” (HAHA, k) — hasn’t improved the firestorm building against Corey right now. Shortly before the Zimmerman verdict came in, Corey personally prosecuted Marissa Alexander to the fullest extent of the law for firing a single warning shot at her abusive husband; both her case and Martin’s involved the invocation of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows citizens to use “lethal force” if in life-threatening danger, and both Alexander and Martin were African American.

According to a March 2012 blog post on the website Justice4Juveniles (via):

In the five year period between 2006/7 and 2010/11, across the state of Florida, an average of 52 % of black male juveniles were tried as adults for crimes they had committed. Angela Corey tried an average of 70%. The same state over the same time period tried an average of 25% of white male juveniles as adults for crimes that they had committed, Angela Corey, on the other hand, tried an average of 18%.

These horrible statistics should be the driving force behind questioning Corey’s right to remain in her position — God knows we have no idea why Corey was smiling during her press conference, but tweeting about the above issues would be far more effective for progress than ragging on her makeup or her weight. If Corey were “conventionally attractive,” she’d still be morally negligible. I mean, just look at Ann Coulter. (Or don’t look directly at her, that’s fine too.)

‘Zimmerman Verdict: Angela Corey’s Smile Raises Twitter Questions’ [Digital Journal]