George Zimmerman Trial

[AQUAMAN]

I think everyone has heard about the trial of Mr. Zimmerman in Sanford, Fl.. The second degree murder charges look like they aren't going to fly. So what does the prosecution team do now? Since the defense team has now rested their case? Well, they now want to change the charges to get some sort of conviction, any conviction, and all for public injustice, not true justice. The prosecution now insists that a lesser charge of 3rd degree murder, manslaughter, and child abuse also be put in the mix. How the judge can let this happen after the trial is over, is ridiculous to me. But, in this day and age, with all the injustices happening around us daily, ok, why not, right?

[XLFD]

Newsflash:  Zimmerman has been found not guilty of all charges.

[Willy]

This is the only video I could find regarding the verdict. So let's see if the mindless followers of Al Sharpton and his ilk will respect the law or go out and cause trouble. Sharpton and his followers are the true racists.

[Dave]

Glad the jury was able to look at all of the facts and come to a decision that was the right decision.

[AQUAMAN]

Dittos Dave, and for sure, it's a sane and rational decision. One that should send a message to the Judge and liberal/progressives that think society has really changed for them, and with them for their warped sakes alone.  LOL! I'll still bet some protests will come, even though justice, had to prevail, and the judge was prejudiced to begin with. She should have disqualified herself a long long time ago, but that wasn't in the agenda, and so this agenda, wound up for and with victory for the victim of circumstances. I'm glad he did  prevail, esp. since all the odds were against him.

[Dave]

Here's something I put together tonight, now that the verdict has been read... took me forever but its my 2 cents on the whole ordeal... incident and trial:

I've been holding off for the most on giving my 2 cents regarding the George Zimmerman Trial that has been going on, now that we have a verdict I think I'm ready to give my say. First let me say that the whole case was tragic and it was sad that Trayvon Martin unfortunately was killed.

I know that not everyone will agree with what I have to say and that's ok, a lot of people have varying opinions on this subject that they feel passionate about and they have every right in the world to feel how they feel.

Anyway, this case was unfortunately filled with way to much emotion and trying to make assumptions about what happened. The hardest thing to do in this case is to try and look at things without the emotion and look at the facts in the case. I've read many comments both for and against Zimmerman over the last few weeks that have portrayed both of the people involved as whoever they want them to be. Most of the Martin supporters portray Zimmerman as being a vigilante that was out looking for a reason to use his gun. Those Martin supporters also try and portray that Trayvon was just this nice sweet kid that was stalked and gunned down. Some of the Zimmerman supporters have suggested that Trayvon was simply a thug that let his ego control what he did. For the most part, I don't think most of its true.

As hard as it is to accept, Trayvon wasn't an angel.... but I don't think he was a thug either. He had been suspended from school and toxicology reports showed that there was trace amounts of marijuana in his system the night he died. There were also the pictures on his phone as well as the text messages.. they don't exactly make him look good. In his own words he refers to himself as a gangster. He has also been portrayed as being a 'kid' so to speak which by law, he was technically a child but psychically he was as much an adult as Zimmerman was. Standing at in 6 foot tall (or taller depending on what a variety of websites say) and weighing around 160 pounds, his stature equals many adults. Zimmerman is actually shorter then Martin by a few inches although he did outweigh Martin (couldn't find an exact weight to say how much).

As I mentioned, I've seen more then a few people refer to him as a vigilante or as someone that was out to use a gun on someone. The facts as presented just don't back these claims up. One thing I have a problem with is if a person is looking to use a gun on someone, the first thing you do is call the police? If I'm about to shoot someone, I'm not going to call the police before I shoot them... that simply makes no sense at all. Many people have portrayed Zimmerman as having stalked Martin, again, the facts don't seem to back up this case (in my opinion anyway... not saying I'm right, just that the facts don't appear to me to support the idea that Zimmerman was stalking Martin). Looking at the time line of events and taking into consideration the phone call that Zimmerman made to the police and the evidence submitted in the trial, I simply don't see a point where Zimmerman would of stalked Martin. Try looking at things from Zimmerman's point of view (as he presented them).... your driving your vehicle and you see someone that your not familiar with cutting between houses, you know that there have been some break-ins in the immediate area. I don't think its unreasonable for someone to think that this person could be up to something, given the facts, its makes sense to be cautious. Zimmerman then calls 911 to tell them there is a suspicious person and that there have been break-ins and talks to the operator, that call last just over 4 minutes. Just over 2 minutes into that call, the operator ask Zimmerman if he is still following Martin, Zimmerman says "yes" and the operator says that he doesn't need to do that to which Zimmerman replies "OK"..... a response that could be taken more then one way. If Zimmerman's accounting of events is factual, he did stop following as he mentions about 15 seconds later in the call that he has lost sight on Martin. If Zimmerman had continued to follow Martin, would he of lost sight of him? The call ends about 30 seconds after that.

As to what happens after this point, we will never know for sure but the facts tend to back up Zimmerman's accounting of the event for the most part. The scuffle/fight started at some point shortly there after as things happened within the next 3 minutes. We don't know who started the fight but an eye witness placed Martin on top of Zimmerman for at least several seconds, reigning his fist down. In the heat of the moment, can anyone honestly say what they would do? None of us were there so we can't possibly know what either of these men were thinking but if I'm the person that is in the position that Zimmerman is in and I happen to have a firearm on me, I'd probably do the same thing. I doubt I'd be laying there thinking "well, I don't know if this person is armed or not and he's probably going to keep wailing on me until I lose consciousness so I suppose I should just lay here and take it"... again, I can see where a person will shift to survival mode and make split second decisions. The evidence presented during the trial seems to suggest though that Martin is the person that instigated the fight.... making him the aggressor. I honestly think that one of the reasons that Zimmerman was found innocent was for the facts of the eye witness seeing the fight and that Zimmerman had injuries to his person. After the fact it was determined that Zimmerman's injuries were not severe but as I noted before, in the heat of the moment when you are going into survival mode you are going to do things, making split second decisions.

A lot of people seem to think that Zimmerman was some kind of psychic as well.... that Zimmerman could possibly know if Martin had a weapon or not. Martin didn't know for sure that Zimmerman had a weapon, how would Zimmerman know if Martin did? Zimmerman noted in the phone call to the police that at one point Martin had his hand in his waist band and at another point mentioned that he Martin had something in his hand.

Tonight I've heard a lot of comparisons between this case and the Casey Anthony case. Other then being both held in Florida and the prosecution in each case having weak cases, there is really nothing else that these cases have in common. While I believe that Casey Anthony at the last has knowledge on what happened to her child and possibly may of taken part in what happened, the prosecution in her trial simply didn't have enough evidence to get her convicted.... not being able to give a time or method of death. Had I been on that jury, I most likely would of went with innocent as well as I wouldn't want to convict someone because I thought they were guilty... I'd want to convict someone because they were guilty and the evidence proved it. In the Zimmerman case here, its the same situation..... you have to strip your personal feelings, your emotions and look at the facts of the case and base your judgement on those facts.... convicting someone for anything other then what the facts say is as much of a travesty as whatever might of happened to begin with. Sometimes outcomes to trials don't come out as we would like them to be but more times then not, the system works just as it should. The fact that the jury took their time to make their decision, checking the meaning of the Manslaughter charge before making their final decision, I don't know how anyone can fault the job they did.

At the end of the day though, I think both George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin made bad decision and the events of those decisions ended up in the death of Trayvon. Zimmerman being out of the vehicle was obviously a bad decision. Martin made the decision to confront Zimmerman (apparently, going by the facts presented in the case).. again, another bad decision. The saddest fact though is that if Martin had went home or found a place where he could of called 911 instead of putting himself in the position that he did, he would be alive today. The police were there within a minute after the shot was heard on one of the phone calls that were made by residents. I've had a few express that Martin had the right to confront Zimmerman because he was following him and I totally agree, Martin certainly had the right to do that. But there can be consequences to actions and when your dealing with confrontations, anything can happen and its obviously not out of the realm of possibilities that something bad can happen.

That's all I have for now... if I think of anything else to add, I'm sure I'll add it. If you bothered to read all this, and god knows there was plenty to read, I hope that even if you don't agree with something or everything for that matter that you at least looked at it with an open mind. If you want to share an opinion, your more then welcome too.. regardless of where you stand regarding the incident. I will only add that to avoid any arguments or whatever that lets keep in mind that most likely I'm not going to change your mind if your a supporter of Martin and your probably not going to change my mind as I believe that the verdict was the right one.

[Willy]

Good post Dave.

[easymoney]

It became political, just as in an intervue, when the chief of police stated, we had 30,000 protester wanting a trail, so we gave them one. (mob rule?)

No- one wanted to answer the question, If the skin colors were reversted would there have even been a trail?

Such a tragedy, that the MSN's didn't get what they were pushing for all along.

Question? Should the police chief, who lost his job over the original ,self defense theory, sue the city for his job back? Or at least his loss wages.

[XLFD]

Well thought out, Dave.  We need you to do deep cogitating like that more in the future, instead of keeping it to yourself.  I could find myself writing basically the same ideas.  Which you can either take as a compliment, or a reason to see a mental health specialist immediately ;-)

[Dave]

Making an appointment first thing in the morning ;-)

[AQUAMAN]

You guys are funny, but the case isn't. And I think, even though it could be construed as biased, it wasn't in the end. True JUSTICE hath fi9ally prevailed, imho. Thank GOD! Now, all we got to know is how the Sharpton and Holder teams respond to this, and my guess is it aint pretty!

[Dave]

The reality with Holder and what he talked about today is that I suspect that he simply appeasing the crowds asking for 'justice'.... the prosecution couldn't prove racism and the FBI couldn't find any racism.... don't see how Zimmerman could possibly be tried on civil rights charges and convicted.... the Fed's can try of course but that ends up being a waste of tax payer money.

[AQUAMAN]

Obama's team isn't likely to take this lying down, esp. if Holder is stepping up to the plate now. They just can't well enough alone, cause they have their own agenda.