Serious Zimmerman Acquitted

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Given what I've heard of the overall low quality of the prosecution's case, it seems doubtful that Zimmerman was guilty of the formal charges pressed on him, so while he's probably in the wrong in some capacity to make getting off scot-free unjust, it is also unjust to penalize somebody for charges that don't quite fit. It's a crap-shoot either way, so may as well pick the option that doesn't lead to actively state-imposed injustice.

That being said, I feel this case exposes something wrong with Florida's stand-your-ground law. That you can instigate a conflict in circumstances like this (even when 911 tries to call you off) and still claim self-defense after killing the man doesn't sit well with me.

Honestly, though, it's not even the dubious degree of justice involved with this case that irks me the most. The biggest thing that peeves me is that I'm home for the summer and my father loves to listen to conservative talk radio and those blowhards are going to smugly and collectively jizz themselves for at least a week over the verdict and Black Panthers and NAACP and Jesse Jackson and justice in the face of justice-suppressing black outrage rather than simply stop spewing nonsense about this shit. Ugh kill me now.
 
What I find so odd, though, is... well... I'm pretty sure you can get manslaughter for something like hitting a person with your car by accident. Pursuing a person and killing them when the police told you to stand down should at least get manslaughter, in a logical sense. I apologize if I misinterpreted this, but he did confess to killing the boy, no? He went out of his way to do so, correct? That should definitely warrant more than a slap on the wrist, at least in my mind.
 
Stand Your Ground is irrelevant to the case. Zimmerman never tried to defend himself under SYG, he did a strict self-defense claim.

Only reason SYG is being brought up is the left doesn't like that law, and this whole trial was supposed to be a railroad about "Larger Truths." Problem is, "beyond reasonable doubt" was a standard this prosecution was never going to meet - not at least for murder two. Like I said, if they were making the case for manslaughter from the beginning and using their time to build a case around that, they *might* have been able to convict Zimmerman. Instead they added it at the last hour along with a child abuse charge to beclown themselves, and rendered most of their testimony (what elements of it would have aided a manslaughter conviction) incoherent.

Last night, the dirty, stinking Occupunks decided to take it out on the Oakland police force. http://twitchy.com/2013/07/14/kill-...urn-flags-over-zimmerman-verdict-photosvideo/ Not really news, as those folks will take any convenient excuse to cause damage and destruction of property. Ho Hum.

Oh, and since I'm on MoveOn.org's email list apparently a petition is going around from Ben Jealous of the NAACP asking the DOJ to charge Zimmerman with a Civil Rights violation for violating Martin's right to life. (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/open-a-civil-rights-case?source=mo&id=71226-21400833-quVOqkx)

May be the first time MoveOn.org has ever allowed "right to life" in a sentence from one of the petitions they'll be heavily invested in. Not to worry, soon I'm sure Wendy Davis will find a premie infant to stomp all over in her keen pink sneakers to make up for it, and all will be well in left-world.

Personally I think the DOJ has already "acted" enough, and I find it fairly dubious they have a branch explicitly based around lessening racial and ethnic tensions, but there it is. If the case was "highly toxic", that's something you can blame on the media. (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...ze-trayvon-martin-protests-and-foment-unrest/)

coolbiz:

That's fine. I sympathize with where you're coming from. I was just asking the questions because I figured that was your basis, and you've every right to feel that way. Neither of these two guys were saints. Zimmerman had run-ins with the law in the past, and while I think he was trying to turn his life around, he still had some bad habits from his old days - or maybe even he was so zealous in trying to prevent people from being like he used to be, somehow he was more engaged. I hardly think Zimmerman's a hero or an icon, but I do think he ultimately killed in self-defense. That's what the jury determined given the case they were presented.
 
I'm glad that we're bringing wendy davis into this thread, she's clearly relevant to the fact that some guy decided to take the law into his own hands. I bet that if Martin was white and Zimmerman was black you would be calling for Zimmerman to be lynched right now. The fact is that the republicans decided to rally behind Zimmerman because he was "whiter" than Martin was. I don't really think any of you legitimately give two fucks about him or what happens in the aftermath.

The fact of the matter is that Zimmerman provoked a reaction. Does this mean that if someone follows Zimmerman home after the trial, provokes a response and then shoots him in "self defense" it's legal? Because these stand your ground laws are pretty exploitable from what i can tell.

Zimmerman was clearly told to stay out of the case by the 911 dispatcher. And the fact that he fucking called Martin a "(BAN ME PLEASE)" on the 911 call didn't help his case.

The fact that he fucking followed Martin around with a loaded gun is completely unacceptable.

Regardless, Zimmerman is guilty in the court of public opinion, and I don't doubt that someone's going to exact their own form of justice on him. Not saying I support it, I prefer to leave things up to the court system, but the fact was that the prosecution was fighting an uphill battle in this case.
 
This thread fucking sucks. It seems like people are arguing just to get 'likes' on their posts.

"With your asses so far up your own asses" has to be one of the most retarded joles I have ever heard.

of course I am not aiming this at anyone actually trying to discuss this topic sensibly. I don't know enough about this case to decide whether or not zimmerman should be guilty.
 
i dont know how people are legitimately responding to deck knight lol

do we need to bring this back: http://smogon.com/forums/threads/deck-knight-gallery.3460652/

anyway, it's pretty clear zimmerman stopped trayvon and said something to him (just based on his 911 call) and that trayvon resorted to violence. zimmerman then shot the kid in what the chest while getting pummeled. race absolutely had everything to do with this case, and while i believe zimmerman acted in self defense, for ignoring the cops and confronting trayvon which led to his death, i think that is a serious problem and that there there should have been some punishment. idk if thats a flaw in the legal system or with the prosecution but this left a dirty taste in my mouth.

also did anyone watch the defense's post trial presser? how incredibly pompous and retarded are these people lol...
 
I support gun ownership. I support conceal and carry. I support the use lethal force in self defense when threatened with bodily harm. And I respect that jury, and their decision.

But if Florida law allows a person to profile, stalk, and harass an innocent stranger, and then kill them "quote-unquote-in-self-defense" when the person being followed fears for their own safety and defends themselves, something is terribly wrong with Florida law and has got to change.
 
I'm happy with the verdict. The judicial system has a standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" for a reason and I'm glad the jury did not make their decision based on emotion, but rather the facts/evidence at hand and application of Florida law.
 
coolbiz said:
I'm full of shit? with no reason behind my being full of shit? insults and then leave it at that right. I am in no way here to argue but that was completely unnecessary dude, guarantee you wouldn't say that in real life to me so why say it over the internet? not here to discuss that though, I'm done with this bs discussion its just gonna be the same dumb ass argument over and over
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I think he meant Curtains was full of shit, because
You say its not about race but you are basically the ONLY one bringing it up.
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while your post, among others did imply it was about race.
I don't think it was actually directed at you.
 
It's been pointed out already, but either way, Zimmerman was fucked if he was convicted or not. The whole thing was grabbed and shat on by the media to the point that it was absolutely fucking ridiculous. He's not going to be able to get a job, get groceries, or fucking leave his own HOUSE without fear of the public running to lynch him despite the fact the case is closed.
 
^ Agreed. No matter what he may or may not have done, it may be worse that he was left out of prison - he's under a bit more pressure than simply dropping the soap or whatever. A fair portion of the populace seems liable to snap his neck at any given moment. I'm betting/hoping they put him under some sort of protective program, or else he'll probably drop dead within the month.
 
Perfect Cell said:
It's been pointed out already, but either way, Zimmerman was fucked if he was convicted or not. The whole thing was grabbed and shat on by the media to the point that it was absolutely fucking ridiculous. He's not going to be able to get a job, get groceries, or fucking leave his own HOUSE without fear of the public running to lynch him despite the fact the case is closed.
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He stalked and killed an unarmed minor. Seems vaguely fair to me that society will succeed where the justice system has failed.
 
The Shadow Knight said:
Kind of ironic to hope for vigilante action against this guy, like some people are, when this whole debacle started with his attempt at vigilante actions going very, very wrong.
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Who said I was hoping for vigilante action. Him living out his days in fear is a perfectly satisfactory outcome.
 
Once the trial was actually underway, I knew this would be the outcome. Zimmermann was an idiot and brought the whole situation on himself, but without any substantial evidence to prove that it wasn't self defense, the jury made the right call, as far as I'm concerned.

What irks me far more are the constant death threats toward Zimmermann. "The hood will catch up with you" and stuff like that.

For Zimmermann's sake, though, I hope he doesn't pull a colossally idiotic move. Apparently, along with the Stand Your Ground law, since he was found not-guilty by self defense, he could now go after Trayvon's family for legal costs. While I feel like Zimmermann couldn't possibly be stupid enough to do that, I feel like his lawyer (especially based on his interview post-trial) seems like he might be scummy enough to prolong this whole thing.
 
Deck Knight said:
This case had nothing to do with race.
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Zimmerman's reaction to the sight of a black guy walking around his neighbourhood was to call the police. The reason he gave to the dispatcher for the call ("It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about") is nonsense. Walking in rain isn't even close to inherently "look[ing] like he's up to no good," and this isn't even subtle racism. Race was an enormous part of this case from the beginning, and Zimmerman made it so.

There's also the matter of what exactly Zimmerman said under his breath while following Martin. I know some people disagree, but after listening to the recording numerous times, I'm quite confident that he said "fucking coons," and even more certain that it isn't "fucking punks," as some people claim. I guess it could conceivably be "fucking goons" or something similar.

Anyway, I can accept that there wasn't enough here to convict Zimmerman in a court of law, but this verdict has terrible societal implications unless things are changed as soon as possible. A precedent that it's okay to kill someone if you successfully picked a fight with him first is just not acceptable.
 
Watching this, I'm confused as to the amount of people calling fowl on account of race after the verdict was reached. The argument about wether or not race is present is found in Zimmerman's actions leading up to the encounter. Insofar as I'm aware I haven't seen anyone present (or at least substantiate) an argument that Zimmerman was acquitted because Trayvon was Black and Zimmerman wasn't.

Also , can we please not play "I hope he suffers horribly". This is a tragedy for everyone involved, including Zimmerman and his family. Whenever these things tend to happen, we tend to get caught up in a mob mentality and often end up forgetting about the purpose for our rage. At the end of the day, someone lost their life, people lost a member of their family, others lost a friend, and one man is going to have to live through horrendous guilt and pain (some of the public's doing, more of his own). Our focus shouldn't be on revenge, but rather on looking at ways to insure this problem does not repeat itself.
 
verbatim said:
Watching this, I'm confused as to the amount of people calling fowl on account of race after the verdict was reached. The argument about wether or not race is present is found in Zimmerman's actions leading up to the encounter. Insofar as I'm aware I haven't seen anyone present (or at least substantiate) an argument that Zimmerman was acquitted because Trayvon was Black and Zimmerman wasn't.
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You know, this is pretty interesting. Zimmerman's actions WERE influenced by the victim's skin color so we can't act as if race isn't involved at all.

Let me raise a question: should the jury have punished Zimmerman in SOME way, regardless of whether he was found guilty or innocent of murder/manslaughter? Racism is considered undesirable and it's in the court's ability to set an example.
 
He was carrying a gun he wasn't suppose to carry, disobeyed authorities, and followed Trevon. Completely ignore the confrontation, he should be charged the moment he stepped out of his truck, since he clearly was set to act against him.
 
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