Politics & Current Events
GeraldoRivera
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Zimmerman not guilty
Re: Zimmerman not guilty
The justice system is a disgrace, an unarmed person was murdered because of lack of information from an untrained individual who hadn't the first idea about policing.
Just remember, not guilty does not mean innocent. Zimmerman should never be allowed to have any kind of firearm ever again, he clearly did something wrong.
I'm so sad about this. I agree that the prosecutor did poorly, but I still thought the jury had enough evidence to convict.
I just keep imagining Trayvon as my child. Coming home, doing nothing wrong, targeted, and then dead. And no one is held accountable. The horror.
Gross. In this universe the murderer of an unarmed child doing nothing wrong is a disgrace. The jury acquitting the murderer is a disgrace. Zimmerman saying he would do nothing different, despite the fact that his actions caused an unnecessary death, is a disgrace.
In what universe are those things not a disgrace?
The state's case was weak. The prosecution could not prove George Zimmerman had the INTENT to kill. That coupled with conflicting testimony (whose voice was on the 911 tape), unreliable witnesses (the girlfriend), and simply the law in Florida, I don't see how the jury had any other choice but to acquit. I believe George Zimmerman profiled Trayvon Martin, absolutely without a doubt he did. And I believe that had he not provoked/scared/intimidated Trayvon, he would still be alive. But unfortunately, at least under Florida law, that does not make George Zimmerman guilty of murder. The state never wanted to pursue this because they knew they couldn't prove him guilty. The law is flawed.
In my opinion George Zimmerman should be behind bars. He picked out a black kid, assumed he was up to no good, followed him, and instigated the fight that ensued. He is responsible for Trayvon's death. It's unfortunate the law says otherwise.
It's really so tragic. An innocent child is dead. It's appalling that so many years after the civil rights movement this bullshit still happens, that racism is still so rampant in this country.
The disgrace is in the fact that the laws of Florida are written to allow an armed individual allowed to initiate a fight with an unarmed child walking home from the store, lose the fight, and them claim self defense when he shoots and kills him over a confrontation he initiated. And please don't give me that crap about there being no evidence to prove he started the fight, He made sure of that when he shot the only other true witness in the heart and killed him. At some point, common sense needs to kick in. There is something wrong with that. The fact that you got out of that vehicle and believed you had any right to confront anyone about what they are doing in a neighborhood is beyond me. That is for law enforcement. That is why the call taker told you not to follow him because it leads to unecessary confrontations and misunderstandings. You are not visually identified by a uniform. You just look like a creepy man possibly following me to do me harm. This child had no obligation to answer any of your questions and could have felt nothing but fear when a stranger followed him first in his vehicle and then on foot in the dark of night. I would have punched his azz in the nose too. Why didn't TM run home they ask. Well I ask, why didn't GZ go home or to Target as he claimed he was headed. Why didn't TM identify himself? Why didn't GZ? It just sickens me when people assasinate the characture of the victim. GZ was the adult in this situation. I have absolutely no problem with people calling the police if they see something or someone they find suspicious. It's when they take it to the next level and unecessary bad things like this happen. I believe they easily proved manslaughter for his negligence. People can defend his action all they want but I will never see him as anything other than a murderer. The state of FL is out of control with their backwards azz laws and until something is done to change them, I for one will boycott that state and not contribute to their economy.
Really!
I guess you don't believe in the constitution or any of the other principles on which this country was founded. Bottom line was that the man went before a jury of his peers and was found not guilty. End of story. I will not go into the fact that he should have never been put on trial. There was a reason that the SA did not see fit to arrest or bring charges against Zimmerman in the first place. It is called lack of evidence. The only reason there was a trial was because politics got involved over fake claims of racism. It is time for people to move on and peaceably reflect as the young mans parents have asked. What occurred was tragic. However, I do not believe that either side exercised good judgment that night. I pray for both families and I pray that people will use intelligence and common sense as we move forward.
Really!
So does that mean if someone is brought up on DUI charges and found not guilty that they should forfeit their ability to operate a motor vehicle? What if a fatality is involved? When I went through school I was taught that a person does not relinquish their constitutional rights unless they are found guilty by a jury of their peers. Maybe I just heard it wrong, maybe they were trying to say if you were charges with a crime, you lost your rights. My bad!
I agree that the death was unnecessary. However, Mr. Martin carries as much responsibility in the situation as Mr. Zimmerman. There were two people engaged in the altercation, not one. Unfortunately, Mr. Zimmerman feared for his life and resorted to deadly force.
Good,
Please do not visit our great state. We do not need your money. Our laws are fine, our justice system works as intended.
As for your questions, they are quite valid. There is plenty of blame to go around in this tragic event. Both Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Martin share in that blame. In the end, both families have been devastated by this event. There is no winner only losers in this entire tragedy.
Well Zimmerman is a killer, always will be a killer doesn't matter how you spin it. I hope the guilt of taking a life eats at him and rots him to the core. I wonder what was going thru his head as he watched Trayvon take his last breath.
I count my blessings that I live in a place where it is against the law to carry a weapon, or even store bullets in the same place as a gun is stored. It's 2013 not 1791, things have changed....clearly not enough.
Florida law:
782.07 Manslaughter; aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person or disabled adult; aggravated manslaughter of a child; aggravated manslaughter of an officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, or a paramedic.?
They didn't need to prove intent to convict him of manslaughter.
The bottom line is that the jury agreed that it's OK to kill someone if you're scared of him, regardless of the circumstances. That is a travesty.
Bulshiet there are no winners. Trayvon Martin is dead. George Zimmerman is free to live his life and cash in on book deals. There is sure as shiet a winner here and it's not Trayvon Martin.
And someone who thinks that Florida's justice system works "just fine" has got blinders on. And is very clearly a white person.
No it's called "Central Florida is full of F2cking racists."
I agree Geraldo. But the defense made its case on excusable murder through fla's messed up self defense doctrines. They only had to assert self defense and prosecutors had to disprove that beyond a r doubt which was a really high burden with a dead victim and gz refusing to testify. They should have brought further additional charges of involuntary manslaughter and the like to have a better chance in my opinion. The fact that gz did not have the burden to prove his self defense is just wrong and the result is this scary outcome. There are other zimmermans out there -- wannabe cowboys and cops who now might feel even more emboldened to take matters into their own hands. Scary stuff.
Who are the racists?
The jurors? The general public? People who accept the verdict? Barack Obama? He did remark on the outcome of the trial today, "The jury has spoken" was his remark and then he urged people to be calm.
I am not defending GZ. I don't think he acted correctly. But I do defend the jury. They heard, reviewed, and decided as part of the legal process. They did what they were called in to do.
A few posts ago, during the jury selection time, I got some eye rolling directed my way when I wondered aloud if the make-up of the jury was decent...being 5 of them are white and 1 is Hispanic. People here said that if the defense and the prosecution agreed on the jury selection (and they did), then it should be a non-issue. A non-issue.
So if it's a non-issue or it should be a non-issue how come now it isn't and we now have posters calling other people "racists?"
It's not a term you can just fling around!
You get up in arms, and rightly so over racial profiling, but then you lay down a blanket statement over an entire group of people (calling them racists), that you don't personally know, have never met, and let's not forget that they are the ones who were there - not us. How can any of us presume to judge this case from the outside of the jury room? Based on emotions? Presumptions?
These comments, the emotional ones, not the ones about FL's laws (those are facts) are all emotional presumptions. To claim that the jury and/or others have acted on emotions and presumptions and have acted as racists would act is as presumptive as assuming that a young blank male wearing a hoodie is a criminal and needs to be questioned.
You are guilty of racial profiling if you think that this jury cannot see and understand the facts of the case and decide a verdict based on those. And those alone. The profiling for white people is the assumption that we cannot be fair, unbiased, and that every decision we make involving a minority person is a result of racism. You simply refuse to accept anything other than "the jury acquitted GZ, the jury sided with GZ, the jury must be biased based on race against TM."
You all previously stated that the jury selection was okay and it didn't bother you. But what I predicted would happen, has happened. He got acquitted and now the people who set him free are "racists" when only weeks ago, no one here on this board had ANY issues with the jury whatsoever!!!
Amazing. So amazing how fickle.
I still don't understand why this all has to do about race. It think the media made it that way.
Who are the racists? To start with, the Sanford Police Department, which failed to arrest Zimmerman even though there was ample cause to do so (and in fact, one of the detectives repeatedly tried to get them to do so). Then they drug tested the victim of the crime while deciding that the perpetrator did not need to be drug tested. And then they behaved in an INCREDIBLY unprofessional manner during the trial, making it clear that they wanted Zimmerman to be acquitted.
And those are just the things we know about. God only knows what went on behind the scenes that was never made public.
I agree with everything Geraldo said. (Words I never thought I would be writing!)
I would be more comfortable with a "jury of peers" if we didn't live in a country where Rick Perry was a governor for 13 years and the movie "Grown Ups" made enough box office to get a sequel.
I simply cannot get my head around this. He should have been charged, tried, and convicted of manslaughter. The system failed. A big fat fail. A fail for the Sanford police, a fail for the prosecutors, and fail for the Martin family, a fail for Florida, and a big fat fail for all Americans who are stuck with the flawed system.
DMoney will be a kickass big sister