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[Portugeezer]

I guess the evidence isn't strong enough.

And I mean the evidence to convict of manslaughter, because yes we all understand he shot a killed Trayvon but the trial wasn't to prove that.

 

[CrankyJay]

Since today apparently.

Read what I quoted though.

 

[RyougaSaotome]

Disgusting and embarrassing.

Hardly surprising though.

Ugh.

 

[TunaMarshmallow]

It may be fair to say that we cannot complain about the verdict given the laws in play.

But in saying that, we should be clear that we condemn the laws in play, that we're embarrassed by a system that would allow for such outcomes, and that we're opponents of all forms of discrimination.

This is a goddamned tragedy.

 

[Meier]

Very sad. As a born Floridian, I've been so disappointed in the state so many times in recent years. I guess in this case it may have been as much the prosecution's fault as the jury's, but it doesn't make it any less unfortunate or make the state look any better.

 

[WowBaby]

This man got his head bashed into concrete FOUR times:

This man CLAIMS to have had his head bashed into concrete 25 times:

What a shame.

 

[charsace]

People let their emotions get carried away in this whole thing. Don't get me wrong. Zimmerman is an idiot and Trayvon was probably a little shit of a kid too. Of course, his death was unfortunate. Zimmerman made a terrible decision. Still, Trayvon could have walked away though. But based on the evidence, the charges and state law, I think the jury made the right call. Murder 2 was over zealous. Manslaughter...maybe you could charge him with that. But the evidence can go either way. The defense made a more logical argument while the prosecution attempted to pull heart strings. In the end, logic won. Still this whole thing is a giant mess and shouldn't have happened.

So TM is a little shit because he was going about his business and eventuallly had to defend himself against a guy that was stalking him and confronted him?

 

[DyTonic]

Not surprising and IMO the correct verdict. Most people will put this behind them in less than a month and move on with their lives. As for Zimmerman, I think he should get the hell out of the country.

Yep and Florida need to change their gun laws *coughs*

 

[Nobility]

I really am surprised.

I thought they would at least get the manslaughter charge.

Civil suit will clean out Zimmerman.

 

[IcyBlueStrawberry]

Nah I meant from defending himself from a horrible punk.

My bad.

I know how much it sucks when you're armed with a loaded gun and decide to follow & harass an innocent teenager because he's black suspicious, despite having been told by legal authorities to stop, only to have the situation become heated in an unspecified manner and then be forced to shoot him for fear that there was absolutely no other way to resolve the situation that you instigated in the first place.

 

[iammeiam]

Look. The state over charged. The jury by asking for the definition of manslaughter wanted to convict. Not guilty does NOT mean innocent.

The jury had the option of convicting on manslaughter, though--murder 2 was the higher charge, manslaughter was automatically included and available to them. They didn't want to convict on it either. What was the state supposed to charge him with then?

 

[B-Dubs]

There was a black women recently that was prosecuted on charges of vehicular homicide recently.

She was crossing the street with her child after getting off a bus.

She and her child got hit by a driver and the kid was killed.

And SHE got prosecuted for vehicular homicide. Again, while WALKING and her child was killed by someone else, and she was hauled off to jail for crossing the road at her bus stop.

Oh, and the driver admitted to having had drinks. And was on pain medication. And fled.

Amurica.

Please tell me this isn't true

 

[Stinkles]

Such a fucked up country. So, you can follow someone, provoke a fight, and when they're losing kill and thats just self defense...

yup. Literally. In Florida at least.

 

[Jawbreaker]

Seems like the right verdict given a lack of evidence in the case. I would not feel comfortable putting Zimmerman in jail after having watched the trial. I know a lot of people are emotional about it, but according to Florida State law, it was the correct verdict.

It's the justice system you should be angry at if you don't like the result of the case.

 

[Kadey]

He may not be guilty in the court of the law but he won't live a peaceful life from now on. There are going to be many people with grudges and people looking to hurt him.

 

[Maninthemirror]

This x 100.

All the assholes in this thread saying the "right decision" was made are representative of the disgusting attitudes in this country and stupid laws that work against a black kid minding his own business. A black kid can be stalked, harassed and finally gunned down if you have stupid, racist, unfounded suspicions about him and you will get away with it if you can lie well enough that you did it in self-defense. This is yet another shameful moment in American history and I hope it's looked back upon as yet another embarrassing mistake in race relations.

The case was whether Zimmerman acted in self defense in that moment and prosecution did not do a good job. This was not a case about harassment and stalking

 

[Cipherr]

Disgusting.

Are you kidding me? He was STALKING HIM even after he was told by the Operator not to pursuit.

When a cop tells you not to pursuit do not pursuit. Also he killed an innocent CHILD

I mean.... wow. I shouldn't be surprised, and I always knew in the back of my mind that somehow the kids family would get no justice. But its still a fucking shame to see that things are just as ass backwards as they always were.

Then to come to the thread and see people calling the kid a 'little shit' and a 'thug' and whatnot. Goddamn, the kid was walking home minding his own business.

 

[Gattsu25]

Guilty

 

[Derwind]

Welp, time to update the 'places I will never, ever visit' list. Florida. Check.

 

[Killing_Joke]

Yeah, i'm done with this. I expect a lot of graves soon. Thank god i don't have cable to listen to any disgusting shit the media will spew.

I don't think they understood manslaughter so just let him go. I would HOPE they voted because of lack of evidence and not GZ's bullshit. Time to move on.

 

[Evolution_1ne]

a Martain becomes just another fucking body

 

[Rafterman]

Just wondering....is there a room full of Hispanics somewhere cheering?

Shh..don't let anyone in that he's Hispanic, that will ruin their whole "white on black" angle. And you know we just gotta have white on black angle to make it all juicy and get people riled up.

 

[Devolution]

Yeah, Trayvon could've walked away or Zimmerman could have not profiled him in the first place.

Trayvon ran away. Zimmerman followed. Do people just ignore that or...

 

[Jado]

You can get away with anything if you lie well enough and the evidence isn't there. It's just how the system works.

No, it's not just how the system works. You are FAR more likely to get away with murder if you're a white or non-black person who kills a black person vs. a black person who killed a white person. These are facts and the implications are very clear about the kind of country we live in.

 

[Knoxcore]

The process is what's at fault here, for a host of reasons.



Badly and to the detriment of ethnic minorities?

On the whole, sometimes. But, OJ got off free...

 

[vilmer_]

This man CLAIMS to have had his head bashed into concrete 25 times:

What a shame.

I've had cat scratches worse than that.

 

[Forceatowulf]

IMG]http://i.imgur.com/pQgyWwN.png[/IMG]

Disgusting.

 

[BruiserBear]

There is nothing unique about it. What you described is textbook manslaughter which the jury was instructed to consider

I agree that manslaughter was very possible, and I wouldn't have been upset if he was convicted of that crime, but I do not know how someone could say with a straight face the facts of this case are not unique.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Now we know that getting into a physical conflict as a result of stalking someone with a loaded gun, and then fire said gun upon the individual you chased down, is legal in the United States of America.

It sounds to me like that sets a pretty bad precedence.

 

[-PXG-]

Are you kidding me? He was STALKING HIM even after he was told by the Operator not to pursuit.

When a cop tells you not to pursuit do not pursuit. Also he killed an innocent CHILD

We know GZ followed TM. But who started the physical altercation though. Some people make it sound like GZ just walked out of his house and gunned down TM in the middle of the street for no reason. There is more to it. Again this is a mess. IMO, GZ should get manslaughter at most. I'm surprised he got off completely.

 

[JAYinHD]

It's the state of Florida so I'm not shocked at all. The home of Casey Anthony, Marissa Alexander, and now GZ.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Also to me this is yet another example of why guns must be banned. Shooting someone dead should not be a suitable option for self defence. Especially not when its as a response to just a simple beat down.

So people who aren't as capable as others should just get their ass beat? I'm neither here nor there on gun control but better options than lets just ban everything should exist. Not talking about this case but people have been killed from just being beat down. If someone wants to kill someone they'll do it regardless of if they're allowed guns or not.

 

[casabolg]

Time to sit and watch the reaction.

 

[speedline]

It was a stupid picture to post, but that is patently wrong. They're supporting their dad, who's a damn defense attorney. Nobody deserves to be blamed for the verdict, because that's not how this shit works.

...But I still want my goddamn Mickey Mantle card, WEST

whats up with this? I want a Mickey mantle card as well.

 

[Measley]

Tell me you are joking. This whole trial has made me sick and as a black man in America, I have no faith in our justice system or hope that I would be properly defended in a court of law. Say what you want but the people calling this a fair case and "great job" for the defense on defending Zimmerman makes me just as nauseous. Insanity.

Agreed.

As a father of a non-white male, this case bothers the fuck out of me. My son isn't even black, but he isn't close to white either. What if some crazy white guy thinks that he is some "punk" wanting to break into houses? Does my son have to get on his knees while this guy puts a gun to his head? Afterall, if my son stands up for himself, and even fights back, he could be killed.

 

[Kusagari]

Interesting thing is, if Martin had killed Zimmerman in that scuffle, he would've been found guilty. Even if he had been defending himself against an obvious harasser who happened to be armed.

Well you're probably right, the funny thing is that Martin has a slam dunk example of when to stand your ground as he was obviously scared of Zimmerman and viewed him as an unlawful threat.

 

[B-Dex]

Well I did want to go to Orlando and hit up Disney World at some point but I think I will just avoid it completely now.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Florida can't get anything right.

 

[lordfroakie]

Is it bullying if I ask if the person on the far left is wearing a mask?

Person isn't on gaf so who cares.

 

[neojubei]

This. The hyperbole is going beyond reasonable now.

No it's not.

 

[Wanda/Wander]

People let their emotions get carried away in this whole thing. Don't get me wrong. Zimmerman is an idiot and Trayvon was probably a little shit of a kid too. Of course, his death was unfortunate. Zimmerman made a terrible decision. Still, Trayvon could have walked away though. But based on the evidence, the charges and state law, I think the jury made the right call. Murder 2 was over zealous. Manslaughter...maybe you could charge him with that. But the evidence can go either way. The defense made a more logical argument while the prosecution attempted to pull heart strings. In the end, logic won. Still this whole thing is a giant mess and shouldn't have happened.

Fucking stop

Fucking stop

Who the fuck are you to say that? It's not enough he's dead?

Come on

 

[Uncle Rupee]

Moral of the story, if you ever start a fist fight... SHOOT your opponent..... and Make sure you kill them.

He was a security guard, wasn't he? Maybe the moral of the story is you shouldn't fuck with authority. Assuming Zimmerman tried to apprehend Martin, had Martin simply done as he was told he could have potentially filed a wrongful arrest / kidnapping lawsuit against Zimmerman when the dust had settled. As it stands, he fought with the community's authority figure and got himself killed.

 

[GK86]

Such a fucked up country. So, you can follow someone, provoke a fight, and when they're losing kill and thats just self defense...

Only if you are white.

 

[Plywood]

Just wondering....is there a room full of Hispanics somewhere cheering?

...What?

 

[Kallor]

Sentence him to death.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Trayvon was black ad poor. I don't think this actually comes as any surprise to anyone I know. Justice is much harder to come by the darker your skin color.

 

[Zoramon089]

Wasnt there a Black Woman sentenced to 20 years for firing a WARNING SHOT in the air?

Yeah America

Remember the black HS girl who almost got sentenced to years in prison for a small chemistry experiment that didn't damage anything or hurt anyone?

 

[Rayis]

You know what's fucking terrifying? What you wrote isn't even hyperbole... this is literally the precedent that has been set with this verdict.

Exactly, this sends a terrible message to people and I don't how the jurors can live with that.

 

[nateeasy]

You heard it here first, folks: it's only illegal to kill white people.

ml

not white babies

 

[Kyon]

We know GZ followed TM. But who started the physical altercation though. Some people make it sound like GZ just walked out of his house and gunned down TM in the middle of the street for no reason. There is more to it. Again this is a mess. IMO, GZ should get manslaughter at most. I'm surprised he got off completely.

What are you talking about. Trayvon RAN AWAY and he kept PURSUING.