Serious Zimmerman Acquitted

[Nastyjungle]

Read here

I try not to oppose court decisions when I feel a trail was fair, but I can't help but feel there was a serious miscarriage of justice here. I honestly thought there was no chance of a man who shot down an unarmed teenager after 911 dispatchers told him to leave the kid alone would be found not guilty. To me this just reaffirms to me that racism is alive and well in the US, to be honest I'm pretty sickened

 

[PK Gaming]

So if I got this right, the only thing Zimmerman is guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt of being is a huge cunt. He's a horrible person which society would probably be better off without, but there just wasn't enough evidence against him. Sigh.

Oh man, I seriously don't want to live in a world where you can chase after someone with a gun, shoot and kill them and not get charged with some kind murder charge.

 

[Layell]

My only comfort in this case is knowing that while he walks free Zimmerman's life is essentially over. This should have never have happened, if this was anywhere else in the world I can only hope it would not have happened. This man had a fetish for being a hero and protecting his tiny little world. He is in fact a danger to the rest of us.

 

[Myzozoa]

I don't really consider the trial fair given the jury, but there was pretty much no evidence for either side so in that sense it would be hard to prove anything anyway. I wish this was more surprising, but I don't think many will be that shocked by the verdict.

 

[Stratos]

reposted from facebook:
so, zimmerman not guilty. while some angry people are saying this frees me up to shoot every black person i found on the street, i'd be more worried if we got a justice system where you could convict someone of a crime simply because you wanted to make a political statement. Whatever larger political significance this trial may have, the jurors don't believe the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that zimmerman's shooting of martin was not in self-defense, and that's what it comes down to in the end.


with the virtually complete lack of evidence for the prosecution in this case, it's hard to prove shit beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

[PK Gaming]

reposted from facebook:
so, zimmerman not guilty. while some angry people are saying this frees me up to shoot every black person i found on the street, i'd be more worried if we got a justice system where you could convict someone of a crime simply because you wanted to make a political statement. Whatever larger political significance this trial may have, the jurors don't believe the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that zimmerman's shooting of martin was not in self-defense, and that's what it comes down to in the end.


with the virtually complete lack of evidence for the prosecution in this case, it's hard to prove shit beyond a reasonable doubt.

I'd be more worried about the fact that you can harass and kill someone in Florida and get away with no murder charges.

 

[Stratos]

I'd be more worried about the fact that you can harass and kill someone in Florida.

yes, from our pundit sidelines it is 'possible' or even 'likely' that this is what happened but
a) we don't know the facts of the case like the jurors who spent three weeks in that courtroom (and the media has certainly not helped this bias)
b) possible and likely aren't the standards prosecutors are held to

as myzozoa said, given the lack of evidence on either side, a conviction would have been more surprising to me than a not guilty

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat

 

[GCSChris]

I don't really consider the trial fair given the jury, but there was pretty much no evidence for either side so in that sense it would be hard to prove anything anyway. I wish this was more surprising, but I don't think many will be that shocked by the verdict.

This basically sums up my opinion, there was not enough evidence by either side to really prove much of everything. You can't make proof beyond a reasonable doubt when it boils down to the two sides insisting that their way was the way that actually happened. The most I can hope from the case is that the Florida law involved in this case is changed. On the news yesterday one person said that they didn't even think that this case would've made it to court if not for the racial "complications". I bothered me that there was so much talking done on various news channels about a case that had absolutely no hard evidence.

I also thought the jury choice was weird. All white women, what's up with that? The most I can think of is that they take no racial "stance" I suppose, but it still seemed a bit silly to me. I'm sure there were good reasons though.

The part about the 911 dispatchers telling him to leave the kid alone kinda sickens me as well, I'm really sure what to think.

 

[faint]

Personally I think we should respect the jury and not pretend like we know better than them.

 

[PK Gaming]

Regardless, Florida's shitty "stand your ground" law and lack of law to hold jerkasses like Zimmerman who aren't being held accountable for his their reckless actions is serious problem. That's the real tragedy here.

EDIT: The case was really weak and justice system worked whether we're willing to admit or not. Not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

It's quite unfortunate.

 

[mattj]

i mean seriously how is that not the only takeaway from this case
as long as its dark out, or you're alone, and you bring back one good shiner and a scratch or two to back up your self defense claim, you can pretty much stalk, harass, and kill whoever you want in Florida what kind of crazy, upside down place is this

 

[Shinryu]

Well honestly, the prosecution's case imo was weak, remember they didn't even go to press charges until like 2 weeks after. So you can tell the state was pretty unwilling to go through with it from the start, and I think it shows. And of course, there's "beyond reasonable doubt" as well, which is easy for the defense to prove more so than the prosecutor's attempt to show beyond reasonable doubt.

Still, doesn't change the fact that Zimmerman's life socially is likely shit, and regardless of the fact he wasn't found guilty, he's still gonna suffer. Like OJ, people think he's guilty regardless of what the jury finds. I'm actually surprised he didn't get convicted of manslaughter at the least.

 

[Houndoomsday]

im already fucking sick of people bitching about our justice system. dont blame the law or the justice system, blame the shitty case brought forward by the prosecution.

also, people claiming he "got away with murder" ignoring the fact that no one knows what happened besides zimmerman. you cannot claim that he was unprovoked because no one knows. stop trying to sensationalize it

my thoughts right now can be summarized pretty damn well by this quote:
“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.” — Mahatma Gandhi

if in fact he killed martin without a reason, he will live the rest of his life (and his afterlife if you follow those beliefs) with that guilt and inner judgment. if he was innocent, then the court did its job.

 

[Curtains]

Tell me how a black football player gets two years for shooting himself... but Zimmerman gets nothing for killing a black minor. Welcome to america..... Also did you see trayvons death photo? I bet zimmerman felt really threatened by trayvons skinny jeans..... This country is a fucking disgrace.

 

[Houndoomsday]

yeah dropping the n bomb and a smiley in the same sentence isnt really the best way to maintain a serious (and respectful) tone in a conversation.

its also ironic how you degrade a race in the same sentence you express concern for them


but lets not turn this into an argument. on a different note i expect zimmermans life to be completely ruined, and in terms of getting justice/revenge for martin i think the court of public opinion will handle it just fine on their own

 

[Nastyjungle]

they are both offensive how about we just dont say that word in this thread please and thanks

 

[Chou Toshio]

I can't believe this shit.

 

[Houndoomsday]

lets set aside the fact that you are over simplifying the incident (you werent there so dont act like you know how it went down), my point is its pretty damn hypocritical to say "(BAN ME PLEASE) hunting season is officially open in Florida! :D" and act like you were being 100% serious and then turn around and say it was horrible that a kid got shot because he was black and the shooter was freed because the kid was black and claim racial bias. yes the trial had racial bias lets not try to propagate it into our everyday speech

 

[Cafemocha]

I don't really understand how at the very least he didn't get manslaughter. There was enough proof to show that he was told to back down. But, the law has spoken, and there's nothing we can really do but accept it...and call Florida crazy, cause it is [no offence to sane people actually living in Florida]

I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll hear about this case though, he can still be brought on different charges or stuff can still happen...I think. None the less his life is going to be ruined. In a way, I pity him, because I think he would have enjoyed jail more than what his life is going to be like now.

 

[CaptKirby]

whether or not they find it offensive is immaterial (and cannot be presumed at this point, no one really implied offense); these guys are just pointing out that you factually explicated a severe lack of the qualities a christian person is supposed to possess with your joke

 

[reyscarface]

I don't really understand how at the very least he didn't get manslaughter. There was enough proof to show that he was told to back down. But, the law has spoken, and there's nothing we can really do but accept it...and call Florida crazy, cause it is [no offence to sane people actually living in Florida]

because an advisor advised (important word there) to back off. it is not against the law to not back off. what he did led to a really sad situation, but what he did wasnt against the law. the killing cant be proven as murder, and since the burden of proof is in the prosecution and not in zimmerman, the only fair outcome is a not guilty.

 

[coolbiz]

Me being a teen living in Florida this actually concerns me more than a lot of people understand, especially here on smogon. I have a 30 minutes walk home from school everyday next to a major road, what if a racist crazy person decides to ram into me? Not likely but possible and they could EASILY say it was on accident. Actually that just happened on the exact road im speaking of 2 weeks ago, it was a accident but I am on high alert ready to fight any other race person, just saying. Dont even get me started on how they picked a jury with no black people. I GUARANTEE if the skin colors on these 2 individuals were flipped the black person would IMMEDIATELY be charged with homicide not even a chance to say the word "accident". Still love 'merica and all but it can have its sucky times.

 

[mkizzy]

Me being a teen living in Florida this actually concerns me more than a lot of people understand, especially here on smogon. I have a 30 minutes walk home from school everyday next to a major road, what if a racist crazy person decides to ram into me? Not likely but possible and they could EASILY say it was on accident. Actually that just happened on the exact road im speaking of 2 weeks ago, it was a accident but I am on high alert ready to fight any other race person, just saying. Dont even get me started on how they picked a jury with no black people. I GUARANTEE if the skin colors on these 2 individuals were flipped the black person would IMMEDIATELY be charged with homicide not even a chance to say the word "accident". Still love 'merica and all but it can have its sucky times.

as another resident of florida, florida is fuckin crazy yo
keep safe

either way not sure how i feel about him getting off free, i mean it was a fair trial and all but i still don't feel like the best thing was done there. either way what can ya do

 

[blarajan]

As I said in #wcop, this acquittal basically reconfirms that our justice system is working.

reposted from facebook:
so, zimmerman not guilty. while some angry people are saying this frees me up to shoot every black person i found on the street, i'd be more worried if we got a justice system where you could convict someone of a crime simply because you wanted to make a political statement. Whatever larger political significance this trial may have, the jurors don't believe the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that zimmerman's shooting of martin was not in self-defense, and that's what it comes down to in the end.


with the virtually complete lack of evidence for the prosecution in this case, it's hard to prove shit beyond a reasonable doubt.

Basically wraps it up entirely. I think we're all over simplifying what we believe happened. Most believe that Zimmerman murdered the poor child in cold blood for racial reasons. The prosecution's own witness, told to testify about Zimmerman's injuries, however, states that he was in fact slammed on the ground (considering the injuries to the back of the head), and punched at least once, though possibly multiple times. From what I've read, the prosecution's case were filled with both inconsistencies and witnesses actually making statements in Zimmerman's favor. The bottom line is, the case that the prosecution brought, at least in the jurors' minds, did not and could not prove that Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin in cold blood as suggested by the masses, as self defense is a legitimate concern.

It is important to note that the United States Justice System leans towards the defendant in these cases for good reason. The state, when making its cases, has unlimited resources and manpower for the prosecution. The defense does not have these luxuries. It is only expected, then, that the State will both follow procedural law in acquiring evidence and making its case, and that a tie (so to speak) goes to the defense. The burden of proof does not lie on the defense. One should never have to prove they are innocent. Zimmerman should not have to prove he is innocent. It is up to the State to prove that he is guilty. They did not do so, so he walks. It's as simple as that.

No one supports the unfortunate circumstances that led to what happened that night, but even still, we cannot include our own personal biases when arbitrating justice. If the Criminal Justice System isn't fair, what hope is there, really, for the accused?