Republicans Join Call for Trayvon Martin Inquiry
It’s unlikely that Federal hate crime charges would succeed, and the reason this has blown up to become a national case is because the local sheriff failed to do his duty. Any murder of this nature needs a full investigation and arrest, stand your ground law or not.
Suspects need to be arrested and then released if cleared so that the community knows that the murder is being investigated as a murder, justifiable or not. Arrests are also needed so that other would-be xenophobic vigilantes know that they don’t have license to murder because of the stand your ground law.
Republicans joined the call for an investigation into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin on Friday, adding rare, bipartisan support in the racially-charged case.
The main Republican presidential contenders each decried the shooting of Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, allegedly by a neighborhood watch member, and joined with President Obama and other Democrats in supporting a Department of Justice investigation into the incident.
“What happened to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy. There needs to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity,” Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney said in a statement.
Rick Santorum, Romney’s main rival for the GOP nomination, added: “It’s a horrible case, and it’s chilling to hear what happened … I think it’s pretty clear the problems we’re seeing in this case, and hopefully the state Attorney General and local community is reacting and responding, and hopefully this matter will be an example of what law enforcement has to do in a case like this.”