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Verdict reached in George Zimmerman case - Not Guilty

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People seem to be taking it as a fact that Trayvon started the physical altercation. Was there any evidence of this beyond the killer's word?

Not enough, but it's not the defense's job to prove innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt. The prosecution must prove, definitively, that Zimmerman is guilty. And there just wasn't enough to do that.
 
A blow to the head is not reason to brandish a gun. They're called fights, not death matches.

Zimmerman acted unreasonably, regardless of how he actually felt.
It wasn't an officially sanctioned match. That said, in other countries (and likely States), you can only use as much force as is reasonably necessary to defend yourself. There's absolutely no way this case would've occured in Canada.
 
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.



I wouldn't attack him, break his nose and then slam his head into the ground.

Well you certainly took some liberties now didn't you? I was responding to a very specific question with a very general answer. Nowhere did I espouse that those thoughts were "right," just that there are many out there that believe it. If you haven't heard the saying then cool I guess? It doesn't mean that it isn't common.

"Sticks and Stones" is a great saying and definitely great words to live by. But we don't live in fairytale land. Fights and even Wars have been started by words alone. I'm sure MANY parents teach their children that hitting/fighting is not the answer. Just as they tell their children that drugs are bad, theft is wrong, mind their manners, and many other moral lessons that people should live by. But life doesn't work like that and people disobey those teachings all the time. The point that I'm making here is that moral ideas are great but people regularly don't follow them. Throwing a punch first does not, in any way, justify being killed. Since you bring up "Sticks and Stones" what about "Turn the other cheek?"

But that's working under the assumption that Trayvon threw the first punch to begin with (which has NEVER been verified to be true AT ALL). Zimmerman says he did but Trayvon's friend said she heard scuffling before the phone went dead. Remember that in altercations each side as a story and the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. If Trayvon is still on the phone it's not likely he starts a fight by swinging. This makes me believe that Zimmerman likely grabbed Trayvon first, in an attempt to detain him for the police and it escalated from there. I don't think Zimmerman intended to kill from the outset and I don't think Trayvon threw the first punch against a larger, older man.

As for what you would do in the situation.. your assumption as to your own choice is just as biased as those you call "internet tough guys." In the heat of a fight, with adrenaline pumping it's unlikely you'd realize your nose was broken. And those cuts are evidence enough that his head wasn't slammed into the concrete multiple times. It was likely a single punch and then a lot of wrestling for position. Did Zimmerman fear for his life? Only he knows. But just because the law in that state says that, that allows him to use lethal force in self defense doesn't mean that it's morally acceptable to do so. It's a very gray area because one shouldn't resign to letting themselves be killed but at the same time, merely the panicked thought in the heat of the moment that one might possibly die seems a bit arbitrary as well.
 
Your either the best fighter ever, or the strongest keyboardist.

I've been in a few fights in my life and I never felt I was going to die. He wasn't being attacked by a group of people. It was a one-on-one fight and as we saw from the photos he had a few minor scuffs / scratches. Now, if he looked like he was beaten to a pulp I'd feel differently about the situation, but he looked pretty ok. What's more likely is he didn't want to hand in his "man card" after playing cop and having his ass handed to him.
 
Zimmerman pulled the trigger. I understand if it wasn't for Zimmerman, Martin would be alive right now. With that said why aren't people more upset at the stand your ground law?

Change that shit. That's why Zimmerman got away with murderer.

Stand your ground law was irrelevant, and not argued in the courtroom. Zimmerman's defense stood on plain old ordinary self defense applicable everywhere.
 
So if we're not armchair lawyers such as yourself we can't post our opinions on a forum? Hah don't make me laugh. Do yourself a favor and ignore me then smug ass

No, but not following the case means you're opinons are uninformed and are terrible because of it, so you should be ignored; but feel free to wallow in your naivety in here like you have been if you want.
 
Very disappointed in the verdict.

I am though incredibly amazed by how trayvon's parents have handled this. They are amazing people. I only wish they had more time with their son. :(

Our attention should turn to making sure things like this never happen again. We need to fight to make sure laws change and more kids are protected.
 
Having uncontrollable bouts of internet-tough guy syndrome atm, removing myself from thread before i suffer a mental breakdown and go all Zimmerman on some conservatives.
 
It wasn't an officially sanctioned match. That said, in other countries (and likely States), you can only use as much force as is reasonably necessary to defend yourself. There's absolutely no way this case would've occured in Canada.

This is how it should be globally. It actually teaches people the virtues of restraint and moral implications towards human life.
 
Go on.

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I read a brief outline of the case the other day that said he was found to have B&E tools on him. If he didn't, then I take what I said back.

In any case, I still assert that Zimmerman should be in jail for the rest of his life.
 
Yes and if Zimmerman disengaged and was walking back to his car when he was attacked and then was wrested down, straddled, and suffered multiple blows to the back of his head all while screaming desperately for help, then I think he was justified in killing his attacker. The prosecution didn't provide enough evidence to contradict that story in my eyes.

They provided plenty of evidence to contradict that story.

What they didn't do was hammer it in enough to erase reasonable doubt. But still, the facts are there to demonstrate that Zimmerman did everything wrong that night, so I have no idea why people are so willing to go to such depraved depths to defend this man even still.

HIS actions, and only his actions, resulted in the death of a child that night.
 
I haven't been following the case, the US gets way too invested in court cases, but here's what I make of it:

Paranoid, gun-toting asshole follows and shoots asshole with B&E tools on him.​

If it was a white guy shooting a white guy, no one would care. If it was a black guy shooting a black guy, no one would care. But this case dominates the US' 24h news cycle.

(Zimmerman is guilty as fuck, absolutely, but this case got waaaaay too much national coverage.)

There was no burgle tools no breaking and entering tools no "slim jim" nothing found on Trayvon no fingerprints nothing. This goes to everyone who keeps spouting this baseless, evidence less claim:

Stop posting, you don't know what you're talking about.
 
I read a brief outline of the case the other day that said he was found to have B&E tools on him. If he didn't, then I take what I said back.

In any case, I still assert that Zimmerman should be in jail for the rest of his life.

Okay then what makes Trayvon an asshole?
 
LOL. Does it really confound you that someone exists beyond your Manichean view of this issue?

When it comes to shooting an unarmed kid in the chest because a series of events was triggered due to the assumption that "Black person walking" = "Black burglars" I absolutely believe that's either right or wrong. It's not overly complicated and it's not nuanced.

I was commenting on the fact that your example was blatantly misleading, and now I'm suddenly in denial over the fact that equality is relative. Okay.

No, you were dodging my original comment. But that's fine. Just ignore it instead of nitpicking.
 
Yes and if Zimmerman disengaged and was walking back to his car when he was attacked and then was wrested down, straddled, and suffered multiple blows to the back of his head all while screaming desperately for help, then I think he was justified in killing his attacker. The prosecution didn't provide enough evidence to contradict that story in my eyes.

But there's no evidence that the narrative you just described actually happened. Most of the evidence leads to the Trayvon story being true.
 
I haven't been following the case, the US gets way too invested in court cases, but here's what I make of it:

Paranoid, gun-toting asshole follows and shoots asshole with B&E tools on him.​

If it was a white guy shooting a white guy, no one would care. If it was a black guy shooting a black guy, no one would care. But this case dominates the US' 24h news cycle.

(Zimmerman is guilty as fuck, absolutely, but this case got waaaaay too much national coverage.)

Wait, wat.

Skittles and Arizona tea are tools for breaking and entering now?
 
I read a brief outline of the case the other day that said he was found to have B&E tools on him. If he didn't, then I take what I said back.

In any case, I still assert that Zimmerman should be in jail for the rest of his life.
Source?
 
In other words, it means you think it's reasonable to suggest that George Zimmerman shouldn't be held responsible for shooting and killing Trayvon Martin.

That's what reasonable doubt means!

No, reasonable doubt means the prosecution didn't convince the jury that their version of what happened was almost certainly true. It means telling a jury to decide a case based on what their 'hearts' told them was right, rather than on what the evidence proved, wasn't enough.
 
If someone (a black male perhaps) were to kill Zimmerman, would he be able to successfully claim self-defense, because Zimmerman is a known murderer of black males and one could reasonably conclude that hes a threat?
 
I read a brief outline of the case the other day that said he was found to have B&E tools on him. If he didn't, then I take what I said back.

In any case, I still assert that Zimmerman should be in jail for the rest of his life.

If by B&E tools you're referring to Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea.
 
This makes zero sense and whoever tried to make the connection is a bit of a twat

I think the logic was the law should be followed as well as applied to the verdict.

people obvious disagree that according to the LAW of the land, Zimmerman did wrong and should have been convicted, then also according to the LAW of the land, those who leak documents (rightfully or wrongfully) should be prosecuted according to the law of the land.

correct?
 
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