Here it comes …
(watching CNN)
Not Guilty!
Awesome! I was afraid they were going to convict. Good to know the system works.
What is this going to mean for him now? Obviously, his life will never be the same again, but how will it impact him on a day-to-day basis? Is he going to have to have the cops watch him 24/7 until somebody gets tired of paying for it? Will he have to exile himself to a Middle Eastern country? Wear a bulletproof vest wherever he goes? Will he never be able to find a job again, or will admirers be pounding down his door with employment offers? Will he have to move to Simi Valley?
My guess since this is such a polarized issue, he will have plenty of fans looking out for him or looking to capitalize on his fame. Shooting ranges, gun sales, traveling neighborhood watch program promotions, NRA fundraisers, etc.
I don’t think the prosecution had a real shot. I’m not sure if they could have won this with what they had.
He’s not a hero. He’s not a cause, really. He’s just a guy who defended himself from an attacker. I don’t think he should “tour” or be led around like a show pony.
He did what he had to do. I hope he can go home and be left alone in peace.
So, in short, you spot an easy target, decide to follow more than is warranted but mostly because you have a gun (if you didn’t you wouldn’t be doing that in the 1st place ) and, geographically speaking, you know where you are and then person you follow gets irritated, you further spice it up (hey, I have a gun and know how to use it why should I BACK AWAY?), a confrontation ensues (which you don’t even try to stay away from - did I say I have a gun) and when it becomes clear you might get a beating, you … well, pull the trigger. Few dozen pounds of flesh later you walk free.
I know it works but what kind of a system is that?
BTW - I don’t think this is race issue per se (at the decision making points GZ was not driven by race but by gun culture) but totally messed up structural setup of civil society.
I think he’s a wannabe doofus with a gun who followed an unarmed kid for no reason. The kid, possibly scared for his life (for the rational reason of being followed by a stranger with a gun) might have lashed out in what he thought was defense of his own life. And he got shot.
Agreed, and I hope the Martins peruse a civil suit against Zimmerman. He’s probably already near-bankrupt from the trial, but at least a successful wrongful death suit might stop him from trying to profit from his notoriety.
He’ll make lots of money pandering to the gun nuts and bigots. Talk shows, book deals about his Terrible Suffering at the hands of the Scary Black Kid and how he defended innocents by gunning down Trayvon Martin before he could rape and rob and murder some cute blond white woman, that sort of thing.
I’m happy that the jurors didn’t cave in to pressure fron racists like Al Sharpton and Co and liberals to find Zimmerman guilty. This case. was polluted by Obama and compromised by the obvious favoritism shown to the prosecution by the judge. It was an uphill battle for the defense but thankfully they arrived at the correct verdict.
They very well knew that they could not have won this. That’s prosecutorial misconduct - prosecuting when you know you cannot win.
I have said many times, if you are alone and kill someone, you are the only witness left. Beat him senseless but leave him alive and it gets complicated. There is no way the jury could ever be sure of exactly what happened, so he gets to walk.
So I’m this 17-year-old visiting my dad. I just went to the store to get some candy and a drink, and I’m headed back to my dad. I suddenly notice that there’s a dude following me. This guy could be a mugger, or worse. So I turn around and ask him why he’s following me.
At this point, what can I do or say to keep this dude from harming me, or worse?
Go inside the house? Refrain from sucker punching him and slamming his head against the sidewalk? Eschew reaching for his gun?
Turn around and run away as fast as you can.
That’s what I did in a similar situation.
Scared the hell out of me, too. But I’m still alive.
(disclaimer: I have not followed the Zimmerman trial in enough to make any judgements about the case.)
And he responds, “What are you doing here?” At which point the only step you can take is to punch him.
It’s very much like this system: You are doing your job to protect your community. You decide to follow a suspicious character, decide to follow even though the police are nowhere around, and, geographically speaking, you are within your rights to be where you are, and then, the person you follow gets irritated and , he being a bad gangsta, and going to show the cracker a lesson, attacks you (did I say I have a gun, and cannot run away backwards as fast as an attacker can advance, and I do not feel the need to turn my back on an assailant who has already attacked me, he being not as fat, etc…) a confrontation is already in progress, and rather than be killed, you pull the trigger. Then, the government investigates, and clears you, but, the pressure comes so charges are filed, and then, a lot of pounds of flesh, and several hundred thousands of dollars later, you go free.
When I was eighteen, I was walking along an empty highway after midnight when I met a man sniffing petrol from a bottle under his jacket. I saw him twice perhaps half an hour apart. Despite this, I did not assault him, I merely reacted with prudent caution while he was nearby. He asked if I could give him a few bucks, and I said I didn’t have any money with me. The second time I met him he asked again, and I reminded him that he’d asked me earlier. And then I continued on my way.