US protests after Zimmerman cleared of black teenager's murder

[super jumbe]

Thousands of demonstrators have been marching in cities across the United States after the acquittal of a man accused of shooting dead an unarmed black teenager.

A Florida jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Lawyers for Zimmerman had argued he was acting in self defence.

The case has sparked a fierce debate about race relations and racial profiling in the country. In February 2012 Zimmerman saw 17 year old Trayvon Martin outside a gated community in the central Florida town of Sanford.

He called police to report him, then approached with a pistol in his waistband.

There was a fight between the two and Zimmerman shot Martin once in the heart.

The teenager had no criminal record and had been walking back from buying sweets and a soft drink.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/video/us-protests-zimmerman-cleared-black-095612372.html

[9holly5wood4]

Its all media, all day this was on the new in Florida. They show a 10 year old little kid in every picture but in real life dude was a 17 y/o thug. sure trayvon's death is tragic but the only reason many people know about it is because of the media pounding it into peoples head. But did you hear about after the mainly black jury who have kids found zimmerman not guity two teens nearly beat a 50 y/o white man to death with hammers? pretty sure most people didn't

[chalky 4]

Mr zimmerman should now be allowed to have his gun permit back.

[super jumbe]

Remember Zimmerman was not a police officer he was a volunteer citizen carring a gun who has no idea how the law works.

If zimmerman had acted like a proper Watchman, then he would have stayed in his vehicle until the police arrived, those are the rules of the law, police officer have been using back up for the safety of the officers.

Now the question is why did he use his gun to kill when he could have gone back to his house with police officers and arested martin if he has done any criminal act.

The fact that zimmerman started following Martin, in my opinion, lead up to the death of Martin and Zimmerman should be accountable for that.

[Canker_Canison]

SJ, you need to read a little more.

Zimmerman wasn't a volunteer, he was/is just your average Joe who lives on the gated estate. Despite it being gated, crime was a big problem.
It was argued that he went vigilante & killed Martin based on colour.

Now, Florida Laws state that if there is reasonable cause to believe a person killed an assailant while acting in self defense... the police cannot arrest that person.
So all Zimmerman had to do was show reasonable evidence of self defense.

In short, the law that has been passed is a gateway for everyday people to kill with little risk of prosecution.

As to the facts of the case, only Zimmerman & Martin really knew what happened.

[caveman_nige]

its a controversial law but this is the one canker refers to Stand-your-ground law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Meat-Head]

Thing is if was was walking back from the store after buying candy and soda, then

1) why was he stopped?
2) why would you have a fight, your soda will get spilled

[super jumbe]

SJ, you need to read a little more.

Zimmerman wasn't a volunteer, he was/is just your average Joe who lives on the gated estate. Despite it being gated, crime was a big problem.
It was argued that he went vigilante & killed Martin based on colour.

Now, Florida Laws state that if there is reasonable cause to believe a person killed an assailant while acting in self defense... the police cannot arrest that person.
So all Zimmerman had to do was show reasonable evidence of self defense.

In short, the law that has been passed is a gateway for everyday people to kill with little risk of prosecution.

As to the facts of the case, only Zimmerman & Martin really knew what happened.

Self defence means self defence, but can you see the deference, the boy was going home after shopping and Zimmerman attacked him and what any citizen would do will fight back, were does the law of defence comes.

We had stupid law hear in UK few years back, I could walk into a house and the owner can not kill me but I could kill the owner for self defence but we have moved on.

[GastonJ]

This part I find very bizarre

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) stepped up their pressure on the Obama administration to launch a federal prosecution against Zimmerman.

George Zimmerman is himself a mixed-race Hispanic - doesn't that make him coloured, which oddly enough means he is part that group they represent. Only in America eh?

Only the two of them know what happened that date. Most of the prosecution withneses lack any credibility, or had conflicting stories, while the defence witnesses seem to agree with the evidence. Even the news media was busy touching up video for whatever reasons that they did, perhaps because such stories sell papers and airtime, who knows. I've been on a few juries and tbh some cases aren't so cut and dried as they may seem, but if you're unsure that someone isn't guilty then you can't just go along with the crowd just to please the population of the country.

Anyway at the end of the day the jury decided there wasn't sufficient evidence to convict him, so they took the only option they had open and found him not guilty.

[nara]

I've been on a few juries and tbh some cases aren't so cut and dried as they may seem, but if you're unsure that someone isn't guilty then you can't just go along with the crowd just to please the population of the country.

Agree 100%. I've been on a couple of juries myself.

Only someone who's been in that courtroom, listening to all the evidence and hearing all the arguments, is able to make a judgement on guilt or innocence.

[Miklo]

Black people kill black people in America, armed or not, EVERY day! How come there's never protests about that but does with Zimmerman? (even though he's not white)!

Does that not fit into the political/news agenda?

[Meat-Head]

Rumot states if he was took off line in iraq osma barmy would not have known his user name

[GastonJ]

His parents would have got a letter informing them, signed with Obama's very own rubber stamp.....

[Meat-Head]

Saying what

"yo ********er You kid is brown bread, but we still want tax $$$$ off you
love obarma"