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

...in teh mind of a delusional fuckwit

If all of this had taken place in Zimmerman's yard, he might have had a leg to stand on. It did not, so he does not. PERIOD.

Latest from The Miami Herald:

The Miami Gardens teen who has become a national symbol of racial injustice was suspended three times, and had a spotty school record that his family’s attorneys say is irrelevant to the facts that led up to his being gunned down on Feb. 26.

In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f---.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker.

Instead the officer reported he found women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that he described as a “burglary tool,” according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald. Word of the incident came as the family’s lawyer acknowledged that the boy was suspended in February for getting caught with an empty bag with traces of marijuana, which he called “irrelevant” and an attempt to demonize a victim.

Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described silver wedding bands and earrings with diamonds.

Trayvon was asked if the jewelry belonged to his family or a girlfriend.

“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” he responded, according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.

Trayvon was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to the report. School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade police for further investigation.

A lawyer for the dead teen’s family acknowledged Trayvon had been suspended for graffiti, but said the family knew nothing about the jewelry and the screwdriver.

“It’s completely irrelevant to what happened Feb. 26,” said attorney Benjamin Crump. “They never heard this, and don’t believe it’s true. If it were true, why wouldn’t they call the parents? Why wasn’t he arrested?”

I mean, if he'd kept following Trayvon, is there any point when it might've been a more dubious cry of self-defense? Like, if he'd followed him onto his porch? Into his bedroom? Where does it fucking end?

why do I have a feeling is the end result of this is Zimmermann remaining a free man and the parents having whatever dignity they had left drug through teh mud....

trayvon threatened him by being black

“It’s completely irrelevant to what happened Feb. 26”

otm

i wasn't exactly a delinquent growing up and I did things equally as bad as what was described in that first article re: Trayvon. I liked destroying school property for one.

i mean next they'll suggest that he SNUCK INTO AN R- RATED MOVIE BEFORE HE AWS 17

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, Trayvon had actually been on his way to rob someone's house. In what world (I know, Florida) is that an excuse for an uninvolved party to shoot him to death?

zimmerframe

imagine if it was your jewelry and bag of weed he stole

wheres yr liberal outrage now

WTF this is turning into a fucking trial by media before anyone's even arrested. This is outrageous.

^

yah poor Zimmerman

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, Trayvon had actually been on his way to rob someone's house. In what world (I know, Florida) is that an excuse for an uninvolved party to shoot him to death?

― Mary Steamvirgin (Deric W. Haircare), Monday, March 26, 2012 8:46 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this. if zimmerman's life is not in immediate danger, he should not be able to claim self-defense.

that would include if he had some guy who actually robbed his house and then ran away when he heard zimmerman coming down the stairs.

trial by media before anyone's even arrested

I hope you were being sarcastic VG.

The kid was shot and killed. No one was arrested. The parents were being denied any chance for a trial in the case. Taking their case to the media was the only alternative the parents had to seek justice, and if it weren't for this "media trial" there might never be a trial of any kind. At least now there will be a real investigation.

If the police had done their job correctly, none of this would have been needed.

Uh, I said that, not VG, and I was serious, thanks very much, and I meant there is now NO chance of the kid getting any justice because the whole thing has had any chance of proper proceeding be corrupted out the wazoo. I dont give 2 shits if Zimmerman rots in jail all his life. I should hope it was obvious I wasnt asking for HIM to have a fair trial, good lord.

trial by ILX before anyone's even suggest bannedflag-posted

hm yeah he can still have a fair trial actually xp

fair trial more like fair game amirite

ABC’s George Will called the “Stand Your Ground” law a “bad idea” because it “confers upon citizens the illusion at least that they have something like powers exercised by highly trained police officers."

highly trained police officers?

WU, et al. v. CITY OF ROHNERT PARK, et al. 3:98-CV-00387-TEH: An Asian man holding a broom stick was shot and killed by Rohnert Park Police. Officers said he held the stick in a "martial arts" fashion. This was a highly publicized case in the Asian community. Case settled $1 million

there's also a case where an old guy shoots a young asian dude because he believes all asian people have martial arts skills (the guy survives, though)

The Miami Gardens teen who has become a national symbol of racial injustice was suspended three times, and had a spotty school record that his family’s attorneys say is irrelevant to the facts that led up to his being gunned down on Feb. 26.

fuck the miami herald. that bullshit IS legally irrelevant, and that's not an opinion that needs to be attributed to anyone. it's just simple fact. they're fucking scumbags for even reporting this shit.

miami herald article just came out: Trayvon was a known burglar and drug dealer at school with a history of anti social aggressive behavior

i'm just going to turn my back on humanity for the next six months

http://savingtherepublic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/trayvon-recent-thug-zimmerman.jpg

^^ don't click if you just ate dinner

Wow. Go fuck yourself, whoever made that jpeg. Because nothing says fair like murdering an unarmed teenager.

how about some pics from the last month or so? just want to make sure we get rid of the bias here.

I like that URL tho

"You saw him. He had a screwdriver."

Josh you took the same line with DSK iirc. "Hang on, wait a minute, let's consider what we absolutely know to be true".. Am I remembering that right?

Totally, and I totally cop to that. And you know what? I'm still not totally clear about what happened with DSK, though clearly subsequent sleaze has eroded much extant ambiguity.

I should stress with this case, absolutely, there is no reason this kid should be dead. My devil's advocating has more to do with degrees of manslaughter than it does debating whether the shooting was justified. Point is, whomever above said Zimmerman lost the high ground (as such) when he left his property is totally right. But all this other stuff coming out might walk it down from first degree to something lesser, especially given the looseness of the ridiculous Stand Your Ground law and whether it can be proved Trayvon jumped the dude or not. It's not totally analogous, but you're not allowed to beat a guy up for following you, either, and if that can be construed as assault, then it invokes the stupid Stand Your Ground law.

Like I said, it's just a clusterfuck at this point, rife with paradoxes and legal contradictions.

nothing says "unbiased" like a photo of some dude who by all accounts isn't even treyvon, but w/e they all look alike amirite.

i mean oh man it took a few days for the foaming-at-the-mouth types to settle on a story, but now they're really on that. (thx, no doubt, to multiple "leaks" fro the pd).

Pd totally on the defensive, because aiding Zimmerman is their only hope of saving face in light of all their fuck ups.

How quickly the media has forgotten the call w/ his girlfriend that occurred moments before the shooting and us verified by the phone carrier. Y'know the one that COMPLETELY CONTRADICTS ZIMM'S STORY?

If Trayvon was a white Iraq war veteran, would he be suffering the same degree of posthumous character assassination? All signs point to "no".

i need to stop reading about this story. i don't think i can actually stomach the victim-blaming turn its taking in the right-wing media.

Like I said, it's just a clusterfuck at this point, rife with paradoxes and legal contradictions.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, March 27, 2012 12:22 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

kind of true, but like gbx said, these are existential crises to be played out in a courtroom, which is impossible as of now, because for some reason george zimmerman has not been charged with anything yet

But the police said their hands were tied! We don't want the police to break the law, do we?

Anyway, this shit will play out, eventually. Trayvon isn't getting any more dead. If there were ever a trial, such a thing is many months away.

Meanwhile, evidence disappears and eyewitness testimony gets more unreliable.

physical evidence

TS, potentially fishy witness department: Trayvon's girlfriend talking to him on the phone during the altercation (?), or witnesses who claim they saw said altercation? The law is not perfect and rife for misinterpretation, but eye-witnesses trump off-site cell phone surveillance, don't they?

What physical evidence has disappeared?

i don't think i can actually stomach the victim-blaming turn its taking in the right-wing media.

I hope you never read any media reports about sexual assault victims.

The physical evidence that wasn't collected by officers actually interested in conducting an investigation. We'll never know what it might have been. Footprints, blood stains, torn up lawn, whatever.

Also eyewitness evidence is notoriously unreliable, and the later the questioning, the worse it is.

Fashion advice from Thomas Sowell:

It is not often that I agree with Geraldo Rivera, but recently he said something very practical and potentially life-saving, when he urged black and Hispanic parents not to let their children go around wearing hoodies.

There is no point in dressing like a hoodlum when you are not a hoodlum, even though that has become a fashion for some minority youths, including the teenager who was shot and killed in a confrontation in Florida. I don’t know the whole story of that tragedy any more than those who are making loud noises in the media do, but that is something that we have trials for.

People have a right to dress any way they want to, but exercising that right is something that requires common sense, and common sense is something that parents should have, even if their children don’t always have it.

I hope you never read any media reports about sexual assault victims.

― Respectfully, Tyrese Gibson (Nicole), Tuesday, March 27, 2012 2:09 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well obv i have, and i can't stomach them either

dressing like a hoodlum has lately become a fashion for minority youths? and not, like, all youths, sine the invention of the teenager?

who are these eyewitnesses? neither CNN nor nyt is reporting zimmerman's story as anything other than zimmerman's story. nothing about any eyewitnesses seeing trayvon slamming zimmerman's head into the ground.

Do people like Geraldo and Sowell just conveniently ignore how many upper-class white women wear Victoria's Secret or Juicy hoodies? This line of argument is so infuriating.