His name was Trayvon Martin

You should really, really read the rest of the comments.

I did. I still stand by what I just said.

Also, the Stand Your Ground law is bullshit in this case because it's called the stand your ground law, not pick up your ground and take it with you as you chase a child through your neighborhood law.

I thought you hadn't from your first sentence, seeing as how someone already stated that the neighborhood watch handbook recommends no weapon.

Again, it's not illegal to follow someone, unless you confront them. Evidence states Trayvon confronted him first when he got off his truck, and there's no evidence to contradict his claim that he got off the truck to check which street he was on. Therefore, if Trayvon attacked him, the stand-your-ground law holds up.

It's also not a race issue, currently, specifically because it's not a crime to be racist. He may have been racist, but all that needs to be investigated is whether Zimmerman approached him aggressively in their confrontation or if Trayvon attacked him while he was walking away. Evidence is in Zimmerman's favor. That's the end of it.

No shit it's not illegal to be racist. The US was founded on racism.

I'm gonna need to see the receipts. The only websites I've found that say anything like *that* are Fox and some obscure (and obviously racist) "offebeat news" site.

In the end, I think people are more upset by the way this case has been handled rather than the fact that a black boy was murdered. Racism is subtle these days, and that's obvious by the way this whole thing has played out thus far. Regardless, a child was crying for help and was dead moments later, after being followed by a man who wanted to find a crime being committed. There's something really fucked up about that.

Have you seen the video of Zimmerman being taken into custody? The dude looks squeaky clean to me. No blood, no grass on his clothes, no broken anything. He thought his life was in danger but there's no sign of obvious physical injury?

Honestly, race is beside the point. The guy's black neighbors have come out to protest claims of his racism, but even that doesn't matter yet. I really, really don't care about the race issue here, not until it can be proven that he killed the kid unjustly.

And what do you mean by "receipts"? Do I need to post where exactly the logic behind what the facts suggest come from? They come from me having read the reports, watched the video and listened to all the phone calls, and putting together why it's obvious that the prosecutor suggested they shouldn't charge. Have you seen all of the facts? I really don't think you've read the other posts. For instance, I think I had already said a doctor had checked him up with first aid and cleaned him before that video was taken 4 hours later (unless that was from another conversation I've had on the issue). A broken septum doesn't regularly become a blood faucet, in my experience, and you don't feel it until the next day. The bottom line is if the kid attacked him from behind while Zimmerman was walking away, it was justifiable homicide. The evidence all adds up to Zimmerman's statement being true, including reported "wounds" to the back of the head (which I've suggested probably add up to a simple developing bruise), the girlfriend's testimony, and the only eye-witness's testimony, as well as the consistency of his on-scene statement with the evidence. Deep down, I don't believe he actually turned away from Trayvon. I'm more likely to think he was the direct aggressor and escalated it on the spot. But literally all of the evidence points to Zimmerman's statements being true, so there's no reason to think a jury will convict, because all evidence against him is ENTIRELY speculation on "possible" scenarios, and that's all.

The burden of proof is on the prosecution, and nobody's been able to prove Zimmerman's lying.

EDIT: I forgot that police actually had reported seeing bleeding from the back of Zimmerman's head. So yeah, forget the bruise statement.

Hasn't the "called 46 times" thing been debunked? That it was a typo on the report, where instead of "since 2001" they accidentally put "since 2011."

What does his father being a judge have to do with what his kid did?

It is not a race issue because I don't think Zimmerman was profiling. It is not a race issue because there might be no justice to give. Nothing is going to fix this situation or make it right. It is not a race issue because anyone wearing a hoodie, lurking around in the rain could look suspicious. Does no one remember that old Unabomber picture? That was a white guy and the most wanted man in the country.

Him carrying a gun on neighborhood watch is what most puzzles me. I've never heard of that before. Even if he does have a conceal/carry permit. Which how in the world did he get anyways, if what I'm reading is correct and he got in some trouble a few years ago with domestic disturbance or whatever. Seems like that would be the first question they ask when handing out conceal/carry permits.

this wasn't "justifiable homicide" in any way. trayvon, until being scared and provoked, was doing NOTHING wrong.
if I was being followed by someone, the first thing I would do is call someone (as he called his girlfriend). next, if I was sure I was being followed, I would vocalize to the person "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME?" and then I would probably start to run away if I was, say, near woods or a safe place.
I would have done exactly what he did. and if I noticed he had a gun or was threatening, I would probably be ready to fight for my life.

I think you're stuck on a single scenario you've thoroughly convinced yourself of, because you keep skipping very crucial parts of what I'm saying and what the evidence is saying.

You also keep forgetting that witness statements suggest that a gun wasn't taken out until after Trayvon was seen on top of Zimmerman beating him, in which he also saw and heard Zimmerman crying out for help.

Yes, there's a chance that it was justifiable homicide, and there is, in fact, evidence for it.

Zimmerman's brother tells the story that Trayvon saw the gun in his waist, tried to take it while saying, "This is gonna be easy. You have a piece? You die tonight." Something like that, apparently.

The guy was in the military. He's training to be a cop. I'm sure he's taken a ton of gun safety courses. Plus, I think being actively on the lookout for a crime in an area where there has been some around, and being able to carry gun, one would want the security that comes from a gun, especially if they're highly experienced in using one... which he is. I'm pretty sure a domestic disturbance doesn't disqualify someone from carrying a gun. It doesn't necessarily imply violence, I don't think.

EDIT: Oh, I see what the charge was. Yeah, it does seem rather peculiar that they'd let him have a gun. Apparently someone in his family was getting arrested, and he was trying to separate the cop from him, thereby becoming assault on an officer. He was also 20 and drunk. Whew!

But was he also wearing a hoodie?

I was going to post something about how we're never, ever going to know exactly what happened unless someone shows up with shaky camera phone footage. But then I got to wondering, if some one did tape it, would they even want to share that? To jump into this whole mess and have their own lives torn apart. I'd have a hard time deciding if I would do that. Maybe just send it in to the cops anonymously, but even then, everyone would probably just say it was a hoax.

Well you see, Zimmerman clearly possesses an extraordinary ‘healing factor’, much like the comic book character Wolverine. But not TOO extraordinary, mind you, because I’m sure it hurt when his head was being repeatedly slammed against the pavement by Martin. I wasn’t there of course but common sense would only dictate…

Jeezus, I hope so.

There were a total of two "wounds" that the police, themselves, reported, both with some bleeding. Not enough for serious medical assistance beyond first aid, so obviously they weren't that bad, so I don't understand why people would expect to be able to see them on a blurry video taken 4 hours later (after the minimal bleeding stopped and after he's been cleaned and treated) with such certainty. I've already explained the broken septum. This is hardly as clear as your post seems to assume.

I'm for all rights to all arguments here. No matter how much some of them don't know fuck about what's fuck. However, (and this is really not anybodies fault here) the context fucking is a problem with the whole situation.

We always get treated to seeing the shooter in county orange. He was never jump-suited, in linking bracelets, but the picture the choose is the deadpanned, orange polo clad madman. Then we have Trayvon ray-of-sun. Not saying the kid wasn't happy, but they reached way fucking back in the archives for his stock photography.

America hates to read. This is what they gave us.

http://globalgrind.com/news/cry-help-was-not-voice-george-zimmerman-expe...

this is relevant. they've proven that the person screaming on the tapes was not zimmerman. which leads one to believe that it was trayvon screaming for help.

Yeah, I never believed those cries were from Zimmerman. That's pretty significant (but not very). Now there's some expert witness testimony to coincide with the other two witnesses. Still, I wonder how that would hold up against the witness that saw and heard Zimmerman yelling for help (pretty sure that was from a different point in the scuffle, but I can't be sure). That article is pretty generous about the reliability of that forensic analysis' infallibility, or at least that's what the defense would argue. I'm a little doubtful about what that would add up to in trial.

If only it hadn't been raining that night. Blood patterns would've really helped. I wanna get my hands on the damn photos! Are those available anywhere online?

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, but does anyone know if Martin was just walking along the sidewalk or cutting through people's yards to get home?

he was on the sidewalk or the edge of the road walking home from the store he went to. I think he got off whenever he was spooked by zimmerman.

Zimmerman's been arrested and charged with 2nd degree murder, yo.

His lawyers have stopped working with him too because he ignored their legal advice and spoke to people he shouldn't have. The guy seems like a simpleton.

If they don't charge with with second degree, he goes free. Anything less and that's it.

link

The decision to file the charge was made by special prosecutor Angela Corey, the Jacksonville-based state attorney for Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, who vowed to fight a self-defense claim and insisted that she did not bow to public pressure.

Calling Trayvon’s parents “sweet,” she referred to Trayvon for the first time in a way other law enforcement officers so far had not: as a “victim.” When she first met with the boy’s parents, she said, she began her meeting in prayer. (wut?)

“We did not come to this decision lightly,” said Corey, who was assigned the case by Gov. Rick Scott less than three weeks ago. “We do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition.”....

...In a speech at a conference in Washington, D.C., led by Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said a hate crime would be tough to prove.

Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, in Washington for that conference, said they were pleased with the charges.

“They took a look at the evidence and they decided that was the charge,” Fulton said. “We’re not the experts; they’re the experts. So we’re putting our faith in them.”

Her voice shaking, she told reporters all she ever wanted was an arrest.

“I say thank you. Thank you, Lord, thank you, Jesus,” she said. “I just want to speak from my heart to your heart, because a heart has no color. It’s not black, it’s not white, it’s red.”

Sharpton, who used his national television and radio audiences to help rouse the public, insisted that the charges only came after the people hit the streets.

“Had there not been pressure, there would not have been a second look” at the case, he said.

Corey declined to discuss in detail how the investigation was carried out...

But public opinion had nothing to do with it! Nothing at all!

I saw her on the news here and she was cooing about how they all prayed and how she appreciates all the prayers and everyone needs to keep praying. It made me queasy, what the fuck does the law need with praying?

So is it going to be televised? I'm praying that it is not!