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Verdict reached in George Zimmerman case - Not Guilty

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1. Prosecution had no eye witnesses, Defense did. This was huge

2. Prosecution witnesses were very weak and sometimes weird, defense only had to do an ok job

3. This case was not about if Zimmerman profiled him, stalked him or harassed him which he did , it was if prosecution could convince the jury that zimmerman did not kill him in self defense. Defense put enough doubt in jury's mind and defense won.
Agreed. The witnesses for Prosecution were shitty. Simple as that.
 
It's sickening to believe in 2013 we still have bronze-age ideas that skin tone determines the character of a person, and their worth. We would be a better world when we get rid of the aesthetic stupidity and realize everyone has the same worth, no more, no less.

But enough of my fantasy ideals...

It's not a fantasy, but it'll take an event of magnificent scope for humans to stop obsessing over different shades of brown.
 
There's no universe where this is considered a white dude:

He looks Hispanic and even a bit Arab in some shots.

I never thought he was white until people on the gaf were saying it.

He doesn't look white and his mom is aboriginal or something.
Obama doesn't look white and his dad is black.

Obama considered black.
Zimmerman considered...
 
Florida-GAF, I think the best thing we can do is to wake up on Monday and call the Florida Democratic Party's headquarters, and demand a petition drive to place on the 2014 midterm ballot a question to repeal the stand-your-ground law that led to this in the first place.

And to everyone else, if your state has a stand-your-ground law, do the same thing.

This cannot stand.
 
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.

The neighborhood watch is self-appointed. What fucking authority?


Absolutely agree here. Maybe Trayvon's death can be the catalyst for real change.

Yeah people get so riled up at these things but don't really go the extra mile to help out the groups trying to make it better. Some donations of money or time should be the real answer, instead of solely anger. Channel that anger. Join a fight.
 
As a light-skinned hispanic person that also has a non-hispanic name... I'm basically white as far how people perceive and treat me. Do you think fox/etc would give two fucks about this if it were georgé zimmermandez?

No, nobody would...that's my point. Make it out to be white guy kills black kid and it's salacious, it's newsworthy, it's something people can get bent out of shape about. You get people bringing up every time a black person has been done wrong by "the white man". None of this shit would happen if they just called him what he is, a Hispanic. Can't exactly blame Hispanics for 400 years of whites being assholes, which is why all the news outlets and all the people parroting that shit in this thread keep calling him white...it plays on peoples emotions.
 
Sheer madness, and disheartening to see the "quaintly" veiled glee in this thread and elsewhere---I don't know if there will be riots but I can't imagine there not being at least some amount of something set in motion in the wake of this.

Plenty of folks in GA backing this too, of course on grounds of a sudden and passionate interest/expertise/reverence for the minutiae and finest of print of the law and the justice system despite never giving a damn the outstanding majority of the time---might as well be damned cicadas.
 
He was instructed to not follow TM and he ignored these instructions, he pursued and it escalated to an altercation, he was losing apparently and shot the other person involved.

There should have been some charge and not just allowed to walk free.

At the end of the day , the fact that he called the authorities clearly shows he initiated the entire series of events that happened that day.
 
I'm not surprised. I was hoping to be surprised, but ultimately I'm not. If there is one thing this case can teach it is that as a black person in America you are never safe. As a black man in America you are suspicious wherever you are. Drive a nice car? Suspicious. Enter the "wrong" kind of store? Suspicious. Standing around talking with friends? Suspicious. Walking home at night with nothing but a bag of skittles and ice tea? Suspicious.

Every day, every night, as a black man in America you are never safe. And there is nothing you can do to protect yourself.
 
For anyone who can't seem to wrap their heads around how George Zimmerman being Hispanic still means that this situation was intimately tied to white supremacy, being lighter skinned makes one more preferable in the racial hierarchy of American society. Zimmerman doesn't have to look like a Norwegian to have privilege in this scenario. He looks like a light-skinned mestizo, but the immediate reaction that American white bigots have in their hearts rallied them to the light-skinned "authority figure" over the dark-skinned "delinquent".
 
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.

Neighborhood watches have no authority. You are supposed to report suspicious activity to the police.
 
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I am not surprised at the not guilty on the murder charge - however, I am REAL surprised the jury didn't find on a lesser charge. Perhaps the state should have fucking realized a 2nd degree murder case was weak, and gone for manslaughter from the get-go.

That is the most mindboggling thing about this prosecution. Yeah, including lesser charges is hedging bets, but that's just how some prosecutions need to work.

With such a fervor about self-defense even in the pre-trial, Murder 1st or 2nd would be tough if he didn't have the requisite malice or premeditation/deliberation. On the other hand, the facts clearly, clearly show that Zimmerman was an absolute moron and Manslaughter would be an easier sale. By including lesser charges, you don't run into the possibility of getting an OJ repeat, and it's not like the lesser charges require that much more effort to prove up in comparison, plus it's easier to deal with potential bomb-shells by the defense. Better that than waiting until the end of everyone's case in chief to even begin to start considering amending charges.
 
Kids making this about race are fucking morons.

Zimmerman followed Trayvon because he incorrectly assumed he was another black criminal in the neighbor. His family are known racists. How is it not about race? Fuck off with your colorblind nonsense.
 
I figured this would happen when they left manslaughter out at the beginning. If I'm a juror and I've been working under the assumption that you're trying to prove murder, and then you introduce manslaughter, all I'm thinking is that you've got zero confidence in the evidence. You're the lawyer not me, so if even you think it's going poorly for you, I'm probably going to agree.

I think he's guilty of manslaughter at the very least, but that doesn't really matter now. I hope everyone can keep their shit together in the wake of this.
 
Right: the victim's race is why he was found not guilty.

No, I meant the defendant. Going by Florida law, and the evidence given at the trial, he's not guilty. Him being white/Hispanic has nothing to do with him being not guilty.

Now should the law change? Absolutely.
 
Okay, O'Mara made me laugh with that "George Zimmerman would never have been charged with a crime if he was Black." Oh man.
 
You'll have to forgive my horrible jokes.

Basically there's someone named Don West who is famous for shilling anything and everything in the most absurd HSN-style manner. He mostly shilled sports memorabilia, and then went into wrestling commentary for almost a decade.

The dude is nuts. And a master salesman.

...And I want my shit :@

Ha, yeah he worked wrestling for a while- didn't catch the joke at first
 
George Zimmerman is a fat racist murdering cowardly piece of excrement. GAF lawyer ball players make me sick. Commend Trayvon's soul and may Zimmerman choke on his own cowardice. And may gaffers who tacitly supported Zimmerman kiss my ass.

I love you.
 
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