Zimmerman verdict: Not Guilty.

[Tiberius]

Do you have any links to articles that can verify this?

Reuters reported the prelude: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/2...8H20120425

---

People posting in this thread keep referring to the incident in the words of Zimmerman as if they are what actually happened. Especially when referring to the dialogue.

The dialogue he had with the police was all recorded and accurate transcripts were released. The dialogue he may have had with Trayvon is irrelevant because nobody can prove or disprove it. Other evidence was used to reach the verdict.

One YouTube video that covered the court case described Zimmerman (with Treyvon on top of him) as being unable to breath, thus impairing him. Yet the audio clearly showed him repeatedly yelling "Help!". Funny, but if you're breathless you also can't speak... and his shouts didn't sound like someone who was struggling to speak.

So, was the YouTube video making that claim, or was Zimmerman? Can you link to sources if it was the latter? If it was the former, I don't think I have to explain why your point is moot.

According to Zimmerman, while trying to shuffle his body so that his head was on the grass rather than the pavement, Treyvon saw his gun, said "you're going to die tonight, motherfucker" before reaching for the gun. Zimmerman, however, got to it first and shot him.

Now. Imagine that scenario and ask yourself how Treyvon saw the gun but failed to get to it before Zimmerman, given everything that Zimmerman was saying to him. That simply doesn't make any sense. Zimmerman is a liar. But you'd expect him to be a liar as he was defending himself against a very serious charge. And he succeeded.

Clearly though, Zimmerman did get to the gun first. We have eye-witness testimony that Trayvon was on top of Zimmerman, so even if it doesn't make sense to you, all the evidence seems to suggest it happened.

Above everything else, I'd like to know why someone isn't allowed to walk home at night (in whatever manner they please) without being followed and ambushed by some fuckwad whose inability to physically encounter someone relies on them using a gun to defend them self.

1) Evidence suggests he wasn't followed.
2) Evidence suggests he wasn't ambushed; even the prosecution's witness denied this.
3) Using a gun for self defense is legal in the situation Zimmerman was in.

His 911 call said nothing about Treyvon doing anything illegal or approaching illegality. His crime was that he was in the wrong place, at the wrong time with the wrong skin colour.

Zimmerman said in the 911 call that people had been breaking into houses in the area. Those people were reported numerous times as young African Americans. Trayvon was a young African American, and according to Zimmerman, he was looking into people's houses. Whilst Trayvon may not have been doing anything illegal at the time Zimmerman reported him, you are allowed to report suspicious people to the police, especially if they match the description of people who have committed illegal acts.

There is no evidence Trayvon was targeted by Zimmerman for his race, other than the fact that young African American men were the suspects in the burglaries. Zimmerman has no history of racism; in fact he mentored African American boys in the past, and was one of the only people to stand up for a homeless African American man who was being beaten up by the cops.

---

That's the point, it should be illegal for mere citizens to take matters into their own hands as Zimmerman chose to do. That's why we pay the authorities.

We don't know whether Zimmerman did take matters into his own hands though. He told the police dispatcher that he had lost sight of Trayvon. That is all we know. Anything else is based on either Zimmerman's testimony or that of Trayvon's friend; none of which is concrete.

Reporting suspicious behavior may be a person's civic duty, but confronting those suspected is not only unwise, it's obviously extremely dangerous.

Again, no evidence he did this.