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Verdict reached in George Zimmerman case - Not Guilty

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To this day I will not understand why race had to play any part in this.

Some hateful people in this thread, and some of the comments on the first few pages are really disappointing.
 
The prosecution was terrible but that doesn't mean Zimmerman and the defense expert aren't full of shit. There is no way you get your head bashed into concrete repeatedly and not need immediate medical attention!

It means the defense did their jobs and were better at their jobs and they were able to convince the jury.
 
Wow some of these responses are crazy in here
Stop making this about race

Florida law has allowed a man to follow a teenager — in his vehicle and out of his vehicle — based purely on appearance, confront that teen in a way that led to a scuffle, then shoot and kill said teenager.

Florida law has indirectly made it legal for anyone to kill someone who was doing you no wrong, nor was posing a clear threat to anyone else.

Anyone can, possibly, do the above legally. "Anyone" includes racists and people who are deeply prejudiced enough to pursue someone while armed with a gun based purely on their appearance.

That makes it about race. If you are uncomfortable talking about race because you've always shirked away from discussions on the topic or have successfully been able to ignore the importance of discussing race issues, then simply stay out of every discussion related to the matter. Do not, however, complain that people are discussing race problems, because by complaining about that, you are complaining about reality.
 
My condolences black-GAF. I can never fully empathize with your situation, especially in Amerikkka, but this is a sad day for anyone of any race, such bullshit :(
 
How can you say it's not about race when the very thing that made Zimmerman suspicious was the fact that a BLACK male was walking down the street and there were BLACK males that had committed break-ins in the area?

Please explain this. Because I simply don't get how you can claim the case wasn't about race. You think if this was a dead White girl and a Black man responsible that this would have gone the same way?

Yes, a wannabe cop made the moronic decision to assume that EVERY Black male he saw was a threat in his neighborhood....


Talk about unrealistically moving the goal posts. Dead women always change the equation no matter the race.



He profiled a person and the defense even talked about it and defended doing so.


I haven't sat glued to my television because I have a life and world events are more important than some ultimately meaningless conflict between two people. But I'm going to guess that the defense strategy didn't include painting their client as a racist.
 
I'm not gonna lie, race didn't come to mind until I saw all these comments saying how "its legal to kill blacks in america" and other bs.

Yeah these comments bother me.

Statistically there is more black on white crime in the US then the other way around. And that's without getting into the super lopsided murder rates for each group.

Clearly it is better to go to court as a white man then a black man. I don't think there is any question there. But this idea that it's just carte blanche on blacks in the US is ridiculous.
 
I bet the "Thank God" comment stuck in the jurors minds. It was one of the strongest witness statements that came up in trial.
 
Typically when someone instigates an confrontation and ends up getting punched or more as a result, people react with a "well he deserved it for starting something."

Many people feel Zimmerman initiated this whole thing by following Trayvon and then exiting the vehicle (no matter what the reason was). So I don't think you'll find many people who would change their mind even IF Trayvon threw the first punch.

There's a reason why the phrase "Talk shit, get hit" is an actual saying.

I never heard "talk shit, get hit" in my life.

And the phrase you should really have said was, "sticks and stones", because usually people are allowed to say whatever the hell they want and hitting them still isn't warranted. Even your parents would tell you this shit, and any decent parent would tell their own kids this as well... it's not cool to hit someone first. People are doing the whole "yeah, but" in this instance because it's a "white" dude killing a black "child".

Zimmerman shouldn't have followed him or even talked to him, but that doesn't give ANYONE the right to hit him first. Furthermore, If someone attacked me, broke me nose, and then cracked my skull into the pavement without me ever throwing a punch, and I thought they would continue I'd shoot their ass in a heartbeat.

And to all the internet tough guys claiming his injuries weren't that bad, get real. Some dude is on top of you, beating on you you'd be pissing your damn pants and most of you would be crying like little girls. It's easy to say they weren't that bad, and the man didn't fear for himself from the comfort of your computer chair.

Just imagine you're walking home from a store at night, and some creep is following you. How would that make you feel?

I wouldn't attack him, break his nose and then slam his head into the ground.
 
Even taking race out of it...how do you get away PERIOD, shooting an unarmed kid, regardless of whether or not he can fight?

You have to be that big of a pussy that you hire a specialist to take the stand and tell people that you literally have no ability at all to defend yourself except to use deadly force with a firearm.

That actually happened here. :|
 
I haven't sat glued to my television because I have a life and world events are more important than some ultimately meaningless conflict between two people. But I'm going to guess that the defense strategy didn't include painting their client as a racist.

It's a case about race, I didn't even say who or what was racist, profiling is all about race, so keep up with the denial about the facts.
 
Trayvon outweighed Zimmerman by 30 lbs and was taller.

...no. no he didnt.


im about done. I can deal with people who believe that reasonable doubt wasn't proven, obviously it wasn't in the juries eyes. But all these people coming out of nowhere with made up lies and shit about the case are gonna make me want to 'Wellington' my macbook.
 
If he didn't have to go to the hospital it wasn't that serious... I mean you'd think he would have had to check for a concussion or something but apparently he was fine with a few bandages. Life-threatening injuries?

That's your reasoning, really? The brain is an extremely sensitive part of the body. Strong enough smacks can trigger all alarms for flight-or-fight reflexes.

You'll know how it is once you've actually been in a fight and have taken some strong punches directly on your cranium. Such attacks are always life-threatening.
 
Dude. GZ wasn't randomly attacked, he followed TM and therefore initiated the whole encounter.

Sure. Does that mean that if you "provoked" the fight (and clearly he didn't provoke it physically) that you deserve to get the shit beat out of you?

The context of "well he was following him and racially profiled him!" is irrelevant compared to the facts we've been provided with; he'd been beaten, his head smacked the floor and the guy was on top of him when he was shot. Based on this information am I supposed to say "well he had no right to defend himself because he followed the guy"?
 
To this day I will not understand why race had to play any part in this.

Some hateful people in this thread, and some of the comments on the first few pages are really disappointing.

Would Zimmerman had been so suspicious of a non-black kid walking in the neighborhood at night? Would a black guy who killed an unarmed non-black kid get off scot-free?

That's the role race played and anyone who doesn't see it just doesn't want to...
 
If he didn't have to go to the hospital it wasn't that serious... I mean you'd think he would have had to check for a concussion or something but apparently he was fine with a few bandages. Life-threatening injuries?
The guy is clearly a cop-wannabe... I bet he was turned down from the force due to mental / personality problems that came up during the interview process.

The problem here is that you are seeing the wounds after the fact. The question is what are you thinking as they are being inflicted. No reasonable person would be thinking,"this isn't so bad" as their head is being pounded into the pavement.
 
I haven't sat glued to my television because I have a life and world events are more important than some ultimately meaningless conflict between two people. But I'm going to guess that the defense strategy didn't include painting their client as a racist.

Get off your high horse with your "I'm ambivalent about everything!" BS.
 
There were street lights. They were in the dark. All I saw a blur to my left. When they left, my neighbor who called the cops told me exactly what he saw. And judging by there voices they had that vocal inflection. Also, you know there are other places other than bars that sell beer right? O, and fuck you for saying I need psychiatry when you know nothing.

you never mentioned about your neighbor til now. Second you're relying on stereotypes for vocal recognition of both races. Thirdly, you never mentioned that you went somewhere else to get beer other than from going to the bar to drink with a friend to getting ambushed on the way home down the street...that now have street lights. Next, you insult me because I provided therapeutic consultation. FInally...you're full of shit.
 
Manslaughter was also on the table, though

To go into more detail:

Florida doesn't allow "imperfect self-defense" rulings (excessive, unnecessary self-defense), but Zimmerman could have been charged with voluntary manslaughter, a 2nd-degree felony (minimum 9 1/4 years in prison).

Regardless, the evidence wasn't sufficient for a manslaughter conviction.
 
Truth.

People insisting to leave race out of this are fucking clueless on how race played a factor from the very beginning with Zimmerman following the "suspicious nigger in his neighborhood." This is what led him to chase Trayvon in the first place.

Is that supposed to be an actual quote? When was that said?
 
So basically this sets the precedent, at least in Florida, that it's alright to drive around late at night armed as a sort of vigilante confronting anyone you profile to be suspicious. Then the second that your random confrontation of an unsuspecting person causes them to become angry/upset to the point of getting physical you have the right to shoot and kill that person. Alright then...

Apparently thats justice in Florida. Great state
 
So basically this sets the precedent, at least in Florida, that it's alright to drive around late at night armed as a sort of vigilante confronting anyone you profile to be suspicious. Then the second that your random confrontation of an unsuspecting person causes them to become angry/upset to the point of getting physical you have the right to shoot and kill that person. Alright then...

How about not turning around and beating on someone who is merely following you? When you decide to turn around and 'get physical' as you euphemistically put it you are the aggressor and the other person is defending themselves... Is this supposed to condemn the Zimmerman verdict? Because it's actually the opposite.
 
People saying this isn't about race are giving me a severe migraine.

Guess what kind of people are saying that. Amazing they can keep both ideas in their brains at the same time. It's not even dissonance it's compartmentalization. Think racist shit. Express outage at racist accusations.

'I am racist but don't you dare call me racist.'
 
At the end of the day all that mattered is the defense showed Zimmerman got his ass kicked. They were also effective in showing he was likely not the one to instigate things physically, or at least cast a lot of doubt there. I think the civil case will be infinitely easier to get some sort of decision against Mr Zimmerman though, and I do think that's deserved.

As for the race thing, it's been disgusting to watch this be framed as racist white America killing unarmed black people.
 
Exactly! A major reason OJ is even remembered is because EVERYONE was wondering how he actually got off free

OJ is really just the harshest reminder of what "prosecution has to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt" really means. It's more of a "WTF" kind of case simply because a defense lawyer was able to poke the one tiny hole needed to sink the prosecution's ship with a very simple rhyme.

Of course, it didn't stop OJ from getting eviscerated in the civil case, and Zimmerman may also get similarly demolished in the civil case.
 
Wow some of these responses are crazy in here
Stop making this about race

Are you fucking crazy This has everything to do about race! Do you really think Zimmerman would be free if Travon was Tracey blonde hair blue eyed 17 year old?

The lives of webblack folk arent worth as much are white folk...fucking period. This fucking murder with a history of violence kill a unarmed black kid and he walks. This is so rage inducing.
 
Florida law has allowed a man to follow a teenager — in his vehicle and out of his vehicle — based purely on appearance, confront that teen in a way that led to a scuffle, then shoot and kill said teenager.

Florida law has indirectly made it legal for anyone to kill someone who was doing you no wrong, nor was posing a clear threat to anyone else.

Anyone can, possibly, do the above legally. "Anyone" includes racists and people who are deeply prejudiced enough to pursue someone while armed with a gun based purely on their appearance.

That makes it about race. If you are uncomfortable talking about race because you've always shirked away from discussions on the topic or have successfully been able to ignore the importance of discussing race issues, then simply stay out of every discussion related to the matter. Do not, however, complain that people are discussing race problems, because by complaining about that, you are complaining about reality.
These are technicalities
The prosecution wasn't strong enough to bring forward a good enough case that justified premeditated murder
I think Zimmerman should get time but I don't think the jury ruled he was innocent because trayvon was black
 
Yeah. It was such a shit situation perpetuated by GZ's stupid (and wrong) moral compass. Had the dumb-ass gone home it'd be way different.

GZ shouldn't have gone near the boy in the first place, otherwise, he wouldn't be in this mess that he's in now.

Don't go blaming the victim here.
 
How about not turning around and beating on someone who is merely following you? When you decide to turn around and 'get physical' as you euphemistically put it you are the aggressor and the other person is defending themselves... Is this supposed to condemn the Zimmerman verdict? Because it's actually the opposite.

So that's a fact now is it?
 
I'm convinced that jury selection also entails selecting the dumbest, most ignorant stupid people who are so disconnected from present current events that they don't know what's going on, are the ones who get select as jurors.
 
But I'm going to guess that the defense strategy didn't include painting their client as a racist.

Don't know much about the American South, huh?

In a lot of parts of this country that would really help your defense.

In at least one it may have just done so.
 
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Oh....

O
 
These are technicalities
The prosecution wasn't strong enough to bring forward a good enough case that justified premeditated murder
I think Zimmerman should get time but I don't think the jury ruled he was innocent because trayvon was black

I think he was only guilty of manslaughter myself but murder 2 is NOT "premeditated murder"...
 
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