Trayvon Martin Killing

[marceline]

Drug test the victim but not the shooter. Unbelievable.

[katie_9918]

Any jury worth their metal would never have convicted on Murder 2 or Manslaughter. The prosecution failed to prove intent to kill in either case and that's a HUGE part of those charges.

Man, I would have hated to be on that jury. That !@#$%^&*] should be awaiting sentencing right now for involuntary manslaughter, but because of the mainstream media's focus on the race card and under pressure from the DOJ, the prosecution threw a Hail Mary pass at Murder 2.

The system worked in this case, but it makes me sick to my stomach. I can't imagine how horrified and guilt-ridden I would have been at the moment I realized I couldn't vote for a conviction in this case.

If I was one of the jurors, I would have asked the judge if we could consider involuntary manslaughter or, at the very least, reckless endangerment.

Also, I really wish people would look at the facts. No one told Zimmerman NOT to follow that poor young man. He was told it wasn't necessary ("We don't need you to do that.") It was a SUGGESTION, a suggestion that lunatic should have followed. But he was never DIRECTED or ORDERED to not follow Trayvon Martin.

I hope Trayvon's family takes their lead from the Brown and Goldman families after OJ got away with killing Nicole and Ron. Take Zimmerman for everything he's worth in civil court.

[ChitHappens]

The suggestion was all that was needed. If Zimmerman thought there was suspicious behavior going on, his job ended once he made that phone call and received instructions from the 911 operator, who has no authority to order Zimmerman to do anything. "We don't need you to do that" was more than sufficient because that meant we (the police) will take it from here. That is the way the night watchmen responsibility works. Zimmerman did not need to follow Trayvon and he certainly didn't need to gun him down. Had Zimmerman not been armed, the coward would have waited and let the police do their jobs (which would have been to tell him to take his fat ass home as they apologized to Trayvon for bothering him).

All Trayvon's family can do is put a strangle hold on Zimmerman's future earnings, which means he won't be signing any deals because the money will not belong to him! He will have to hand over every cent!

[Wales2004]

Racism is obviously a serious problem in this nation.

So is Racism Fatigue.

Clothing is not a reason to kill someone but it's natural to profile someone based on clothing because society conditions us to do that. A guy in a hoodie in a convenience store is likely going to be seen as a potential robber....fair or not

Characterizing someone as a thug/gang member because of a hoodie and sagging pants is generally racialism. Do I consider sagging pants proper dress? No, but I know there are some good kids who don't see it the way I do. That said, I don't get why someone would go on television claiming to fear for her child's life because the child wears hoodies. If you're in charge and you're that fearful then don't buy hoodies for your child. It can't be that complicated.

[Eric83]

Now there is 23 year old Crystal Scott who was involved in a minor fender bender with white Jonathan Abel. Abel got out of his car and tried to force his way into Ms. Scott's car and she shot him with her licensed firearm. Abel died on the spot. Ms. Scott has been indicted for murder and is awaiting trial.

http://uhurunews.com/story?resource_name=free-crystal-scott-defend-and-protect-the-african-woman

This woman better be acquitted.

[ReddFoxx]

Another point that I think is relevant is that Zimmerman skated on a previous charged of fighting with a law enforcement office, had he been made to face it and likely convicted, he wouldn't have been able to own a gun, but his father was once a judge and those charges went away. It's just sad that the law didn't do it's job back then, otherwise Zimmerman wouldn't have been able to take a life.

Depends on rather or not the jury can see past racial and political bias, which it is a long shot in Texas.

[Wales2004]

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/on-the-killing-of-trayvon-martin-by-george-zimmerman/277773/

[marceline]

That's another big issue that I wish would get more conversation. Zimmerman is a textbook example of someone with an escalating pattern of violence. Everything about this lunatic was a red flag: molesting his neighbor, assaulting a police officer, domestic violence, etc... it was just one thing after another. The fact that he ultimately killed someone was foreseeable and it's foreseeable that he will commit other crimes: assault, rape, murder, it's just a matter of time unless somebody stops him.

[Wales2004]

Since laws differ from state to state. I don't see any value in comparing the judicial system in Texas to Florida's. What seems to be similar is that George Zimmerman and Crystal Scott were not initially charged. The evidence is different and there may be a witness or witnesses close enough to see what happened at the gas station.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/trayvon-martin-and-the-irony-of-american-justice/277782/

[Ann_SS]

I completely agree. If anyone is a "thug" in this situation, it is Zimmerman. He is the one with the history of escalating violence as an adult. Now that he has gotten away with murder and is a social pariah, the stress will get worse and trigger.more violence. That same girlfriend defending him today will be one of his victims later on.

[Juliajms]

His brother's comments are so unbelievable. That's what I found so disturbing about that CNN article I posted. The whole, well, why wouldn't he want want his gun back? He's really going to need it now that there are even more people out to get him. Wonderful. The utter lack of empathy is appalling. Even if a person thinks that Zimmerman was right, the normal response is to be saddened and horrified by what happened. To see it as a terrible tragedy that should have been avoided. Not to shrug ones shoulders and talk about being armed again.

This lady lived my nightmare. There is so much road rage out there. I've always been worried that I will end up in some accident and some nut case will try to attack me afterward. I'm not someone who would ever carry a gun, but this is one of the few scenarios that makes me think it wouldn't be such a bad idea. At least most people would back away from the car, if they knew you could protect yourself. This guy sounds like he is either a psycho or on something. I'll be interested to see if it was a case of meth rage.

[marceline]

That's because you think of Trayvon Martin as a person. Zimmerman's fans don't. The best of them only see him as 3/5s of a human.

[Wales2004]

I watched some of Anderson Cooper's interview with an anonymous juror. She said two of them wanted guilty on manslaughter and one on the murder charge. I would love to hear one of those women explain how they were "persuaded" to vote not guilty. I think this juror who is married to an attorney and very much sympathetic to George Zimmerman, probably worked in conjunction with the two already on her side to convince the other three. Maybe she even swayed them all.

She seemed to cry on cue but she didn't give the impression that she struggled at all in deciding that her George was a victim. She spoke with such certainty about that night that one would think she was there to witness the whole thing. I found it disturbing because I have no idea what happened except that Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman. Yet this woman recites the events as if there is not one doubt that George Zimmerman told the absolute truth. And she's probably going to write a book with her husband about her experience.

[Eric83]

She sounded so elitist talking about Rachel Jeantel. I would love to hear from those three jurors as well.

Rachel Jeantel was on Piers Morgan and I loved her. She seemed like a totally different person from the one that was on the stand.

[Eric83]

So apparently Juror B37 had a book deal but was quickly dropped after backlash. How this b-tch got a book deal on Monday when the verdict was read Saturday night? Courtroom analysts said there was a juror taking down ALOT of notes. Juror B37's husband is also an attorney and may have connections to Mark O' Mara. Not to mention the Prosecution didn't want her on the jury but the defense dug their heels in and fought it and the judge eventually relented. Something in the milk ain't clean.

Twitter lit up both JurorB37 and Sharlene Martin who was supposed to represent JurorB37's book's asses.

Sharlene Martin rescinded on representing JurorB37...which was followed up by JurorB37 withdrawing from writing her book.

sharlene martin ‏@sharlenemarti n 3h

After careful consideration of the book project with Zimmerman #JurorB37 , I have decided to rescind my offer of representation.

sharlene martin

‏@sharlenemarti n

A statement from #JurorB37 . pic.twitter.com/3MRrqB50vb

I wonder if she can be brought up on perjury charges for lying to the judge about not talking to anyone about the case. It's pretty obvious at this point she must have had some contact with her husband during the trial. They have to look at both of their phone records (and their kids), emails, etc and investigate MOM while they're at it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023270359