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Verdict reached in George Zimmerman case - Not Guilty

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That's what it's coming down to. I've yet to read of a fair legal system in the entire history of the world. America is about as good as it'll get without having a time-machine that lets you see the exact crime in question. My point was, that it's not perfect, but, based on factual evidence. Factual. The prosecution did a poor job of going for a conviction. They should have built a case around Manslaughter and not Murder. As all preliminary evidence pointed to Manslaughter. People whom are upset should be pointing the finger at the prosecution and no one else. GZ did not get away with murder. He didn't commit murder, he committed Manslaughter. The State of Florida would have won that case had they built it properly. But, we have irrational assholes on both sides of the fence, screaming racist shit(both ways) and it gets a bit grating.

you're missing the point. he could be not guilty based on law, that doesn't mean the law is right.
 
Stand your ground has zero basis in this case, it was never brought up. Prosecution sucked ass.

IANAL, but my understanding is that stand your ground is not a valid defense against charges. It's a pre-trial motion that can be used to have charges dismissed at a hearing with a Judge only, no jury.
 
Gosh, I'm glad we had your incisive commentary on the verdict given your depth of knowledge! It's impressive how sure you were about the topic. I wonder what made you so confident that Trayvon was being uppity and needed killing?

Indeed.....
 
South Florida resident here. Before the verdict was reached I predicted he would not be found guilty of second degree murder, however I was uncertain about the manslaughter charge. At the end of the day, though, the defense's case for self defense was convincing and is what ultimately led to the verdict. They articulated the following:

1) Trayvon was the one who initiated the fight.
2) As proof they stated Trayvon's corpse had no wounds other than the bullet wound while showing pictures of a wounded/bloody Zimmerman.
3) They claimed the recorded yells for help was in fact from Zimmerman during this beat down, and for good measure he had friends who testified that it was in fact his voice.
4) Because Zimmerman's head hit concrete he felt stunned and feared for his life.
5) Zimmerman's only hope to stop being attacked was to use his gun.
5) Gun forensics show that Trayvon was in fact on top of him when the gun was fired.

The above rhetoric was enough for jury to drop all charges against Zimmerman. They didn't believe beyond reasonable doubt that Zimmerman was guilty of using excessive force in the way that he did.
 
Exactly. They should have charged him with manslaughter rather than 2nd degree murder. What happened between the 911 call and when the police arrived is completely up in the air, but he WAS TOLD TO NOT FOLLOW TRAYVON, and indirectly caused everything else to happen.

The DA's wanted to please the public and charged him with murder when they had no real evidence of his motives and who did what first. I believe he did commit murder, but they had no case beyond what they felt was an obligation to charge him with murder because of how the public perceived the killing.

No matter what the verdict was, the state of Florida should understand that "Stand Your Ground" does more harm than good.

Exactly my point and it is sad people do not see this.
 
No idea if it's true or not, but my fiancé just got a txt saying there's some small riots brewing it Brooklyn at the moment.
 
The system works again. Way too many gaps in what happened that night to convict the man. Prosecution case was weak and the Florida law clearly favored the defense. Not saying GZ is an innocent man but the EVIDENCE is not strong enough for a conviction.

That being said I think they may have been more successful if they would have made it a manslaughter case instead of a murder case. Making it a murder case with manslaughter as a fallback was the wrong strategy.

Very fascinating and tragic case that sadly has made a lot of people happy tonight. A 17 year old kid is dead. Nobody was a winner in this case.
 
Still waiting on someone to tell me what piece of evidence the state provided that proved GZ was not acting in self defense.

Sounds to me like GAF is filled w/ people that wish to have an Orwellian judicial system that convicts people based on gut feeling and emotion while ignoring real and measurable evidence.

Yeah.

There wasn't a good amount of evidence (no matter how good the circumstantial evidence was) to really prove that GZ did intend to murder Martin. It should have been a manslaughter trial from the get go.
 
O'mara and West first says it's not about race and then O'mara brings up race. I guess it's about race. The client's attorney seems to think it is. Confused. So is it about race or is it not about race. Make your mind up guys.

Thought the question was about race.
 
Kyon gurl. Get out of Florida.

Already planning my move as we speak

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IANAL, but my understanding is that stand your ground is not a valid defense against charges. It's a pre-trial motion that can be used to have charges dismissed at a hearing with a Judge only, no jury.

Stand your ground implies you have a chance to make an escape. As the defense had him pinned under the teen they could not argue that but instead argued self defense.
 
Intentional is murder. Manslaughter is not. Stop trying to defend the indefensible

Involuntary manslaughter is not intentional. Voluntary manslaughter is intentional but with mitigating circumstances (usually some form of provocation). The defintion of manslaught does differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and im Not sure what Zimmerman was charged with.
 
Even with the evidence presented, Zimmerman's narrative was never seriously challenged. His story, as dubious as it may be, continually found itself being bolstered by any and all witnesses. The prosecution's case did not grow from our pre-trial information, while the defense solidified and was improved by cohesive evidence.


By the letter of Florida's (shitty) law, the jury got this one right. The obvious tragedy here is the death of Trayvon and Florida's laws not protecting its civilians. Again, hopefully a precedent is passed in honor of Trayvon to give these cases stronger means at finding a more apt idea of justice.
 
Still waiting on someone to tell me what piece of evidence the state provided that proved GZ was not acting in self defense.

Sounds to me like GAF is filled w/ people that wish to have an Orwellian judicial system that convicts people based on gut feeling and emotion while ignoring real and measurable evidence.

Do you, or do you not, think that George Zimmerman should be held responsible for the death of Trayvon Martin?

That's really the only relevant question. The fact that some people don't seem to perceive that is telling in itself.
 
What was on trial here and, why so many supported Zimmerman, is those idiotic Conceal Carry laws that every right wing retarded red state has a hard on for. These loons were not about to have there toys locked up in a gun safe like they are supposed to over some dead black kid who should have know his place and who's parents decided to get uppity when there unarmed son walking home from a 7-11 was profiled, hazarded and when he tried to defend himself was shot point blank gun barrel not even an inch off his chest dead. Self defense was Trayvon's to have not Zimmerman.

Disgusting.
 
Gosh, I'm glad we had your incisive commentary on the verdict given your depth of knowledge! It's impressive how sure you were about the topic. I wonder what made you so confident that Trayvon was being uppity and needed killing?

I don't recall saying Trayvon deserved to die, and I said I was wrong about Zimmerman being a security guard.
 
Florida's crappy "Stand your Ground" law and no law to hold idiots like Zimmerman who make a series of bad decisions accountable was the problem in this case, not race

Race played a big part in George almost not getting tried and ultimately being found not guilty. It's happened over and over and over again that whites get away with the exact same crimes committed by blacks at much higher rates. That you insist race didn't play role is pure BS. The light-skinned Hispanic who identifies as white had white America on his side for a reason.

Exactly, the media made this a race issue.

It is a race issue.
 
Exactly, the media made this a race issue.
GZ made it a race issue. His defense team even used him profiling as defense in the case. Quit bullshitting.

Damn I gotta go. They used profiling as a defense....

I'm getting too heated. I'm about to catch a banning with this foolishness.
 
Okay that makes sense. I'm okay with that. He should at least feel guilty for killing the kid, even if he did think his life was in danger.
EXACTLY. Him and his attorneys before, during, and (in the case of the attorneys)after have NEVER showed the slightest inclination of remorse. Sickening.
 
Still waiting on someone to tell me what piece of evidence the state provided that proved GZ was not acting in self defense.

Sounds to me like GAF is filled w/ people that wish to have an Orwellian judicial system that convicts people based on gut feeling and emotion while ignoring real and measurable evidence.

exactly
 
Fact of the matter is, Zimmerman being found not guilty would imply Martin would've been found guilty. He was apparently guilty of walking in the streets at night while being black.

This is the only comment I'm gonna make because I'm far from informed on the case and understand why Zimmerman was acquitted.

However, this statement is extremely mind-numbingly inaccurate. This was a criminal case. It's not one person versus another; in this context, such actions of the deceased cannot be used in a direct comparison. Furthermore, it's silly to use the actions of the deceased for argument because he's not being tried for anything, so why make the assumption of the implication that Martin would have been guilty? The only thing that matters in this case is the law.
 
The repercussions and moral messages from this case are just so unbelievably bad it's unreal. It's going to shape the law going forward, and it's going to be ugly. People are now free to arm themselves and follow around random teenagers just because they think they look "suspicious" and then if those kids retaliate, and they end up losing the upper hand, they're justified in shooting and killing them. UNREAL. I would not want to be a parent living in Florida. Scrub that, I wouldn't want to ever live in Florida, or most of the US full stop.
 
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