George Zimmerman has been found not guilty!

[Lord Method Man]

But after this case, and being black, I think i have every right to believe that just a verbal confrontation of someone following me means my life is at serious risk. 

 

Unless you have some sort of clinical disorder that forces you against your will to start bashing their head into concrete you should be okay.

[heatlesssun]

Well the awesome thing is now we have progressive leaders like Jesse Jackson urging violence over the verdict.

 

Sorry, that's nonsense. The Martin family has long warned that they did not want violence and riots if the verdict was not in their favor. Please don't make up such stuff in a situation that is by it's nature volatile. 

[AWilliams87]

MSNBC makes me giggle. If you intent to kill, you shoot one time? If anything, i'm surprised by the restraint Zimmerman had to shoot ONE time while being pounded by Trayvon for close to a minute. If he did intent to kill, he got damn lucky the one bullet and that little gun did the job.

[ACTIONpack]

I can I know where to go if I want to play cop and kill someone. Zimmermann was looking for trouble and when he was losing the fight he use the gun. He should have at least got manslaughter for it.

Everyone should be afraid of this because you just need no witness to get away for killing someone.

[heatlesssun]

Only if you throw a punch and start slamming their head on the concrete then yeah it's open season on you.

 

By Zimmerman's account which was overstated. I'm a pretty big man, had I been Martin and slammed someone's head into concrete like he described, I'd have been the one on trail.

[123456789A]

MSNBC makes me giggle. If you intent to kill, you shoot one time? If anything, i'm surprised by the restraint Zimmerman had to shoot ONE time while being pounded by Trayvon for close to a minute. If he did intent to kill, he got damn lucky the one bullet and that little gun did the job.

 

 Well at that close of a range, I'd think that gun would do the job.

[Lord Method Man]

I can I know where to go if I want to play cop and kill someone. Zimmermann was looking for trouble and when he was losing the fight he use the gun. He should have at least got manslaughter for it.

Everyone should be afraid of this because you just need no witness to get away for killing someone.

 

Give it up. You people lost.

[necroxd]

By Zimmerman's account which was overstated. I'm a pretty big man, had I been Martin and slammed someone's head into concrete like he described, I'd have been the one on trail.

Maybe the concrete is softer in Florida. The point is violence leads to violence.

[ShareShiz]

Stay inside for the next few weeks. There's going to be some rioting :|

[heatlesssun]

Unless you have some sort of clinical disorder that forces you against your will to start bashing their head into concrete you should be okay.

 

Should be okay? See, that's the problem. Why should I have to defer to a complete stranger that's following me to decide whether I live or die?

Maybe the concrete is softer in Florida. The point is violence leads to violence.

 

Chasing someone with a gun is indeed pretty violent.

[123456789A]

Stay inside for the next few weeks. There's going to be some rioting :|

 

I'm not going to live my life in fear of race rioting caused by the media and progressive opinion leaders including the president himself who felt the need to weigh in on the matter. I really hope nothing comes of it though, or it would just underscore a point.

[strotee]

Chasing someone with a gun is indeed pretty violent.

Was the gun exposed and aimed at Trayvon during the "chase" ?

[heatlesssun]

Give it up. You people lost.

 

Trayvon Martin and his family are the one's that lost here. 

[123456789A]

Trayvon Martin and his family are the one's that lost here. 

 

While the loss of life was tragic and I'm sure his family feels devastated right now, the jury has spoken and even so, Zimmerman has to live with it for the rest of his life. It's not like the guy was celebrating what he did. You also have all the hateful people who want to "take things into their own hands" and hurt/kill Zimmerman. How is that any better than what they've accusing Zimmerman of doing?

[FlintyV]

Give it up. You people lost.

 

What is this some kind of sports event?

[heatlesssun]

Was the gun exposed and aimed at Trayvon during the "chase" ?

 

A violent action has nothing to do with the victim seeing the instrument of their destruction. For instance, poisoning is obviously a violent act but primary motivation for that method killing is to conceal the violence to avoid detection by both the victim and authorities. 

[NateB1]

After perusing the reactions on Twitter, forums, and comments on news articles, it's amazing to me how many people are passing judgment on Zimmerman because they assume they know what's going on instead of looking objectively at the evidence that was submitted.  The prosecution failed to show that Zimmerman was guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of 2nd degree murder or manslaughter. The goal of the jury isn't to make a political statement, it's not to use someone as a scapegoat to correct a perceived injustice, it's to look at the evidence that was submitted in the courtroom during the trial and reach a conclusion based upon the evidence that was submitted.  Perhaps Zimmerman really was guilty.  If so, don't blame the jury, blame the prosecution for failing to submit enough evidence to convict.  Remember, there was one black woman on the jury, and she went along with the acquittal as well.  I've read in-depth legal analyses on this topic (I believe one or two of them was posted in this forum) that analyzed the evidence in court from a legal perspective, and the consensus was that the prosecution didn't have enough evidence - they did such a poor job, they even had some of their witnesses being highly effective for the defense! 

 

I sure hope people with darker skin tones don't get the impression from this case that they are more unsafe - while I come from the Caucasian race, I have several friends who are of a darker skin tone, and I care for all my friends exactly the same - what color they are doesn't even register mentally, when it comes to me interacting with them.  I hope at one point in the future, that mindset will be common, and in cases like these, the skin color of the various parties involved won't even register.  I highly doubt that will be the case, at least in the short term, because there are enough influential people out there today who like dividing people by race (happens on *both* sides) because they profit in one way or another by the division, whether it's publicity, or advancing their political agenda, or wanting to exert control over people.  It's really tragic.

[DocM]

Well at that close of a range, I'd think that gun would do the job.

A 9mm or lighter powered round is by no means a one-shot killer unless you luck out and hit a vital spot dead center, like in this case the heart. This is tough in a fight because of adrenaline etc. reducing your accuracy and these rounds not having a significant hydrostatic shock effect to cause damage away from the narrow wound channel.

That's why cops & CPL holders are usually trained to fire 2-3 times (double-tap, triple-tap) so yes, Zimmerman exercised restraint. OTOH, those of us who carry a .357 SIG, FN 5.7mm, .40, .45 or 10mm can do with 1 shot - they're flat out devastating.

[majortom1981]

I hate how people are reacting. The system in the US states you have to prove their was no doubt that he killed him in cold blood and not self defense. there was no real proof that he did not defend himself. The jury could have thought that he shouldn't of killed him but the prosecution did not prove without a doubt he killed him in cold blood.

 

This shows how many people do not know how the system in the US works.

 

Now a civil trial Zimmerman has no chance of winning.

[heatlesssun]

While the loss of life was tragic and I'm sure his family feels devastated right now, the jury has spoken and even so, Zimmerman has to live with it for the rest of his life. It's not like the guy was celebrating what he did. You also have all the hateful people who want to "take things into their own hands" and hurt/kill Zimmerman. How is that any better than what they've accusing Zimmerman of doing?

 

Well he kind of is celebrating in it. Had he just minded his own businesses that night, he, like Trayvon Martin would still be nameless no ones. Zimmerman is now a super star in the right wing world with more money and fame than he'd would have ever known. Had he known that he could shoot a teenager that wasn't doing anything up until the time he started following him, heck, he may have decided to follow someone and shoot them years ago. 

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Zimmerman gained a considerable amount of weight from the beginning of the trial and to the end.

[123456789A]

Well he kind of is celebrating in it. Had he just minded his own businesses that night, he, like Trayvon Martin would still be nameless no ones. Zimmerman is now a super star in the right wing world with more money and fame than he'd would have ever known. Had he known that he could shoot a teenager that wasn't doing anything up until the time he started following him, heck, he may have decided to follow someone and shoot them years ago. 

 

Now that's a bit far fetched.

[Pam14160]

. . .O. J. Simpson; just the other way around, and life will go on. . .or will it. . . :shiftyninja:

[Lord Method Man]

Now that's a bit far fetched.

 

Just like all the accusations against Zimmerman have been.

[heatlesssun]

I sure hope people with darker skin tones don't get the impression from this case that they are more unsafe - 

 

I appreciate what you are saying here and give you credit for at least trying to look at the issue beyond a certain view. And being a black man in my 40's with parents that grew up under Jim Crow in the Southern US at the height of those laws, yes, I feel much less safe. If a white person starts following and we somehow cross paths even if I am doing nothing, I have to assume that they think I am a criminal. That's what Zimmerman thought and he killed the person he thought that of and is now free. For all I know someone if just trying to see if they can be Zimmerman #2. 

 

As far as I am concerned, yes, if you're black in this country you now have less protection under the law because your race makes you a target and the law doesn't account for the fact that if you are black or mistaken for black that confrontations can be started by your skin color. Trayvon Martin would be alive today if he were white and certainly the media would have had far less interest in this case if Trayvon Martin were white and Zimmerman certainly wouldn't be the poster child of the right wing for for killing a white teenager. 

Now that's a bit far fetched.

 

Zimmerman will profit financially in all of this this now that he is free of ever being criminal over this case.

Just like all the accusations against Zimmerman have been.

 

Like that he saw and black teenager and assumed he was a criminal the first time that Zimmerman laid eyes on him? That's not far fetched, that's what happened and there's an audio recording of if.