George Zimmerman NOT Guilty!!!! Agree or Disagree? (478)

I see some are still trying to make a race issue out of this... How sad.

HJFinAZ

I see some are still trying to make a race issue out of this... How sad.




@HJFinAZ,Yes and it appears to be true about how some are still trying to make it a race issue.

The really sad thing is people are falling right into the media outlet's hands.

They're falling for all this sensationalizing of a it all.

27 pages to go ...

Not Guilty! 58 Guilty! 50 Current Total 108

Zimmerman WAS guilty. Guilty of beating an ex-girlfriend. Of beating up a cop. Of slamming a drunk woman down on the floor of the bar, and of getting himself fired as a bouncer. He has a troubled history. Now he is guilty of carrying a conceled weapon and confronting someone. Guilty of getting out of his vehicle. Guilty of deeming a black teen "suspicious". Possibly guilty of starting the fight in the first place.
Zimmerman is not a hero. His life is ruined.

PrettyPrescious:So you've based your decision on what the media outlets had printed?


It's obvious the only ones who really know what happened would be the 17yr old and Zimmerman.

Unfortunately the 17yr old isn't hear to tell his side.

Thank you for your posting. Some stuff there I wasn't aware of. A very complicated case here. George still did things he should not have done. Even his injuries were not severe. I heard nothing about him having a concussion, for example. He likely, or at least hopefully, regrets his actions now.

No one has to incur any injuries to be able to defend one's self with deadly force.

I know it doesn't.

But what does constitute a lie is someone saying that witness statements and circumstantial evidence back up Zimmermans story when it doesn't! Zimmerman said he was attacked. Did that article back up that statement?
Because I read it and I asked the poster to point out where it backed up Zimmermans story. I even asked him to copy and paste the paragraph. He couldn't because his statement was untrue. That in my book is a lie and not a difference of opinion!

have you ever thought about taking testosterone therapy treatment ?

Just as soon as you educate yourself. Are Muslims members of the church of England.

The stand your ground law was not applicable in the Zimmerman case so it was not used as part of the defense.....as so many continue to whine about.....I provided the link to it earlier. So many want to make this case about things it is not about. You do not come to Florida by accident. We are the south east end of the United States. Surrounded by water on three sides. When you come you should be aware of the laws before coming. Ignorance of a law is no excuse. I choose not to live in places where the laws do not agree with my temperament. No offense to anyone it is just what I prefer. I don't plan on wearing no Burkas. You can wear them here if you like. Just not to get your drivers license. Driving is a privilege so it is up to you if you want that privilege it is not a right. The burka is just an example I don't care of people want to wear a cat on their head. But Florida is my home and has been since I was two weeks old. If you are citizen of Florida then you can go to the legislators and try and get the law changed. If you are not then you are entitled to your opinion. So here is where we are at on the stand your ground law.

Something to chew about

'Stand Your Ground' Laws Under Scrutiny Post-Zimmerman Verdict.

George Zimmerman's defense team didn't invoke Florida's "stand your ground" defense in winning his acquittal of murder in last year's shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

But the specter of the 2005 law loomed, inescapably, over the proceedings.

It was inevitable that the racially fraught trial would again catapult Florida's law — which extends protections for the use of deadly force far beyond the traditional bounds of one's home — as well as those in 21-plus states with similar self-defense measures into the nation's consciousness.

"This case says so much — shows us so much — about race, fear, crime, media, gun laws, prosecutorial discretion, minimum mandatory sentences, public trials,"
says H. Scott Fingerhut of the Florida International University College of Law.

What it doesn't do, however, is tell us much about the path forward for stand your ground laws.

"The case wasn't decided on a stand your ground basis," says University of Florida law professor Joseph Little. "So there's not much to say about what the Zimmerman case tells us about the stand your ground law."

The Big But

There's one big but, however, and that's in Florida, where Trayvon Martin's family is said to be considering a civil case against Zimmerman. (The U.S. Department of Justice is also undertaking a review of evidence in the case.)

In a civil proceeding against Zimmerman, the Martin family would have the opportunity to challenge a central, and controversial, section of Florida's stand your ground statute.

The section is titled, "Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force."

Indeed, the section provides the opportunity for just that: a path to pretrial immunity for potential defendants who can prove in a hearing before a judge that a "preponderance of evidence" shows that their deadly or potentially deadly actions fell into the category of reasonable self-defense.

Zimmerman did not ask for an immunity hearing before his criminal trial, but that does not preclude him from requesting one if he faces a civil trial, says associate law professor Tamara Rice Lave of the University of Miami's School of Law.

At a pretrial immunity hearing, Lave says, Zimmerman would have to show a preponderance of evidence, quantified as a 51 percent burden, that he acted lawfully under the state's stand your ground statute.

Zimmerman likely didn't ask for an immunity hearing before his criminal case, she said, because he would have had the burden to prove he acted lawfully.

"When he went to trial, it was the prosecutor's burden to prove he didn't act in lawful self-defense," she said, adding: The prosecutor also had to prove to a jury Zimmerman's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt," a far higher bar to clear than proving a "preponderance of evidence."

The Constitutional Challenge

Little, the University of Florida law professor, argues that the immunity section of Florida law is ripe for a constitutional challenge — and that Trayvon Martin's family could mount that challenge in a civil proceeding.

The Legislature, he argues, in establishing the immunity hearing, has taken from the courts power invested in them since the state's was written.

....cut to fit

For now, all eyes remain on Florida, where stand your ground is still standing, but where we may get a glimpse of how such laws there, and nationally, hold up under intensifying scrutiny — legal and otherwise.