Zimmerman verdict: Not Guilty.

[Gilgamesh]

You can, however, pick origin points for the trouble that occurred. One of those, in this series of bad decisions, was the point at which a grown man opted to stalk a teenager at night. Say what you like; there is no way that was a good idea.

How many other bad decisions were made and how many of them were made by Trayvon? How ever many bad decisions you can think of that were made by Trayvon; There's no way those were good ideas! Jeez, what the fuck was that shithead thinking?!?!

What they are, are people with a working knowledge of police procedure and operations, who are put behind those phone lines specifically to help the people who call in. What they have to say in situations like these matter, because they've been trained to give instructions to maximize safety and to help the authorities that have been dispatched to do their jobs.

That's cool. Now describe to me how Zimmerman's career defines him. Does he also of a working knowledge of police procedure and operations? Is this knowledge relevant? Since the 911 operators aren't his superior, why is what they said to him relevant? Will Goku and the Z fighters ever be able to stop the maniacal Cell? Find out all this and much more on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!

[Rahul]

You can, however, pick origin points for the trouble that occurred. One of those, in this series of bad decisions, was the point at which a grown man opted to stalk a teenager at night. Say what you like; there is no way that was a good idea.

Yeah, right? We pay cops to do things like that.

This guy was just a volunteer. He should have become an official cop. Instead of a trial we would have given him a medal for heroism.

[Tiberius]

Which is where it should have stopped, especially after the voice on the other end of that 911 call told him not to pursue.

Regardless of what was actually happening, all this could have been avoided if Zimmerman had just done what he was told.

For fuck's sake. This has been covered countless times already in this thread. The voice on the other end of the 911 call did not tell him not to pursue. There was no order. The more you insist there was one, the more you look like you have no idea what this case revolved around.

Also, the whole standing his ground defense was bull. After all, it was merely what Zimmerman said against what a dead man could not state.

Guess what? There was no stand your ground defense. Before you respond, I challenge you to actually read up on the facts of the case, rather than pulling them out of your ass. Ignore what the media reported, and look at what actually happened in the trial.

[wolf39us]

Also, Zimmerman claimed that at the time 911 had said "we don't need you to do that" he had already lost Trayvon. After he headed back to his vehicle (evidenced by the location of his dropped keys) he was attacked. Trayvon approached Zimmerman and said "You got a problem? {NO}. Well ya do now!"

Stand your ground did not apply, Zimmerman claimed classic self defense. I don't know why the fuck so many people are getting up and arms about stand your ground when it wasn't even fucking used.

[A Theist]

What was Trayvon doing except walking from one place to another? After all, we do not have his testimony. All we do have, is the testimony of a piece of shit man who killed someone and deserves to rot in prison.

We don't know for sure what he was doing; Zimmerman claims he was looking into houses. What we do for a fact though, is that someone matching Treyvon's description was suspected of breaking into houses in the area. Zimmerman reported him based on this fact, as evidenced by the 911 call. We also know that Treyvon had been suspended from school three times that year, and had once been caught with a large amount of women's jewellery and a tool suspected of being used for burglary.

There is also the eye witness testimony of Treyvon on top of Zimmerman, beating him up.

What we do for a fact though, is that someone matching Treyvon's description was suspected of breaking into houses in the area....We also know that Treyvon had been suspended from school three times that year, and had once been caught with a large amount of women's jewellery and a tool suspected of being used for burglary.

Do you have any links to articles that can verify this?....but regardless of those facts, the other facts remain that Zimmerman complied with the 911 operator and was returning to his truck when Martin confronted him and asked Zimmerman what his problem was and why was he following him...according to Zimmerman they had a brief exchange and during the course of the confrontation Zimmerman was searching his pockets for his cell phone when Trayvon Martin sucker punched him breaking his nose and knocking him to the ground...Trayvon then got on top of Zimmerman and pinned him to the ground while he pummeled away on Zimmerman grabbing his head and smashing it against the sidewalk...it was during that course which Zimmerman was able to get his gun and shoot Martin in self defense...additionally, Zimmerman's defense team used a "Self Defense" argument in court. Not "Stand Your Ground". The jury came to the right verdict in this case and found Zimmerman not guilty of either manslaughter or 2nd degree murder.

[Isun]

Stand your ground was very much a part of this case. Included in the instructions to the jury was that Zimmerman didn't have the duty to avoid conflict.

Also as has been said by the jury members themselves was that Stand your ground was a strong motivator in declaring Zimmerman not guilty.

[Red Celt]

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. You realise that he (and his defence team) would have gone out of their way to construct a scenario that was most likely to find him innocent? You do understand that, right?

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.

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.

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. 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.

And Zimmerman shouldn't have walked away from all of this.

[CleanShavenJesus]

No suprise, a good number of people posting in this thread haven't even bothered to look into the case. Otherwise they wouldng't be saying half of what they're saying.

[smax]

It is not illegal to confront people if you suspect them of doing illegal acts. You can also make a citizens arrest if they actually commit a crime.

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.

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

Such action should be outlawed.

Call the police and let them handle it. Period.

[bladevalant546]

No suprise, a good number of people posting in this thread haven't even bothered to look into the case. Otherwise they wouldng't be saying half of what they're saying.

The main problem is that people have no idea what a 2nd degree murder charge is. Zimmerman did not commit 2nd degree murder. He did not see Martin and basically say I gonna kill you. It also not was a crime of passion as psychology of this case shows that Zimmerman did not show traits of malice towards Martin. The case should have been on involuntary manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon. Those would have been proveable, I posted a lenthy post explaining the difference in murder charges. They should have attempted that charge instead of a hard to prove murder charge.