Both the prosecution and the defense are doing a very poor job so far. The defense needs to stick with the assertion that Zimmerman was attacked (and shouldn't have opened with a damned knock-knock joke), and the prosecution needs to find witnesses with at least double digit IQs.

El grande?

The big/large, if we're speaking Spanish?

Uhh... mucho grande?

much big/large?

Maybe you meant muy grande? Very big?

Or más grande que la vida misma? Larger than life?

Oui... je parle français... je ne sais pas parler espagnol.

I am reminded of an episode of WKRP where Herb says he wants to make muy dinero and Jennifer says "Herb, you just said very money."

Je ne veux jamais regarder ces programmes...

From what I've heard so far, I think the prosecution is going to have a pretty easy time convincing the jury Zimmerman had it out for Martin.

You've heard wrong. The law is actually very much on Zimmerman's side, and the evidence leans somewhat towards him as well. Plus "having it out for Martin" is not something to convict him on. This is a big reason why we why we have a legal system: to protect he accused from being judged in the court of public opinion rather than on the true merits of the case.

The problem is his lawyer is grossly incompetent. Who opens a murder trial with a joke? A knock-knock joke, even. Another thing is that the the jury may very well feel that they have to do "something" due to the high profile of the case and convict Zimmerman of manslaughter, regardless of whether the state really proves its case.

From what I've seen Zimmerman seems like a douche who nevertheless is not guilty of murder. But we'll have to see how the trial goes.

And lastly, I find it so bizarre that this case is getting so much attention. Murder trials happen every day. Murder trials involving young black men as victims happen every day. There's no shortage of cases involving a racial angle, so why this one? It seems strange that this case, while devastatingly tragic to the people involved, has captured the country's imagination and not, say, this one where a group of black Marines robbed, raped, and murdered a white Marine and his black wife. That sure sounds like a trial of the century to me, not a tragic but also tragically run-of-the-mill shooting.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/06/05/3-marines-found-guilty-of-murdering-couple-during-home-invasion-robbery/

I know he's not charged with manslaughter. Juries can choose a lesser offense in Florida.

The one I don't understand all the coverage on was that Jodi (Jodie?) Srias thing. Who the fuck was she? Why the fuck do we care?

* Arias

One pet-peeve I have about this affair: Huffington Post consistently has Zimmerman's photo matched with one of Martin where Martin is 12 or so.

The media has been awful. From old pictures of Trayvon to editing the 911 tapes to make Zimmerman look worse on TV to bleeping out that blockhead girl who testified saying "cracker," they have been consitently despicable from day one. This would be true even if Zimmerman were 100% guilty, which he may be. Even then, he deserves a fair trial.

^ Don't forget the media lightening Jorge Zimmerman's skin tone in their pictures to make him look white(r?).

I would agree with Invictus that the defense is grossly incompetent.

I disagree with abge that Zimmerman "had it out" for Martin. If he had the intent of killing him from the very beginning, why in the world did he call 911 first? Also, wouldn't he have shot him first without confronting him verbally? If Zimmerman is a murderer, he's not a very smart one. He risked a hand-to-hand struggle that easily could have gone Martin's way, especially if Martin had disarmed him and rendered him unconscious as he (Zimmerman) claimed.

Granted, second degree murder excludes premeditation, but doesn't the prosecution have to prove malicious intent? If Zimmerman's intent was that malicious, why did he allow Martin to essentially ground-and-pound him before firing?

If Zimmerman wants to get out of this without a prison sentence, he needs to maintain:
Exiting his car against the dispatcher's orders was not a crime
Following Martin for a short distance was not a crime
Verbally confronting Martin was not a crime
Martin physically attacked him first, which was a crime
Martin very nearly rendered him unconscious and attempted to disarm him, thus endangering Zimmerman's life and justifying the shooting.

*IF* the events transpired in the way that Zimmerman has described, I believe he is innocent. The question is whether or not to take him at his word.

"If Zimmerman is a murderer, he's not a very smart one."
I certainly won't disagree with you there.

http://www.inquisitr.com/820983/don-west-stupidity-cones-zimmerman-dad-killed-it/

are you kidding me you little piece of shit i’ll have you know i graduated top of my politics class and i’ve been involved in privilege checking with over 150 confirmed political demonstrations i’m trained in conflict resolution and i was the most oppressed person in my entire upper middle class high school you are nothing to me but another cultural appropriator i will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which have never been seen on this side of the 49th parallel mark my words you think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the internet think again fucker, as we speak i’m checking with my anarcho-communist analyst brigade for your location so you better be prepared to deal with some molotov cocktails and angry feminists flying through your window yOU’RE FUCKING DEAD CHERRY! i can be anywhere at any time and i can kill you in over seven hundred ways and that’s just with me boring you to death while i talk about privilege not only am i extensively trained in hotline management but i have access to an entire arsenal of sociological articles to prove my point and i will use them to wipe your fucking face off the earth you little shit if only you had known what oppressed retribution your cultural appropriation would unleash then maybe you would have held your fucking tongue but you couldn’t you’re fucking dead kiddo

PE, you have to post that on tumblr.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Internet, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in rage and were suddenly silenced".

Seeing as the defense lawyer's daughter's instagram is even drawing outrage I shudder to think of what may happen if Zimmerman is acquitted, which seems likely.

"If Zimmerman is a murderer, he's not a very smart one. He risked a hand-to-hand struggle that easily could have gone Martin's way"

So here's the problem. Zimmerman's version paints Martin as a suspicious and dangerous person. Whether or not he had it out for him, why the hell would you close distance with someone you feel is dangerous when you have a gun?! No matter what the jury decides this guy walked up to someone he felt was dangerous while possessing a gun. This makes him a complete idiot and at the very least he should lose the ability to own or possess a firearm.

But the charge is murder. He can (and probably should) be found guilty of a lesser charge, but murder requires intent and, as has been pointed out, he'd have to be the biggest moron with a gun on the planet to decide to approach someone he intended to kill, rather than sneaking up behind them and plugging them through the back of the skull.

Second degree murder in Florida does not require that he approached Trayvon with a specific intent to kill.
http://statelaws.findlaw.com/florida-law/florida-second-degree-murder-laws.html

In some other states, he'd be guilty of voluntary manslaughter. In Florida he's guilty of murder.

"Seeing as the defense lawyer's daughter's instagram is even drawing outrage I shudder to think of what may happen if Zimmerman is acquitted, which seems likely."

The population of Seminole County is 82.4% white and 9.5% black. I would imagine (but am too lazy to look up) that a lot of those white residents are older than average (given Florida's reputation as a preferred destination for retirees). I personally do not believe that George Zimmerman is guilty of 2nd degree murder, but it does look an awful lot to me like the prosecution is throwing up a very weak case - much weaker than it *could* present. Wouldn't surprise me at all if word has come down from On High that Zimmerman needs to be acquitted to prevent disruptions to the flow of campaign contributions and endorsements.

You know that George Zimmerman isn't white, right?

@largeham -- not a bad idea

@jmo
"So here's the problem. Zimmerman's version paints Martin as a suspicious and dangerous person. Whether or not he had it out for him, why the hell would you close distance with someone you feel is dangerous when you have a gun?! No matter what the jury decides this guy walked up to someone he felt was dangerous while possessing a gun. This makes him a complete idiot and at the very least he should lose the ability to own or possess a firearm."

...no it doesn't lol

he was the neighborhood watchman coordinator. he's not some random dude stalking people. given that the encounter ended in a shooting death I think it's pretty fair to say that there was a lapse in judgment somewhere down the line of actions, but I hardly think it strange or idiotic for a neighborhood watchman to ask someone who he thought was suspicious what was going on, nor do I think it idiotic for a neighborhood watchman to have a gun. your argument doesn't make any sense

@Tolstoy -- I doubt the rabbit hole goes that deep, but the prosecution's case reeks of sandbagging to me. I think that the prosecutors feel like they had their hand forced due to outside political pressure to press charges against someone who they felt wasn't actually guilty of anything illegal, and that they decided to handle it by doing as laughably poor a job as possible

George Zimmerman's melanin level isn't what has made this case national news - Trayvon Martin's melanin level is.