I agree

It was a fair trial and I respect the jury's decision.

He may have done the deed, but the evidence that's been available to the public leaves room for a reasonable doubt.

It was a waste of money holding the trial, was a jury ever going to have the confidence to send this guy down for 20 years........ ridiculous.
This sort of stuff is done to pacify the public, surely if the prosecution were real keen to see justice done they would have agreed on a lesser charge where they had more chance of securing a conviction. I don't think the prosecution wanted this guy convicted.
I think if no riots follow this will be seen as a great success story, sad but true.
Vigilantes 1 American Justice System 0

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"-William Blackstone

Of course if the roles were reversed and an armed Trayvon Martin stalked and killed an unarmed Fat George, the trial result would have been the same. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! lol.

Of course, this is what happens when the state controls who can conceal-carry, and who can't. Crazy fuckers like Zimmerman get a conceal-carry license, people like Trayvon, who have no interest in violence, are defenseless.

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape"

Nine more to go!

But honestly, it's very unlikely that George Zimmerman is going to kill anybody else, and what's the point in imprisoning someone who is no longer a threat? That being said, huge numbers of people are convicted every year in the U.S. for non-violent, victimless actions, such as possession of illicit drugs, tax evasion, etc.

Who cares. A simple case of murder or self defense overblown by the sensationalist media. Was quite clear from the early goings of the trial what the verdict would be.

As I said this was never about George Zimmerman, this was the American Justice System on trial here.
The laws enforce and perpetuate acts of extreme violence, the fact that the public are not shocked by laws that support 'justifiable use of deadly force' gives an indication of the uncivilized society you guys live in.
Democracy has to about more than one person one vote, is there not a responsible for the state institutions to serve the public fairly, to be truly accountable to the public. The concepts of freedom and democracy are seriously skewed, is there a movement to minimise violence or has it become that acceptable to kill nowadays, is life that cheap?

"the fact that the public are not shocked by laws that support 'justifiable use of deadly force' gives an indication of the uncivilized society you guys live in....
The concepts of freedom and democracy are seriously skewed, is there a movement to minimise violence or has it become that acceptable to kill nowadays, is life that cheap?"

Is life so cheap in England that you can't defend yourself if somebody is trying to kill you?

^ with a meat cleaver

It personally disgusts me that someone who ignored the police, and in doing so put himself in a situation that forced him to kill a man, is receiving no legal repercussions. That's not an opinion that's going to change, so I'm stepping out of this thread, sorry for only posting and not discussing per the OP.

Interesting, jmo. I wish you'd at least elaborate -- what percussions should he receive? I mean, murder, or something less? Do you believe in general that ignoring instructions from the police should constitute a crime, if things work out badly thereafter?

I'm most disappointed that the local commuity could pull togeter a good after-aquital violent rampage in honor of sweet little Trayvon. I hought I could have at least enjoyed a few live-broadcast bonfires.' Sheesh, do my disappointments ever cease?

I guess the truth was even obvious to the uppity morons and "community leaders" that had been calling for such nonsense that they tucked tail and slinked off into the dark, much as Trayvon should have done instead of attacking Zimmy.

@semck, I'm heading offline, but I at least think that he should lose his ability to wield a firearm. Ignoring the police, and then putting himself in a situation so compromising that he ended up in a hand to hand struggle shows with 100% clarity that he was lacking necessary judgement and training to possess a firearm. It was self defense (per the jury), but the situation that ended with a human death never should have arisen. That it did, and that there are no repercussions, should demonstrate a failure in the system. Legal or not, human death should scream failure to everyone.

OK, JMO, thanks.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I have a lot of problems with your suggestion, but per your stated desire not to discuss further, I will not air them.

"Legal or not, human death should scream failure to everyone"

If a guy is shot dead then yes, and if this happens often then it's a sign of a failed society. If this goes hand-in-hand with a failed economic system and a failing political system and a govt hooked on war just as well you have a nice flag and an interesting national anthem. Does they're come a time ever when you question the basic philosophy that underpins your life?

The United Kingdom should be so lucky as to have our failed economic system, frankly.

@ NigeeBaby

"the public are not shocked by laws that support 'justifiable use of deadly force' gives an indication of the uncivilized society you guys live in."

What planet do you live on? Humans are violent and greedy. There are certain situations where the use of deadly force is justified, and the law should provide for these situations so that innocent people are not punished for a justifiable action.

Whether or not Zimmerman's shooting of Martin was justified is of no consequence at this point. The prosecution could not prove that the shooting was *unjustified*, and under American (and Florida) law, it is incumbent on the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused, not on the defense to prove the innocence of the accused. Innocent until proven guilty, bitch.

Burn it down.

Well, it's been a fun night...

About half my Facebook feed is "Well, it's a tragedy, but legally that seems like the rational decision" and half of it is "OMG THIS IS AN ATROCITY WORSE THING EVER HOW DARE THEY AND IF YOU DISAGREE THEN FUCK YOU!!!"

So yeah. (That and wondering how much rioting's going to occur--always a concern when you live in LA in a case like this--but to the credit of the prosecution and those in the Martin family, they don't seem to be egging people on to riot, so hopefully things won't explode into violence.)

All that being said--

Seems to me that both Martin and Zimmerman were rash and made bad choices that night...and hey! when you mix young people, an over-eager night watchman, bad choices and a gun into the mix, whaddyaknow, bad things happen!

It's a tragedy, Zimmerman overreacted to some extent in my opinion, and he'll have to live with whatever guilt he may have and have to live a life of anonymity and definitely leave Florida and live somewhere remote...and a 17-year old boy died...so no good came of this (unless you're a part of the defense team, in which case, you're set for life after this verdict.)

But while I didn't follow this case very much, this does seem to be the rational decision.

One thing I want to ask, though:

The Race Angle--anyone else think it's been blown WAY out of proportion in this one case?

I mean, not every crime involving a black and a white/Hispanic (the man looks Hispanic and his voter ID identifies him as Hispanic, why do folks keep considering him as if he were white...because of the name? If his name were Jorge Santos instead of George Zimmerman...well, that'd be a whole other can of worms given that Blacks and Hispanics have their own issues, especially in NY and LA, but still) is a hate crime or a crime rooted in racism, yes?

Or do all blacks just hate all whites and vice versa, and every time one shoots another it MUST be due to race?

A racist fuck hunted down a kid and shot him in cold blood because he thought "these assholes always get away" has a history a racist and violent acts and you think it was that both of them were rash. fuck that. I hope you never wear a hoodie and go buy some skittles. I'd say, I hope you aren't black, but it's pretty damn clear you are white (and the rest of ya'll as well) but the sort -of oh, hey, i don't get why this is about race bullshit that's being thrown around.

Man, I just agreed with everything obi said in a post.

BREAKING NEWS: George Zimmerman and Casey Anthony announce plans for marriage, declare themselves an "intentionally childless couple."

...So any time a Hispanic shoots a black, it's an act of racism?

Not stupidity, not self-defense, not just him overreacting or panicking in the heat of the moment...

It's just always a hate crime? Because any and all Hispanics shooting blacks, or vice versa...well, it CAN'T be that they shot them for any other reason, no, people aren't that complex, we're all just simplistic little balls of racist hatred because that's, well, simplistic, and it's easier to view things as totally black and white with no shades of grey...

I mean, those just get in the way and make you have to consider all the OTHER reasons why a tragedy like this might occur, and that, erist, requires thought.

And thinking hurts. Nah. Racism. Every single time. Take the easy answer.

"A racist fuck hunted down a kid and shot him in cold blood because he thought "these assholes always get away" has a history a racist and violent acts and you think it was that both of them were rash. fuck that. I hope you never wear a hoodie and go buy some skittles. I'd say, I hope you aren't black, but it's pretty damn clear you are white (and the rest of ya'll as well) but the sort -of oh, hey, i don't get why this is about race bullshit that's being thrown around."

The MSM brainwashing is strong with this one.

> ...So any time a Hispanic shoots a black, it's an act of racism?

No, but when the shooter has a documented history of racism, and uses racial profiling in the act, it's a fair bet that that's an act of racism.

Which is what erist fucking said: 'because he thought "these assholes always get away" [and] has a history [of] racist and violent acts'

If you're going to do a monologue and ignore what other people are actually saying, why don't you spare us this time, obi, and just go talk to the mirror?