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

Everything about this story makes me so fucking angry I can barely see straight.

― butvi wouls (Phil D.), Monday, March 19, 2012 12:23 PM (1 year ago)

still OTM

Like can we just line this entire family up against a wall now, please?

Everything about this story makes me so fucking angry I can barely see straight.

― butvi wouls (Phil D.), Monday, March 19, 2012 12:23 PM (1 year ago)

still OTM

― sleeve, Friday, June 14, 2013 10:36 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

qft

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/justice/florida-zimmerman-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Please tell me that says someone shot him on the way into court.

No such luck. It says all six jurors are women and five are white. It doesn't say a whole lot more than that.

He's gonna walk.

It's Florida.

Police not investigating in the first week doomed any chance of a conviction.

good god the "civil unrest" that will inevitably follow him walking

Damn. Good news just oozing out of Florida today!

I've never had faith with him being convicted due to the time they spent prior to arresting him. In regards to civil unrest, Central Florida is likely to have mixed reactions, and then within a month will forget all about it like they did Casey Anthony (other than making 'topical humor' jokes about it).

With that being said, I would totally accept a plea deal in which the entire Zimmermann family were deported to a previously uninhabited island for the remainder of their lives.

deported to a gated community in North Dakota, you mean?

that would be cruel to the cows in North Dakota

It's got to be a pretty amazingly horrible household in which the guy who shot an unarmed 17-year old youth comes across as the sympathetic character in the family.

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/06/24/2202081/george-zimmermans-lawyer-opens-trial-with-a-knock-knock-joe/

wtf

wooooooow

"i have your assurance you won't"
dude, you didn't get any response from anyone!

I mean, is Zimmerman's legal strategy here to go for a mistrial due to gross incompetence from his representation?

its just a murder trial, lighten up everybody!

xp i immediately thought of that Law and Order episode with Fisher Stevens where that was the very gimmick

a fucking knock knock joke.

who the FUCK is that turd representing Zimmerman.

It should be noted that Casey Anthony had an attorney who thought a sidebar was a place you could go to get mid-trial cocktails during recess, and she was acquitted. It may not take great (or even good) lawyering to get Zimmermann off, given the initial bungling of this case and the amount of time that passed prior to his arrest.

Despite how important this case is to me, I'm having to force myself not to watch. I live about 20-25 miles from where it happened, and tensions have run high in Central Florida about this for the last year, and I've practically exhausted myself with it. Plus, I have a strong suspicion (and I hope I am wrong) that George will walk, and watching Trayvon's parents, who've already been through the ringer, breaking down would be too much.

I'm hoping for a conviction, but really hoping Trayvon's parents can find peace, given how they've had to watch their son get dragged through the mud for a year and some change.

okay lol, here is what Fox News has to say about the opening arguments of the trial:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/24/prosecutors-defense-set-to-make-opening-statements-in-george-zimmerman-trial/

at this point, i think the realistic hope is that when there's an acquittal, at least some things burn

Plus, I have a strong suspicion (and I hope I am wrong) that George will walk

Seems to me that the law is unfortunately pretty favorable to him, and that the evidence is not as strong as it could be, not to mention the likely jury pool you're dealing with, so he'll probably walk.

Because the law says you can pretty much shoot anyone you want to shoot as long as you're the only witness and you make the right statements to the police afterward, then it will be pretty damned hard to convict him.

I very much recommend this article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/florida-stand-your-ground-law-yields-some-shocking-outcomes-depending-on/1233133.

For instance, take a look at this example:

Compare that case to Deounce Harden's. In 2006, he showed up at Steven Deon Mitchell's Jacksonville carwash business and started arguing over a woman. When the fight escalated, Harden shot and killed Mitchell, who was unarmed.

Now, in many cases like this, the "Stand Your Ground" defense has not worked, but in this case, it did, and he went free. These inconsistencies are what make it maddening. The bill's initial author tried to play dumb and claim that examples like this were not how he intended the law to work, but come the fuck on that nobody saw this coming. When this bill was signed into law, there was an uproar from angry residents who predicted EXACTLY THIS.

essentially, if I hated someone enough, I could go to their job, provoke them into an argument, then keep saying "What are ya gonna do? What are ya gonna do, bitch?" until they say something remotely threatening or attack me, then pull out a gun and shoot him!

guys Trayvon was ARMED!

"Trayvon Martin armed himself with a concrete sidewalk and used it to smash George Zimmerman's head," West said.

dear lord

things lawyers say

When you outlaw sidewalks, only outlaws will have sidewalks.

I should be allowed to carry a concealed sidewalk if I have a permit

but officer I have a concealed carry permit for this sidewalk

oh ffs

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view6/3573699/alito-not-true-o.gif

wow

what is he saying?

"bitches ain't shit"

#teamzimmerman are outfighting #teamtrayvon early doors

police fucked this up so badly, I don't see how the prosecution has a lot to work with

that makes it sound like the police did so accidentally

xxpost Yeah, the law doesn't help either, with its vagueries. People can't even agree on whether going on the offensive invalidates the claim of standing your ground (which is p amazing to me, considering it goes against the entire concept), but the law only removes the duty to retreat in such a situation.

nothing was more disgusting than the defense's smear campaign either. I know character assassination is obviously what the defense does in court cases, but if a high-school aged guy who gets into some trouble and smokes a little weed every now and then is deserving of homicide, I know of a lot of ex-classmates who fit that description.

wait have I missed something, I thought Zimmerman was not invoking the "stand-your-ground" law as a defense

Hmm, you appear to be right. I knew he didn't attempt to have a "stand your ground" hearing, didn't realize he was outright abandoning that as a defense. This is why I'm not a lawyer. can someone who is more inclined in those areas explain how that works? I assume he can't use that as the crux of his defense, just has to use "self-defense" only?

Self-defense, gtfo tubby. fuck this guy forever.

but the other guy had a whole sidewalk! all Zimmerman had was an itty bitty gun.

in FL, these attorneys could have just showed up and said "but your honor, my client is white" and have already done 50% of the work they needed to in order to convince the jury.

I'm gonna go way out on a limb challops here: I think that Zimmerman probably should walk, just from a legal standponit. I think that Zimmerman is a racist and a douchebag and i think there's a decent chance that he's guilty, but a decent chance isn't enough to convict someone. The crux of the case is whether Zimmerman was the aggressor or not. It's pretty clear Zimmerman was following Martin and probably without any good reason, and I can see why Martin would feel threatened in that situation, but there's basically no evidence that Zimmerman actually started the fight. If Zimmerman really started a physical fight with Martin then I don't think he can claim self-defense, but we don't have much to go on as to how the fight actually started. Maybe Zimmerman grabbed Martin or tried to tackle him, maybe Martin flipped out that this guy kept following him and turned around and started swinging. Either seem equally possible to me, it's just that where you're left guessing about something like that, conviction doesn't seem appropriate. Concepts like "innocent until proven guilty" and "beyond a reasonable doubt" aren't suspended just because the defendant is a racist douchebag with a cop fantasy.