Active thread - Zimmerman Not Guilty

[moreluck]

The Law.....stand your ground.....was not a part of this case.
The 'self defense' is allowed in all 50 states.

 

[moreluck]

Roderick Scott, a Black male shoots and kills unarmed white teen and is not guilty by self defense (2009) ...

 

[soberups]

But the jury ruled ACCORDING TO THE LAW. Yes, they ruled according to the law. But it took all the pressure in the world to get to that point. To many simply would take Zimmerman at his word, send him home and be done with it. And that may be the law and what I and others are saying is that it's a very bad law. Disagree? Fine. But don't assume that your disagreement should be cause to shut others up. This is how we get change.

So what would you change?

This case boiled down to whether or not the jury believed Zimmerman's version of the story. There werent any direct witnesses, there wasnt any definitive physical evidence, and Martin couldnt give his side of the story.... so you either believed Zimmerman or you didnt. His version was that he was flat on his back and getting his head pounded into the pavement by Martin. All I know is that if I'm flat on my back and you are on top of me pounding the back of my head into the pavement, I'm gonna blow as many holes in you as I have to in order to make you stop. I dont want to die and I dont want to end up with brain damage from a crushed skull and I have a fundamental human right to defend myself from death or grievous injury. In this case, the jury believed Zimmerman's version of the story, so they acquitted him. Assuming that Zimmerman was being truthful, is it your contention that the law should not have allowed him to defend himself with a weapon?

 

[oldngray]

So what would you change?

This case boiled down to whether or not the jury believed Zimmerman's version of the story. There werent any direct witnesses, there wasnt any definitive physical evidence, and Martin couldnt give his side of the story.... so you either believed Zimmerman or you didnt. His version was that he was flat on his back and getting his head pounded into the pavement by Martin. All I know is that if I'm flat on my back and you are on top of me pounding the back of my head into the pavement, I'm gonna blow as many holes in you as I have to in order to make you stop. I dont want to die and I dont want to end up with brain damage from a crushed skull and I have a fundamental human right to defend myself from death or grievous injury. In this case, the jury believed Zimmerman's version of the story, so they acquitted him. Assuming that Zimmerman was being truthful, is it your contention that the law should not have allowed him to defend himself with a weapon?

All of the physical evidence supported Zimmerman's story and nothing contradicted it, so the jury had to decide not guilty even though emotionally they may not have liked it. There was no case to prosecute and it was only done for political reasons. The prosecution tried to rely on the sympathy of the jury towards Martin instead of proving their own case. All the prosecution could do during the whole trial was suggest other possibilities of things that "could have" or "might have" happened instead of proving that Zimmerman was guilty. With the burden of proof on the prosecution any doubt is always in favor of the defendant. And it was a simple self defense case, not stand your ground. All the stand your ground law changed was remove your requirement to retreat if in any way possible, and since Zimmerman was on his back pinned down by Martin (as the evidence supported) Zimmerman couldn't have retreated anyway

 

[brett636]

But the jury ruled ACCORDING TO THE LAW. Yes, they ruled according to the law. But it took all the pressure in the world to get to that point. To many simply would take Zimmerman at his word, send him home and be done with it. And that may be the law and what I and others are saying is that it's a very bad law. Disagree? Fine. But don't assume that your disagreement should be cause to shut others up. This is how we get change.

I'm failing to see why it was brought to trial in the first place. There was a reason why it was originally determined to not press charges because there was no case to make. It had nothing to do with anyones skin color, but the simple facts and evidence as they were laid out against current statutes regarding ones legal right to self defense(note i did not say stand your ground). It was one dead 17 year old aggressor versus one living 28 year old neighborhood watchman. The not guilty verdict only proved that bringing this case to trial, wasting millions in taxpayer dollars, simply wasn't worth it and the original decision not to prosecute should have been maintained. You really need to put aside your obvious hatred of people with a different skin color than your own and move on.

 

[Upsmule]

“I am a black male who grew up in the inner city of Atlanta and no one ever followed me in a mall. I don’t recall any doors clicking when I crossed the street. And I never had anyone clutching their handbag when I got on an elevator. I guess having two awesome parents who taught me to be a respectful young man paid dividends.” – Allen West

 

[oldngray]

Obama co-sponsored legislation strengthening Illinois' "stand your ground" law - Illinois Review

 

[728ups]

I have been very surprised the NRA hasnt made the case that had Trayvon Martin been armed the outcome might have been different. I cant recall them encouraging young black males to arm themselves for protection either

 

[Upsmule]

I have been very surprised the NRA hasnt made the case that had Trayvon Martin been armed the outcome might have been different. I cant recall them encouraging young black males to arm themselves for protection either

He'd first have to be a law abiding citizen.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/police-buried-trayvons-criminal-history/

 

[oldngray]

NRA has supported everyone's ( including black males) rights to be armed. Why would they say anything different about Martin? Other than the fact it would have been illegal for him to carry because of his age, not his race. That didn't stop Martin from trying to illegally buy a handgun anyway.

 

[soberups]

I have been very surprised the NRA hasnt made the case that had Trayvon Martin been armed the outcome might have been different. I cant recall them encouraging young black males to arm themselves for protection either

Under both state and Federal law, Trayvon Martin was too young (17) to own or legally concealed-carry a gun. The NRA's position is that all law-abiding adults, regardless of color, have the right to keep and bear arms and they support "shall-issue" concealed carry permit laws in states.


.

 

[Upsmule]

Given the (not allowed as evidence) personal text message transcripts, as well as school suspension records...he was well on his way to not qualifying any way.

 

[moreluck]

 

[moreluck]

Via Mediaite:

. . . MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin asked Sharpton to respond to radio host Tavis Smiley who, on NBC’s Meet The Press, said that he was frustrated by the fact that the president had to be “pushed” to make it in the first place.

Sharpton declined to echo Smiley’s assertion. “I helped organize a lot of the outrage around this,” Sharpton said. “None of it was focused on pushing the president. It was pushing legislation and pushing the criminal justice system.”
​

 

[island1fox]

Race was never argued in evidence in the Zimmerman case, the FBI has not concluded it's investigation, and people are still talking about it so I have to disagree with your conclusions. Maybe we can prevent further tragedies, but calling it one and sweeping it under the rug won't get it done.

bbsam,
I tend to agree---lets have this conversation in detail. It is time. Blacks are 12.6 % of the total population.
Throw out the very young and the very old --and also the bbsams and law abiding Blacks like you .

We are probably now talking about 3% committing over 50% of the murders.
Does this cause fear of all young Blacks --YES
Does this cause profiling and extra attention by cops --YES
Do women -black and white clutch their handbags on elevators --YES
Do people lock their car doors as a young black male approach--Yes

President Obama claims 30 years ago -he could have ben travon -Yes
20 YEARS AGO --he could have been Zimmerman --YES

When are we going to address children born out of wedlock --run the streets-get into drugs -get suspended from school --Blacks have the highest dropout rates---crime --jail --back to father another generation of children to the cycle ???

Time for a very serious conversation ---the million man march tried --I give Louis Farrakhan credit --but this problem in the Black community shows no sign of getting better.








This 3% is weaking havoc on all of society --including you . Look at Travon ---17 yrs old --into drugs--had stolen property on him --suspended from school --not punished or grounded --no parental control --sent to a brother of another mothers house ---???? He was on the road of Failure --and a tradegy occurred along the way --killed in Sanford --or killed in Chicago --same conversation--it is time to have it.

I can also state that if I do not know the Black male approaching me in the street -----I have FEAR. NOT as an excuse as President Obama said ---but I have Just cause for this fear based on REAL CRIME STATISTICS !!!!!!

 

[bbsam]

Island



Do you believe that conversation has not been taking place for decades? And I don't think you will find anyone shying away from it. But that will not end the Martin discussion.

Now. Blacks commit more crimes against blacks. Who commits more crimes against whites? Your numbers start taking a much different feel with that simple truth.

 

[728ups]

Under both state and Federal law, Trayvon Martin was too young (17) to own or legally concealed-carry a gun. The NRA's position is that all law-abiding adults, regardless of color, have the right to keep and bear arms and they support "shall-issue" concealed carry permit laws in states.


.

I was being facetious in my post,but i can tell you here in the south the NRA is 99.9999999% Old White Babtists that would never in a million years want the Black Folks to arm themselves

 

[soberups]

I was being facetious in my post,but i can tell you here in the south the NRA is 99.9999999% Old White Babtists that would never in a million years want the Black Folks to arm themselves

And we all know what went on down there 200 years ago when the Old White Baptists had the guns and the black people didnt. It is a historic fact that an unarmed people are the easiest to oppress.

 

[soberups]

When are we going to address children born out of wedlock --run the streets-get into drugs -get suspended from school --Blacks have the highest dropout rates---crime --jail --back to father another generation of children to the cycle ???

Time for a very serious conversation ---the million man march tried --I give Louis Farrakhan credit --but this problem in the Black community shows no sign of getting better.

I will address it right now, and I'm going to piss some people off.

State-sanctioned oppression, discrimination, segregation and legalized oppression of black people as an entire race only ended in the mid-1960's. I was born in 1967, so we are only talking about a generation or two ago. The idea that some well meaning white people can pass a law and say "ok black people, no more riding on the back of the bus, you are legally equal to us now so get your together and get jobs and become doctors and lawyers and politicians and start behaving the way we expect you to immediately" is kind of stupid and naive. Systematic, legal opression and dehumanization of an entire race will negatively affect that race for generations.

Now add to that the so-called "war on drugs" that disproportionately targets and sentences and incarcerates young black men. It isnt the black men who are importing the drugs, it isnt the black men who are getting rich off the drugs, and it sure as hell isnt the black men who wrote the laws about drugs or enforced the laws about drugs or sat on the juries for the trials of the other black men who broke the laws on the drugs.

If we are going to hold the black community as a whole accountable for its problems, then we in the white community need to at least be honest about the role we have played in creating and perpetuating those problems.

---flame suit ON-------

 

[Catatonic]

I was being facetious in my post,but i can tell you here in the south the NRA is 99.9999999% Old White Babtists that would never in a million years want the Black Folks to arm themselves

​What are Babtists?

Like to stereotype a bit, do we?