OK, I am going to go there- George Zimmerman case

What are your opinions on the George Zimmerman case?

I have sided on one side with some reservations. 1. I don't know everything about the case. 2. The media tends to slant things here and there as a rule, so who knows what the actual truth is? (besides the two people directly involved)

From what I have heard it sounds like a case of overzealous neighborhood watchman gone mad. Maybe not everything he did was illegal, but certainly some of it was stupid. I heard he was told NOT to follow Trayvon Martin.

Who really knows. Maybe the non-guilty verdict is legally correct but morally wrong? I think he is guilty of some wrong doing.

Did he pursue Trayvon or did Trayvon come back and act aggressively?

 

Since I was not there and have not followed the news, I can't really take a side. I do however continue to pray for all involved.

 

Personally, I think the answer to this is yes, and yes.

Yes, Zimmerman stalked Trayvon. He viewed himself as defending his "territory", standing guard, catching baddies, whatever. He was hyped up on testosterone and fantasies of being the good guy.

Yes, I believe Trayvon acted aggressively. Being stalked by a stranger made him angry and scared. In all likelihood he could have made it home safely, but he was a healthy young man and wanted to deal with things himself.

A friend of mine likes to say of cases like this, "Testosterone kills."

Personally, my feeling on the whole issue is that the law is bad. We should not be empowered to confront people who are not presenting an immediate threat to ourselves or others. We SHOULD have a duty to retreat, if at all possible. I'm grateful the law's different here in Canada.

I hope there's a push to change the law in Florida, as "Stand your ground" really seems to be more of a case of "Last man standing", than anything else.

And I'll be VERY happy when my husband mellows out on this issue, as currently it's enraging him whenever it comes on the news. He doesn't handle it well when he thinks there's been a miscarriage of justice. And in this case, he wanted to see - at minimum - a manslaughter conviction.

 

I tend to lean toward the "legally correct, but morally wrong." However, the law, and not the morality thereof, is all the jurors can consider.

 

I think that that guy will be hiding for the rest of his life....... and I'm not sorry for that, I think he (Zimmerman) had more going on in his head than what really was going on. I've heard what everyone else that's seen the media opinions that Martin was a "wanna be" gang banger....... but the simple truth was on that night he was on his phone talking to his girlfriend and eating candy and having a soft drink......... did he defend his self, probably, but if Zimmerman wasn't waiting and willing to sling his gun from his holser ......... really how many people have guns in holsters that aren't police....... someone was going to be shot by that guy....... he had ants in his pants so to speak....

 

I say this with all due respect to everyone here. If you did not watch the trial and see the evidence, PLEASE refrain from posting. I have heard so many different versions of what people think happened and then they admit they didn't watch the trial or hear the evidence.

It is tragic when anyone dies at the hands of another, especially one so young. GZ was not stalking or tracking TM. He was following him. There had been break-ins in the neighborhood, and TM was acting suspiciously. He was not just walking home with skittles and tea. TM approached his truck when he was on the phone with 911, then walked away. He waited for GZ to get off the phone and out of his truck and then attacked him from behind. Why didn't TM just go home?

Following someone is not illegal. Assaulting someone is illegal. You cannot assault someone and expect them to not fight back with what ever means possible. If GZ was out to just shoot TM, he would have been brandishing his gun or just shot him and not calling 911 for help. His gun was holstered the entire time, until he was assaulted. If he wanted to be the neighborhood hero, macho man or prove he was empowered because he had a gun in his pocket.. why didn't he confront him instead of calling 911?

TM had marijuana in his system. He had previous run-ins for possessing stolen jewelry and assaulting a bus driver. He was no angel. He was a wannabe thug and HE was the racist. He has several suspensions from school.

Where is the outrage for the 8-9,000 African Americans that die each year at the hands of another AA? (Bureau of Justice Statistics) 93% of those crimes are black on black. If GZ had been black no one would have ever heard of this case.

 

That is not what came out in the trial. Rachel Genteel was not his girlfriend, just a friend. He was not eating skittles and drinking a soft drink. He supposedly was bringing them back to his house for his brother. Or, as others have reported, those are two ingredients in something called "lean" or "drank". According to TM's prior texts, he was trying to find a way to make codeine.

http://www.thebrennerbrief.com/2013...hose-skittles-judge-allows-toxicology-report/

GZ was not laying in wait, it was the other way around.

And... I carry a gun, holstered on my hip every day. I'm not out to shoot anyone, I'm out to protect myself.

 

I think that Zimmerman did the right thing in being vigilant around this boy. I think he did the right thing by calling 911. Maybe I don't have all of the information, but I do NOT understand why he didn't stay in his car after calling the police?

I think a whole lot of messed up happened that night. I think 2 people made stupid choices and the result was 1 losing their life.

I also think Zimmerman doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hades of having a normal (safe) life after this. When people unaffiliated with the trial are being beaten on the streets as "justice for Trayvon," Zimmerman has a huge bulls-eye on his back.

 

THank you. I agree with everything you said!! My husband and I own and carry firearms and I have yet to "stalk" and shoot anyone.

 

He got out of his car to find out the address of where he was located. It was at that point Trayvon (after watching him sitting in his car on the phone, and then getting out) jumped him.

I agree, GZ has no chance of a normal life without having an entire new identity and facial reconstruction surgery.

 

I don't know, and I don't care. I wasn't there, but God was. He'll decide, so I'll keep my nose in my own business.

 

Nodding in agreement and thanking God that I wasn't part of a jury that had to deliberate on this.

The entire story is tragic. One family has lost their son, another family fears for the life of their son. It pains me terribly to see that it has been turned into a racial issue. Heartbreaking and I pray that all those families involved will be able to find peace with this (sooner than later without anymore violence).

 

1) The law is an ass.

2) The death of an unarmed young man is a tragedy.

3) Life is cheap because of the country's obsession with guns.

4) George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin alike lacked tact and good judgment.

5) The jury made what they genuinely believed to be the right legal decision.

6) This was not a civil rights case, and shame on politicians for trying to make it one.

7) Independent of this case, racism (and other forms of bigotry) still exists and we must do more to stand up against it.

8) May God comfort the Martin family and give them the opportunity to demonstrate Christ's love during this very difficult time.

 

It's not a crime to walk home. Suspicion is often in the eye of the beholder.

Irrelevant.

Irrelevant.

Irrelevant and just your opinion.

Irrelevant and just your opinion.

Irrelevant and just your opinion.

Irrelevant. Would we label all children "suspicious bad guys" simply because they've been suspended from school? My youngest was suspended for two weeks because he stood up to a bully.

Irrelevant and just your opinion.

I apologize for being to-the-point and sounding harsh, but what matters are the merits of the legal case. The things you mention play a role in forging the opinion of observers - and plenty of criminals win the hearts of spectators - but they must never be allowed to influence an objective legal decision. In the end, we're a nation of laws. If we were ruled by majority public opinion, God help us.

What is relevant in this case, though, is that, almost certainly, no gun no death. I would hope that we'd learn from this tragedy before it happens again.

 

Steve I agree or at least understand most of your points but no gun no death may or may not be accurate. We do not know how much the young man would have beaten the other man. No gun would have meant that Trayvon did not die but did not mean that George Zimmerman would not have been killed or had brain trauma from the beating.

Now I was not there, only God knows the entire truth (since both GZ and TM versions would have been from their point of view. I do agree that legally someone should have the right to defend themselves if they reasonably believe that they are in danger and I trust the legal system to define reasonably in each case.

The problem here is not the guns it is a culture which believes that violence is the first and not the last solution to a problem. This incident was a tragic example of that. We as a society need to respect life we also need to have a culture that respects and trusts authority. Unfortunately more and more people do not respect the government or even the ideals of the country. This is a break down of society and I am truly scared to see where this is leading.

 

Just walking home is not wandering around looking at houses, cutting through private property and is suspicious enough to make me keep an eye on what someone is doing on my street.

Suspended for standing up to a bully is a bit different then being suspended for bringing drugs and stolen merchandise to school and assaulting a bus driver, no? How is that irrelevant? It shows that this "boy" had a violent streak and no respect.

Calling someone a "Creepy A$$ Cracker" isn't racist? I would consider someone calling me that name a racist just as I would consider a white person referring to a black person as the N word.

Steve, what matters to you.... deaths or gun deaths? Do you not realize that TM knew the MMA technique of "Ground and Pound" and that is what he was in the process of doing to GZ when he got shot? Using that method it was very likely that GZ would have been killed. Not with a gun, but by the hands of someone who knew exactly what to do to bring on a death. No gun, but still the result would have been someone dead. It was going to be GZ or TM that night, and TM unfortunately lost his life.

I think everyone knows where you stand on firearms. But, in this country it is our Constitutional RIGHT to carry and our RIGHT to use it for self defense. A jury of his peers also found that he violated no law. This was not a case of "Stand your Ground" law. This was self defense.

 

Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords -Benjamin Franklin

 

UNLESS YOU WERE THERE AS THIS ENTIRE TRAGEDY TOOK PLACE, ONLY GOD KNOWS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED and He will hold who ever responsible for it accountable! Period...... end of story......case over

 

I think the bottom line comes down to the law. It doesn't really matter what happened prior to the gun going off, so in a sense Steve is right. It's ALL irrelevant. This was a case of self defense. If GZ was in fear of great bodily harm or death he had a right under the law to defend himself with what ever means were at his disposal. The jury found that he was in reasonable fear for his life, and judged him not guilty. That is the end of the story.

ETA: Brenda, I do believe in the end we are all accountable to only God, and he will be the final judge and jury.......of ALL of us, and that includes GZ AND TM.

 

I agree with this completely. Rapidly disappearing is the attitude of "turn the other cheek" or "strive to live at peace with all men." Instead, we're encouraged to stand up for "our rights," even if it costs someone else their life. If guns magically disappeared from the country, there would be a surge in knifings etc. because of this attitude. Guns, unfortunately, just make killing so much more clinical and easier. They amplify the more fundamental problem - namely, that we no longer love our neighbors as ourselves, let alone love our enemies.