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Verdict reached in George Zimmerman case - Not Guilty

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Oh dear...

lx2r7d0.jpg
 
He's had a terrible life for the last few months (justifiably so) and will continue to have a terrible life for the foreseeable future as a social recluse. Chances are he will never be able to have a normal/peaceful life the rest of his days.

I'd rather he have been convicted, but oh well. Even if he had been, it's not like it would have been some great milestone in U.S. race relations. At least he stood trial. And this will be yet another bullet point as to how much further we still need to go (as if we needed more).
 
Oblivion said:
I wasn't following the trial very closely, but wasn't there some pertinent info revealed that showed there was a possibility that Zimmerman was innocent?
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From what I saw it was pretty obvious they wouldn't convict him. Had the media not made this into a race issue no one would have thought twice about it.
 
Krappadizzle said:
How would you improve it?


I'm by no means think it's perfect, but, I don't know how to improve it. Instead of all of us talking about how shitty it is, let's talk about how we can improve it.
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First of all repeal Stand Your Grand. It's a ridiculous law. Trust me I want this system improved just as much as anybody. I don't know about you but for me as a young black guy in SC this hits way too close to home for me. Trayvon just as easily could have been me.
 
BronsonLee said:
If you're trying to imply that I'm for Zimmerman in any sense, I suggest you read the damn trial thread.

The media were a huge issue in this case, period. Once Zimmerman was charged, I shouldn'tve heard a goddamn thing about it until the verdict was in the paper.
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Did you not watch the trial. The defense paraded a woman on the stand to say that a home invasion occurred in her house and the people involved were young black males.

Insinuating that somehow Trayvon was related to that.
 
Jangocube said:
Sigh........

Have you not read the facts of this case or something? They couldn't PROVE it was manslaughter given the facts that were presented. Or you could just keep ignoring that
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I know all about the case. It seems you don't know much though. Had Zimmerman not been flush with cash or the police been completely inept this would have turned out different.
 
It is absolutely about race, how on earth can you deny it? Zimmerman would not have followed if Trayvon wasn't black. Nobody even denies that, not his defense or his supporters.
 
Gordon0Freeman said:
He will. Rest of GZ life will be tough for him and his fam if he doesn't move out of the country. Maybe he should go to the Middle East where its also legal to kill, he'd fit right in.
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George Zimmerman has a very large support base. People see him as a hero.

I don't think it'll be too tough for him to find a quiet place to live as he counts his money from the inevitable book deal.
 
nib95 said:
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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Jury verdicts are based on the particular facts of any given case, and do not provide precedent for future cases.

The scenario you present isn't one in which the shooter will necessarily be justified. Whether the shooter is or is not justified would be determined by the same laws that determined justification prior to and during the Zimmerman case. Nothing has changed as a result of this verdict.
 
MechaX said:
Self-Defense hinges on an honest and reasonable belief that you need to resort to force to defend yourself.

No one (or rather, the prosecution probably shouldn't have) disputed that GZ acted in self-defense (despite essentially creating the risk of harm himself, which is going to be a fun one when the civil suit comes up). But if it's not reasonable under the circumstances (like deadly force when it wasn't necessary to avoid grievous bodily harm), that is one of the grounds that mitigates murder to manslaughter!
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This is exactly why the first charge wasn't gonna stick. But if I were the plaintiff in the civil suit, I would make it fuckin RAIN in terms of negligence charges.
 
He better pray for his life and hide his ass good. Cause lord chile someone will kill his ass in plain site.

My step fathers uncle in NYC killed a someone and the entire apartment complex took his ass to the back of the crowd while cops tried hunting him down in the crowded hallway and killed him back there.
 
People bitching about Florida law in this case need to realize that self defense laws WRT this case would be the same in basically every common law jurisdiction in the country and many overseas. Stand your ground was not even brought up because according to the defense Martin was on top of Zimmerman, so duty to retreat would be met anyway.

I also think it's really disgusting people are throwing around baseless accusations of racism simply because some people believe the law is on Zimmerman's side. That's the worst kind of ad hominem attack and has no place in a civilized discussion forum.


I don't like this idea of mob justice where people try to make Zimmerman the scapegoat for all the history of racial injustice in this country and think somehow he should be convicted even in the absence of evidence to make things 'fair' in the justice system and that anyone who thinks he shouldn't be is some despicable racist. That's not how the system works. You try the cases based on the evidence, you don't try to reach to some idealized fair outcome.
 
Seems wrong that he confronted an unarmed child, killed him and said he does not regret it, and gets off clean as self defense.

It's not even about vindication, I just think he's a psychopath and could do the same thing again to another victim.
 
Don't know why is black people even go to church. After so many years of black people being killed like dogs in the street and have to endure so much. Who wants to believe in anything?
 
MThanded said:
Did you not watch the trial. The defense paraded a woman on the stand to say that a home invasion occurred in her house and the people involved were young black males.

Insinuating that somehow Trayvon was related to that.
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Dude you know damn well I was watching the trial

My issue is with the media. I'm not defending a goddamn thing the defense did
 
Calcaneus said:
It is absolutely about race, how on earth can you deny it? Zimmerman would not have followed if Trayvon wasn't black. Nobody even denies that, not his defense or his supporters.
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Furthermore, the character assassination of TM to justify his death preyed on racial stereotypes.
 
Knoxcore said:
There really needs to be some reform on the way media can cover court cases. Zimmerman was found guilty by the media before he was even charged. Things like that needs to stop.
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uh what. You got asshats like Geraldo Rivera making statements.

The media was almost singly on the side of Zimmerman.
 
CrazyDogg77 said:
First of all repeal Stand Your Grand. It's a ridiculous law. Trust me I want this system improved just as much as anybody. I don't know about you but for me as a young black guy in SC this hits way too close to home for me. Trayvon just as easily could have been me.
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No shit? Damn, I lived in South Carolina for 16 years. I know all about that shit. I had plenty of friends unfairly profiled, though, on the opposite end, I had some that were profiled, and they had done some grimey things. What part of SC?
 
Uncle Rupee said:
Because it's amazing to me as that people can freely carry guns like that. Never change, 'Murica.
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But the person who was killed wasn't carrying a gun. The person who killed him was, so the video you posted makes no sense.

You want to try again with a different excuse?
 
The defense did an excellent job with their closing argument. Focused and persuasive. In comparison, the prosecution's was meandering and nearly incoherent.

A guilty verdict would have been quite surprising after those performances.
 
Jaleel said:
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.
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I haven't been following the trial, but if that's the case then I can see why he would be found not guilty. That's a pretty solid self-defense case. Of course, this does set scary precedence going forward.
 
Follows unharmed kid due to profiling, gets in scuffle that results kid getting shot to death, not even manslaughter....oh boy, a shitton of worms with this one.

As if the institutionalized racial prejudice in the American justice system didn't need any more ammo.

Personally though, guilty or not guilty, it was 100% Zimmerman's fault leading into the tragedy, there was no crime committed, just "gut instinct" something was wrong, and this happens.
 
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