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Zimmerman not guilty.

mac said:
George Zimmerman found not guilty

I still think that Zimmerman created the situation and Trayvon died as a result of that situation.
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GZ created only the opportunity for closer contact with TM, which was perhaps unwise yet not illegal. Under current Floriduh law that would have made little difference even if GZ was proven to be the initial aggressor. There was ample physical evidence and witness tetimony to show that GZ had clearly stopped aggression while TM continued to show aggression immediately prior to the shooting.


Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

I do not agree with this portion of the Floriduh "self defense" law. It should be amended to limit the initial aggressor to using only non-lethal force, even in their "self defense", as does the Texas law.
 
Neither the first nor the last unjust and out-of-touch verdict by a jury.

If Z had any money, the family could sue for wrongful death. But Z ain't OJ. :mrgreen:
 
mac said:
George Zimmerman found not guilty

I still think that Zimmerman created the situation and Trayvon died as a result of that situation.
Click to expand...



It's too bad that our world and society created a time and place that two people who were utterly unprepared to be in that situation were in that situation.

A civil conversation should have been the outcome of that meeting.

This is a tragedy that we all need to take part of the blame for having had it occur.
 
mac said:
George Zimmerman found not guilty

I still think that Zimmerman created the situation and Trayvon died as a result of that situation.
Click to expand...

That pretty much sums it up. Of course many here suggest that Martin should have just stayed in the house that day and in retrospect that is true because there was an idiot loose in the neighborhood.

What he had done was no different than a man who walks by a fence yard and teases a dog inside the yard. One day he walks by and teases the dog before realizing the gate is open. The two meet and of course the dog attacks him. Luckily the man has a gun and shoots and kills the dog and becomes a hero for people afraid of dogs.

George Zimmerman is not the hero people are parading him to be.
 
mac said:
George Zimmerman found not guilty

I still think that Zimmerman created the situation and Trayvon died as a result of that situation.
Click to expand...

I said he would not be convicted. The prosecution could no prove their case. There was too much reasonable doubt. But I agree if Zimmerman has heeded the suggestion that he not follow Trayvon none of this would have happened.
 

Here is the problem with that. You punch someone in the mouth for calling your wife a filthy whore. The guy you punched in the mouth gets up and pulls out a 5 inch fighting knife and "defends himself". You may very well need to use deadly force to keep from being gutted like a fish. It might not have been the "smart thing to do" to punch the guy in the mouth in the first place for calling your wife a filthy whore, but it shouldn't mean you go to prison because you had to shoot the asswipe after he pulled out a longshank and tried to nail kill you.

You have to leave stuff like this to juries because you can't write a law so tight that you can cover all possibilities.
 

i'm 26 and live in Pennsylvania

I didn't write or have anything to do with the laws in place in florida nor the climate of racial tension there

so I ask politely, why should I share any of the blame at all for this?
 
mac said:
George Zimmerman found not guilty

I still think that Zimmerman created the situation and Trayvon died as a result of that situation.
Click to expand...

He absolutely did create the situation. When he decided to keep eyes on Trayvon Martin, a series of events unfolded that caused Martin's death. There is no question about that. As others have posted ad nauseum, had George Zimmerman not gotten out of his car? Trayvon Martin would still be alive.

What is so hard about understanding that:

#1 - It's not against the law to get out of your car.
#2 - It's not against the law to follow someone.
#3 - The circumstantial evidence showed that Trayvon Martin struck the first blow -- in fact, the ONLY blows.
#4 - George Martin was in a fight for his life.
#5 - He shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense.

Other than, "It may have..." "It could have..." "There's a possibility that..." what evidence do you have that it happened any other way.
 

It all goes back to wh initiated the situation. In this case the idiot who called the guy's wife a filthy whore. He should bear some responsibility .

The guy who yells fire in a crowded theater and causes the stampeded of movie viewers should also bear some respnsibility.
 

If you are the type to resort to assault/battery for "insults" then you indeed are getting what you deserve, that "retaliation" is not only not smart but committing a forcible felony. Under your scenario would be quite easy to run around armed asasulting folks, for all manner of reasons, and then executing them if they retaliate using "serious" force. After your initial "sucker punch(es)" you simply say "woops, my bad, I will not hit you again" - any further aggression towards you then warrants your use of deadly force if you have simply have a "reasonable fear" of great bodily harm to yourself.
 

You're not following this. I think it is foolish and wrong to punch somebody for saying something ignorant. I'm saying that such a demonstration of poor judgement, however, should not invalidate your right to self defense as needed and reasonable and shooting a guy coming after you with a knife is reasonable even if you initiated the violence by giving him a bloody nose; clearly not a threat of severe physical harm and/or death.

Juries are much better able to sort this stuff out than some black-letter law that can't possibly take all possibilities into consideration.
 
mac said:
George Zimmerman found not guilty

I still think that Zimmerman created the situation and Trayvon died as a result of that situation.
Click to expand...

No question he did. Ad nauseum post here: Had George Zimmerman simply stayed in his car, none of this would have happened.

But.

Until we make getting out of one's car against the law? We've got what we've got.
 

:lol: :doh How quickly we forget the GZ trial situation. :roll: What did TM do to justify the use of deadly force by GZ, beyond giving GZ typical fist fight injuries?
 

I don't disagree, just lamenting the fact that had he stayed in his car...nothing would have happened.
 
MaggieD said:
No question he did. Ad nauseum post here: Had George Zimmerman simply stayed in his car, none of this would have happened.

But.

Until we make getting out of one's car against the law? We've got what we've got.
Click to expand...

It has nothing to do with getting out of a car.. People do it everyday without threatening action.

When you convict someone of doing a criminal act because of your paranoia and chase them down in a car it is harrassment of an innocent person that is what gets you into trouble.
 

No one chased anyone down in a car.

Why so hyperbolic?

If my neighborhood had been repeatedly robbed and a resident suffered a home invasion and the perpetrators were known to be black? Being suspicious enough of a black person walking in the rain to call the non-emergency number of local police is not being paranoid.
 
Just got a phone call from a friend:

The turd-like newspaper New York Times, the quotidian Bible of the Black Racist Enabling DEM Gay/Lib scum had this on their Front Page:

A crowd of the Teen age Thug Trayvon Martin Female Sympathizers cuddling their infants in their arms purportedly showing the extent the emotional anguish these idiots are going thru with bemoaning the just verdict of Z's NOT GUILTY verdict !!!

I puked when I heard that........and, I am still puking.


I wonder how many times, if ever, these same idiots turned out in the streets cuddling their babes in their ams to bemoan the MONTHLY THOUSANDS of the TEEN AGE Black/Black, and Black/Non Black crimes across the Nation ?!?!?
 
mac said:
I don't disagree, just lamenting the fact that had he stayed in his car...nothing would have happened.
Click to expand...

Yeah yeah, and if Z had stayed home he never would have seen TM.... nothing would have happened. If TM had not gone to the store for skittles Z never would have seen him and nothing would have happened. We can even take it as far as if either TM or Z had not been born then nothing would have happened. We can go round and round on this but in the end all those "if's" are just plain D irrelevent. Z getting out of his car to follow TM was NOT illegal no matter how anyone tries to spin it as some sort of act of stupidity or aggression. I personally know several people, including myself that would have followed someone they considered suspicious in order to find out if they are up to no good or not. (and I have on a few occasions done that)

And no matter what anyone says no one will ever convince me that it is not something valid to do. IMO people have an obligation and are honor bound to not only attempt to help protect our communities but to do so actively by following suspicious people. Too many people hide behind closed doors because they are either chicken **** or simply just do not want to get involved. The best way to combat crime is for the whole community to willing to help out in any way possible.
 

Then you have learned nothing.

What you should have learned is that the way for people to get involved, is to go outside and yell/scream/call 911 until a two-person fight stops. We heard from numerous witnesses they heard someone screaming for help. Had the community rallied -- had these people actually, you know, HELPED the guy screaming? We'd be talking about a much different scenerio.

Obligation to follow suspicious people. Are you kidding me??
 

Fair enough, he didn't drive his car down the sidewalk. So whatever you want to call it, Martin was quite aware someone was following him. If you are alone walking in the evening and you see somebody following you what would you suspect? If they aren't in a police car you are going to suspect somebody is up to no good. Then that person gets out of the car your alert system is going to up one level.

Not every black person is a criminal. As someone said elsewhere there is a high percentage of black on black crime in the US. That black person walking on the street may be in fear just as much as you
 

Actually my post was just talking about Z getting out of his car to follow M. I most definitely agree that if you see someone getting the crap beat out of them by someone else you should most definitely intervene right then and there, even before calling the cops imo. And that is not limited to just your immediate local community. But everywhere. Though the difference I think between what you said and what I propose is that I would actually literally phsysically try to stop the fight.

And no, I am not kidding you. However I should add that following someone that is suspicious should only be done when you are in your immediate local community. Not the whole town, city, country, whatever. The reason for this is that if you are a conscientious neighbor you know your immediate neighbors (at the very least thier faces) and who generally comes and goes. You however do not know who belongs and doesn't belong in any other part of the town, city, country, whatever.
 

I don't think anyone really truely believes that TM wasn't afraid, or at the least HIGHLY concerned about what Z was doing. What is however most peoples problem is that TM struck Z for no apparent reason other than Z following him. It doesn't matter how scared you are, when walking down a public way you do not have the right to strike someone unless there is obvious criminal intent going on. And in this case there was none. Might have had a suspicion of one but that is it, suspicion. No one has the Right to strike out at someone because of a suspicion. There must be obvious intent to do harm in order for a self defense claim to actually work. Many people have been shot because of a "suspicion" and in every case that I know of the person who shot the other guy because of a "suspicion" is always punished...even cops.
 
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