CLEAT lawyers and staffers were on the scene shortly after reports of the shooting surfaced

-- So those laws, under which the accused ultimately prevailed, are still valid laws . . . ? "Merely" wrongly applied? Laws clear enough so that the innocent could be vindicated? --

It depends on the facts of each case, how amenable the case is to abuse, but the underlying law(s) in Zimmerman's case were murder vs. self defense; and in the Duke rape hoax, rape. There are very few people willing to champion the notion that murder, self-defense, and rape laws are "bad laws."

-- Had Zimmerman, the Duke defendants not prevailed? would the law itself be more distorted for future cases? --

Probably not. Those are examples of political prosecutions. action by prosecutors to curry favor. Zimmerman became a target because the blacks created a false public narrative. The special prosecutor applied politics, not the law, to the case. Similar with Duke rape, Nifong wanted to make a name for himself.

Had the system prevailed and the individuals been wrongly convicted, the DA would probably not face a similar opportunity in their lifetime.

There are cases of laws or precedents wrongly applied, affecting all of society forever after. See chronic dishonesty about the Presser case being used to uphold unconstitutional state gun laws, for decades, while the Supreme Court looked on and decided to do nothing.

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