Let's talk about Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and how unbelievably fucked up this all is

Trayvon Martin: world's first violent pot smoker.

Man, case closed. I saw Reefer Madness. That mary jane turns you into a raving maniac.

the drug THC

the drug thx

americans need to figure out a special way to spell the word "drug" so that it has fangs and blood dripping from it

drugula

This isn't going to go the right way, is it?

there is no right way

My takeaway of this is that Captain Crime Watch reported the kid to the police, they told him they would handle it and to stand down but he decided to take more intiative. He followed the kid in his car and either he exited the vehicle to confront the kid or the kid confronted him about why he was being followed. The confrontation got physical, the kid was giving it to him good and in the midst of the melee he pulls out his gun shoots the kid. Does that jibe with the facts? Anything I'm missing.

really good summation All kinds of heinous things, thanks for the post.

What frustrates me is, if Z gets away with this law why don't women who kill their partners in self defense after years of beatings, threats etc? How many times must a woman go to the authorities and say "I am in fear of my fucking LIFE here" and be ignored til shes forced to take matters into her own hands, but when she does, it seems mostly she goes to jail as a result? But one white guy chases down one black kid ONCE, kills him because hes being attacked (if true) and thats ok? FFS.

That happens all the time, in Hollywood.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a9/Doublejeopardyposter.jpg/220px-Doublejeopardyposter.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Sleeping_With_The_Enemy.jpg/215px-Sleeping_With_The_Enemy.jpg

Jordan when you were in preschool what sort of grade did you get in the "plays well with others" category?

What frustrates me is, if Z gets away with this law why don't women who kill their partners in self defense after years of beatings, threats etc? How many times must a woman go to the authorities and say "I am in fear of my fucking LIFE here" and be ignored til shes forced to take matters into her own hands, but when she does, it seems mostly she goes to jail as a result? But one white guy chases down one black kid ONCE, kills him because hes being attacked (if true) and thats ok? FFS.
--Pureed Moods (Trayce)

Just happened last week in FL as a matter of fact, woman sentenced to years for firing a warning shot.

This is fucked up. Way to be assholes.

http://www.egotripland.com/trayvoning-internet-fad/

ugh

someone should stomp on that motherfucker's head.

or how about not

oh that Marissa Alexander case is maddening. Fuck Florida forever. (sorry Alfred)

how do we know trayvon wasn't on bath salts? and where's your liberal outrage and your al sharpton when a black man eats an innocent man's face?

putting on a bib iirc

is there a South Park episode about this yet

Shockingly, no.

George Zimmerman: The Most Likely Scenario

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2012/5/27/44552/1872

The state is unlikely to prevail in arguing Zimmerman was the aggressor because to be the aggressor, Zimmerman had to contemporaneously provoke the force Martin used against him. Zimmerman's profiling of Martin and call to the non-emergency number were not contemporaneous with Martin's attack. Even if the state could convince a judge or jury that Zimmerman was following Martin, rather than walking back to his car, rendering his pursuit a contemporaneous act, it is not an act that provokes Martin's use of force against him. Demanding someone account for their presence does not provoke the use of force. Even if it could be construed to be provocation for using force, all it means is Zimmerman had to attempt reasonable means to extricate himself before using deadly force in response. W-6's steadfast insistence that Zimmerman was struggling to get up and out from under Trayvon, right before the shot went off, fulfills that requirement. Zimmerman will say the same. And no witnesses saw anything different.

Zimmerman should prevail on classic self-defense at trial regardless of stand your ground. Raising stand your ground before trial gives him the possibility of a quicker win, and the opportunity to preview the state's strategy before it gets to a jury.

think it's important to remember that the big issue was that there even be a trial, not a conviction.

yes i agree

otoh hand, it's likely the main reason there was no trial in the first place is that no one thought charges against zimmerman would actually lead to conviction

cops don't think that way

and they didn't arrest him

can't charge somebody who hasn't been arrested

true, but i assume the cops would have arrested him if it had read as anything other than self-defense to them.

^ acknowledge that's a major goalpoast-shift, and that the cops might have been motivated by racism, laziness, whatever.

just maybe

also, regardless of the actions of cops on the scene, prosecutors could have encouraged the police to arrest zimmerman at any point, and might have done so if they imagined that charges would result in a conviction (still not discounting racism, laziness, ignorance, etc).

The sad upshot of this is that, clearly, "I am getting my ass pwned by a black teenager" is going to be considered a legitimate stand your ground/self defense situation for shooting someone dead, but "I am getting followed around and challenged by some dude I've never seen who is not a cop" is NOT a legitimate stand your ground/self defense situation for beating someone's ass. RIP America.

yes, being physically attacked provides better legal justification for a violent response than being followed and verbally challenged

think it's important to remember that the big issue was that there even be a trial, not a conviction.

― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:59 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^^

Ground is either standable, or it's not.

Swamp!

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/P-473-488-90/62/6262/RFF5100Z/posters/mike-twohy-how-much-ground-do-you-want-to-stand-new-yorker-cartoon.jpg

thought this was funny, in any event

Talkleft blogpost is the worst kind of idiot lawyer-roleplaying commentary and should be ignored completely. Zimmerman will still be acquitted.

well maybe, but it's the only thing i've seen that walks through all the available evidence

It makes my head spin to think that in the US, there are legitimate situations where a person can shoot and KILL another person, and that lead to not even being *arrrested* let alone charged/jailed. It just... I can't process that.

It's worse than that. You can be shot and injured after making a drunken mistake, then charged with felony trespass, while the person who shot you goes uncharged thanks to a law charmingly called the "Make My Day" law.

How is that worse

I thought it was kind of a given you could shoot some stranger who broke into your bedroom in the middle of the night.

Fuck, I would-no questions asked

It's worse than that. You can be shot and injured after making a drunken mistake, then charged with felony trespass, while the person who shot you goes uncharged thanks to a law charmingly called the "Make My Day" law.

ha this reads to me as a wonky negative version about the story of the burglar who broke into someone's house, stole all his/her belongings, slipped on ice as he was leaving, and sued the homeowner for injuries.