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

"Democracy Now"

"BIG HOOS aka the steendriver"

ftr i was mocking putting it in quotes

i, uh, have mad respect for democracy now

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/30/national_park_service_threatens_to_evict

http://gawker.com/george-zimmermans-wife-is-filing-for-divorce-1260138438

Is it me or does Mrs. Zimmerman look exactly like a female version of George, i.e. George Zimmerman with long hair.

definitely

The Associated Press ‏@AP 4m

BREAKING: George Zimmerman's wife calls police, saying he threatened her and her dad with a gun, police say

keep standing that ground George

feel like the rest of this guy's life is gonna be kinda like Rodney King's

support the Black NRA!

god, what an ugly, shitty existence. miserable little fuck.

sarah silverman?

The news of Zimmerman's detention Monday went viral and caused a stir at the Lake Mary Police Department, which serves a town of 14,574 people. The police have been deluged with phone calls from the media asking about the incident.

“Man, it would be fantastic if you have an apartment out there [in Los Angeles] for George Zimmerman," Bracknell, the police chief, told The Times. “This guy is killing me. We’re just a small-town police department -- this really taxes us."

Wife and father-in-law dropping charges, apparently.

jesus fuck

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57611296-504083/renisha-mcbride-detroit-woman-shot-to-death-while-seeking-help-after-a-car-accident-family-says/

ugh, so sad. i spent a nanosecond contemplating whether to peek at the comments to that piece, but decided i need to tolerate humanity for the rest of today.

we discussed it on the race & racism thread fyi

ty

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/11/18/us/ap-us-zimmerman-arrested.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes

"Former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman"

Goodness gracious, poor George does seem to get involved in an awful lot of "fights" and "disturbances," doesn't he?

pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend

hmm

pregnant girlfriend, apparently

man, why do so many people put George in this position of having to defend himself with guns? if his pregnant girlfriend hadn't convinced him he was in grave danger, that table might still be intact today.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/George-Zimmerman-original-painting-/111239922810?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item19e66a847a

Current bid:
US $99,966.00

that is one ugly piece of shit painting

it's also a shitty rebus

omg you guys

it's "ONE NATION" under "GOD"

I feel like I'm 11 years old and reading Parade in the Sunday Inquirer

http://www.wallibs.com/desktop-wallpaper/1600x1197/waving-usa-flag-phogo-20122.html

Page 1 on GIS for "wavy flag"

http://product_images_md.s3.amazonaws.com/highlightsforchildren/product/highlightsforchildren.jpg

My art work allows me to reflect, providing a therapeutic outlet and allows me to remain indoors :-)

so i won't murder anyone

http://www.radiokingonline.com/news/george-zimmerman-agrees-to-fight-dmx-dmx-threatens-to-beat-the-living-fuck-out-of-him/

I abhor boxing. But I could get into this, tbh.

good for dmx but i wish he'd chosen not to give this human shit stain any further attention

^^^otm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/16/us-usa-florida-shooting-dunn-idUSBREA1E0MR20140216

Reuters) - A north Florida jury convicted a white, middle-aged man on Saturday of three counts of attempted murder for opening fire on a car of black teenagers during an argument over loud rap music, but could not reach a verdict on a murder charge for the killing of a 17-year-old in the car.

Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old software engineer, fired 10 rounds at an SUV carrying four teens in a Jacksonville gas station parking lot in November 2012, killing black teen Jordan Davis.

The jury said it was deadlocked on the most serious charge of first degree murder against Dunn, forcing judge Russell Healey to declare a mistrial on that count.

The jury also found Dunn guilty on a fifth count of firing into an occupied vehicle.

The trial has drawn international attention because of racial overtones and Dunn's claims of self-defense.

The failure to reach a verdict on the first degree murder charge is a blow for the prosecution and the Davis family. But the three guilty verdicts on the charge of attempted second degree murder against the other teens in the SUV, mean that Dunn still faces a sentence of at least 60 years in jail, legal analysts said.

Prosecutors told a press conference after the verdicts that they plan to retry Dunn on the first degree murder charge.

Fucking hell

you should scan the letters dunn wrote from jail. available on a jacksonville website's special-page set up for the dunn trial.

I wonder how many jurors didn't think he was guilty of first-degree murder

I haven't been tracking this closely, but just the details alone don't indicate a first degree murder charge. Dude was reckless as fuck and a manslaughter conviction should have been a slam dunk.

Yeah it definitely felt like the prosecutor overreached in trying for a first degree murder charge

Which obviously still speaks to how fucked up our criminal justice system is

first degree is premeditated, isn't it? it wouldn't make sense in this case. at least he got nailed on the other counts

Deliberation and Premeditation

Whether a killer acted with the deliberation and premeditation required for first degree murder can only be determined on a case by case basis. The need for deliberation and premeditation does not mean that the perpetrator must contemplate at length or plan far ahead of the murder. Time enough to form the conscious intent to kill and then act on it after enough time for a reasonable person to second guess the decision typically suffices. While this can happen very quickly, deliberation and premeditation must occur before, and not at the same time as, the act of killing.

- See more at: http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/first-degree-murder-overview.html#sthash.cuFpiaNY.dpuf

that's what I figured - it'd be tough to prove that he planned ahead to kill someone, even if he probably was fantasizing about going Death Wish like so many other nuts, going by his statements after the fact

For example, Dan and Connie rob Victor's liquor store, but as they are fleeing, Victor shoots and kills Dan. Under the felony murder rule, Connie can be charged with first-degree murder for Dan's death even though neither of the robbers actually did the killing.

x-post-
this can happen very quickly,

Which is why first degree can make sense here where a guy fired a gun as many times as he did

Florida prosecutors SUCK. SUCK. SUCK. But, hey, let 'em off the hook and keep bashing juries if you want. That fact that this was a mistrial and not an acquittal means that at least one juror stood the fuck up to a white racist scum bag juror. The first degree murder charge is not dead (although I am not exactly super hopeful about it).

Acording to NYT, the jury automatically had to consider second and third degree murder as well as manslaughter, and still couldn't come to an agreement.

On the other hand, as a scandinavian anti-prison soft-on-crime liberal, I still think 60 years in jail would be more than sufficient for this murderous racist scumbag. It's obviously not the problem in this mistrial, but still.