Story of singers and songwriters in austin, texas, the live music capital of the world, struggling to find Affordable Health insurance. I have financially been completely devastated to walk with with million medical execs expenses. I couldnt pay for that. We look for doping scandal ploong threetle. American ifill and Margaret Warner gets an authors up close and dangerous view of corruption and drug wars in his native mexico. Its not that i have a death wish. Im staying because i really believe in the mexicans themselves and i believe that the story has to be told. Woodruff thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the Fatal Shooting of Trayvon Martin echoed across the country today. The nations chief Law Enforcement officer weighed in, amid protests against the verdict and demands for federal action. We are also mindful of the pain felt by our nation surrounding the tragic unnecessary shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Attorney general eric holder used the verdict to issue an appeal. I believe this tragedy allows another opportunity for this nation to speak honestly about the emotionally charged issues that this case has raised. We must not as we have too often in the past let this opportunity pass. The Justice Department is reviewing possible civil rights charges against zimmerman but holder gave no indication of what the decision would be. I will assure you that the government will act consistent with the facts and the law. His confrontation with the 17yearold martin who was unarmed, late saturday a sixwoman jury acquitted the Neighborhood Watch volunteer of both Second Degree murder and manslaughter. We the jury find George Zimmerman not guilty. In the hours that followed protesters gathered in cities across the country demonstrating against what they viewed as a miscarriage of justice. From florida. Im a black youth and just to see one black youth die, thats crazy. Its like when is it going to stop . Its been going too long. Woodruff to ohio. I was hurt by it. Just because i didnt feel that justice was served, even though it may have been in self defense, i think he should have had to accept some expobility for what he did. Woodruff to arizona. We should be able to trust the laws that our nation has for us to buy into the system. Woodruff others that viewed the system said the jury got it right. I dont think the prosecution did enough and i think that the defse did. You saw little bits and pieces and you have to speculate and think of the whole trial just on little piece he, whereas the jury has everything to consider. Woodruff for the most part, there were scattered incidents. Late saturday in oakland, california demonstrators vandalized buildings and smashed car windows and last night groups of protestors in los angeles threw rocks and bottles at police. 60 were arrested for failing to disperse. President obama read a statement, that read in part, this verdict has elicited great passions, i now ask every american to respect the law for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. Today, White House Press secretary jay carney said, the federal government will decide whether or not to press charges against George Zimmerman. But hundreds of vigils and rallies across the country this saturday. Trayvon martins family also had the option of filing a civil suit against zimmerman. Woodruff well delve into questions about the criminal justice system, racial profiling, and more, a few moments from now. Also ahead in the program, a new plan to improve safety at bangladesh factories; health care for musicians; a failed drug test for a champion sprinter; and a reporters journey into a dangerous mexico. But first, the other news of the day. Heres kwame holman. Holman a top u. S. Diplomat urged egypts interim leaders today to include all parties in a transition to democracy. Deputy secretary of state William Burns is the first senior american official to visit cairo since the army ousted president Mohammed Morsi. Burns met today with the interim president and the head of the military. Afterward, he said the u. S. Wants all sides to Work Together, so egypt can succeed. Burns arrival in cairo came as thousands of islamist supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi demonstrated again. They waved flags and pictures demanding his return to power. U. S. Officials insisted today president obama remains committed to arming rebels in syria. They played down a New York Times report that the effort is much more limited than first discussed. The report said the c. I. A. Will provide only small arms, on a limited basis, and that it could take months for the program to affect the battlefield. The full u. S. Senate went behind closed doors this evening in a bid to avoid allout fracture over filibusters and senate rules. Democratic leader harry reid said republicans must allow confirmation of seven president ial nominees theyve blocked so far. If not, reid says Majority Democrats will change senate rules, instituting an upor down, simple majority vote for such appointments. Iowa senator tom harkin made the democrats case. If were doing our constitutional duty, we would confirm all of these nominees tomorrow and move on to our legislative work so why arent we doing that . Well, because my friends on the republican side are hijacking these nominations, and this nomination process, to try to make changes to laws they know they could not change through regular order. Holman the move would not affect current rules that require a supermajority of 60 votes to break filibusters against other senate action. But republicans, including jeff flake of arizona, argued even the limited change would do longterm damage to the senate. The rule change that is being considered this week is more far reaching an more significant than has been advertised. This rule change was described this afternoon by the majority leader as a, quote, minor change, no big deal. It is a big deal. It has a potential to change this institution in ways that are both hazardous and un forseen. Holman senators still could reach an agreement on the president s pending nominees and avoid the rules change. The u. S. Air force is putting a number of its combat planes back in the air after grounding them in april. Budget cuts forced a third of activeduty combat planes to be parked, from fighters to bombers to airborne radar planes. The return to flying comes after Congress Allowed the pentagon to shift money from lower priority accounts to training. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 20 points to close at 15,484. The nasdaq rose seven points to close at 3607. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff and we come back to the zimmerman verdict and some of the major questions continuing to resonate in the wake of the decision. We get four views. Christina swarns is director of the criminal justice practice at the n. A. A. C. P. Legal defense and educational fund. Jelani cobb is a contributor to newyorker. Com and director of the institute of African American studies at the university of connecticut. He has been writing on the trial. Jonathan turley is professor of law at George WashingtonUniversity Law school. Carol swain is a professor of Political Science and law at vanderbilt law school. We thank you all for and i want to ask each one of you the same question starting with you christina swarns, was justice done here . No. I think thats quite clear. Juchts was no justice was not done. I dont think you can say when a child is walking down the street, doing nothing wrong and buying candy and ice tee, gets shot and killed in the street. Nothing accountable but justice. Its quite clear that no, justice was not done in this case. Carol swain, how do you see it . Was justice done . I think our legal system worked the way it was supposed to work. There are a lot of situations in the case that does not fet with the race agenda. Woodruff we can get to some of those factors that are not being discussed in just a minute. Let me ask you jelani cobb. Was justice done . Absolutely not. I dont think justice was done. We have this right to Fourth Amendment right freedom from unconstitutional search and seizure which we generally think applies to the police but what we have in florida is a state of affairs where people have been deputized in light of the verdict to stop African American youth anywhere under any circumstances and demand what theyre up to and what theyre doing and possibly at the penalty of death. Woodruff and Jonathan Turley, hearing what the others have said, how do you answer this question . I think the case has become a vehicle for issues that go far beyond what happened in the courtroom. What we talk about justice we are talking about often overriding issues of race in america that have been under scrutiny for decades. Did justice occur . Yes. This was a determined prosecution. Many people felt actually overplayed the case to try to get a conviction. I think it was a fair trial. And the result i think was predictable. Woodruff christina swarnes pick up on that and size up for us whether you think the prosecution did the job that it should have done in handling the case. Well, i would want to first pick up on the point that was just made. You know, its quite clear that mark omara did a good job defending his client. He outdefended the prosecution in this case. With respect to what the prosecution did in this case there were several serious errors made. The first being that it allowed it was the issue of race was taken out of the courtroom and then ultimately, in closing said that it wasnt a question of race in this case. And i think that was a significant error and a significant false fact, really. The second thing i would point out is you know, the jury selection in this case, i dont understand how the prosecution believed that a jury of six white women was going to be favorable to its case against mr. Zimmerman. So i think that was another error. Several of the witnesses that they presented clearly appeared to be unprepared or underprepared to present a strong case against mr. Zimmerman. So i think there are a lot of issues and errors in terms of how the prosecution handled this case. Woodruff carol swain, how do you see, how the prosecution handled the case . Good i think everything was set up to be favorable to the prosecution and six women were selected because it was assumed they would be favorable and at times it seemed like the judge leaned towards the prosecution. I think there was a fair trial. It probably would not have been brought to court at all, if certainly race was always a part of it. So theres no way to pretend that it wasnt about race. It was always about race. If it had been the same case involving two black men or two white men, it would not be national news. And so it was racialized from the very beginning. If we had focused on the faculty that this was a confrontation between two ethnic minorities that tragically ended in a death we would not be here discussing it right now. Woodruff well, to you, jelani cobb on that point about whether race was clearly a part of this trial, we knew the judge said at the outset that the attorneys were not to use the term racial profiling. Right. If i can just respond to carol swains previous point with this being racialized as opposed to race being an integral part of it from the beginning. Melissa alexander who people may be familiar with, in a Domestic Violence situation, fired a warning shot and was sentenced to 20 years, despite the fact that she deployed a stand your ground defense, despite the fact this is who white men or two two white men or two black men, 45 days before this case was investigated or charges brought. No we cant escape and finally the fact of the matter is, mrs. Zimmerman had called the police 46 times in previous six years only for African Americans, only for African American men. And so if we just look at who he thought was suspicious and if this was a kind of arbitrary element of calling, 20 of the population of that subdivision is African American. What his problem seemed to be was with the presence of African Americans there not with the presence of crime or the incapacity to differentiate between African Americans and crime. Woodruff carol could you pick up on that point quch. Unfortunately if you look at the crime rate of African Americans it works against blacks. And it bothers me a lot that were not talking about the black on black crimes that are taking place in urban cities. We should be concerned about the young men that are dying across america. And the Civil Rights Community ought to be out there marching in those communities, demanding that Something Different be done. Woodruff what about that point, christina swarnes . You know i obviously agree, young black men should not be getting killed across this country. But what happened in florida to Trayvon Martin is mr. Zimmerman looked at him walking down the street with a bag of skittles and a bottle of iced tea and determined this young man was a criminal. He warranted a call to the police, warranted being followed, following mr. Martin down the street on foot, notwithstanding the fact that everyone agrees that this young man was doing absolutely nothing wrong. There was nothing criminal about what he was doing. There was nothing apparently criminal about what he was doing. The only thing we know about him was that he was black. We know from other evidence that the school had april rehelpedded him and found jewelry and mr. Zimmerman didnt know a single thing about that. All he knew at that moment was that mr. He didnt know anything about this child. This was a teenager walking down the street. All he saw didnt justify murder woodruff were not going to be able to rehear the case here. So we hear that both of you have a different perspective. Jonathan turley, do you want to comment on what they have just been going back and forth on . Its indicative about how much has been piled on this case. What was striking on this case is people looked at the same events and came away with surprisingly different views how effective witnesses were. I think this case was fatally undermined by angela corey and overcharged the case and made it Second Degree. If she had gone with manslaughter it could have come out erchlt did i. I think it is a major differently. It was a major flaw. It got worse and worse with the prosecutors. They led with a very weak witness who was conflicted and gave testimony that was heavily towards zimmermans favor. Where let me even this out. Jelani cobb does this verdict speak to the minorities of the country getting a fair trial . Well, i think this verdict doesnt tell us anything about race and juchts system that we didnt already know. And whats disturbing about this is you know, regarding professor swain afs previous comment the amount of crime in African American communities somehow works against someone thats endorsing the very element of racism. No amount of white crime would simply allow us to make a blanket prim prime prime afaisb. Woodruff Jonathan Turley youre shaking your head here. We seem to be detached from what the evidence was. This jury knew knowing more nothing more about what happened, the situation was in equipoise. The jury is not there to make a guess and its certainly not there to make social justice calls. They didnt have enough to convict and i know people are frustrated by that. But this system worked. This was a fair trial. May i please respond . Woodruff yes, go ahead. Well, so this was not a situation of equipose. Because the fact of the matter is, whatever the conflict was it was precipitated by mr. Zimmerman. The Police Dispatcher told him not to get out of his vehicle. He proceeded to get out of his vehicle. He followed by car and by foot. This was a conflict. If there had been a physical conflict that evolved out of that is because mr. Martin felt threatened which is a justifiable reasonable presumption. If anyone is walking down a dark street in the rain and someone is following them on foot you might assume you are at risk. If Trayvon Martin struck him first, if Trayvon Martin struck him numerous times this would be the action of someone who reasonably feared for his life. Woodruff were going to let jonathan respond. We cant say that the jury believed zimmerman or even liked zimmerman in this, they simply didnt have enough to convict zimmerman. The actions you describe are legal. Hes loued to follow and be armed. I think someone investing so much in the case that they dont recognize that these are lawful acts and you have to presume things in this cas