yes we all would have prefered noone died. but you cant let an irrational emotion cloud judgement.

i hate loss of life, but when martin decided to assault zimmerman, he opened himslef up to retaliation (with a gun)

Why would you be following a suspicious looking individual in the dark when you were clearly instructed not to do so and cops are on their way? And then out of the blue be blindsided by an attack and afraid for your life when a conflict takes place?

age and weight are huge factors when you are in a fight, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about, the body of a 28 years old male will be better developed than the one of a 17 year old, the 25 pound weight advantage is also pretty huge compared to that 3 inches Trayvon had over Zimmerman, there is no way Zimmerman had no other choice than to shoot he did it because he live in the States were shooting and asking question later is not as frown upon like it would be in other first world nations

The scenario I explained above is how many people are murdered, beaten, raped, etc.  They are attacked unexpectely and usually can't defend themselves properly.

It's great that you feel confident in your ability to defend yourself.  Unfortunately with this type of thinking you would likely become a victim of serious bodily injury or death (if put into the scenario mentioned above).  If you had a gun on you and didn't defend yourself from the attacker it would be unwise.

I wouldn't, but it isn't a crime to follow someone, and it isn't a crime to continue to do so after the dispatcher told you not to.  The only part that was relevant to the case is when Zimmerman and Martin engadged each other.

I hope the media has learnt its lesson, at the very least. That's all I care about. I don't put much credence in the legal system of most states, to be honest. Bad people get off every day, but even worse than that, good, innocent people go to prison everyday. So I really don't generalize this case to anything more than what it is: a proper procedure of the justice system considering the facts and evidence at hand.

Irrelevant how? It's perfectly relevant to my pointing out the inconsistency and sickness of your apparent belief that guns are a perfectly fine tool for mass murdering statist shitheads to use against millions FOR GREAT JUSTICE but totally inappropriate for an individual to use in a situation in which they are facing grievous bodily harm and perhaps death.

A single death is a tragedy... and all that, I guess.

Exactly.

Why are people acting like this kid just came up to him out of the blue and started beating Zimmerman? Zimmerman is the one who innitiated the fight. Yes it wasn't right for Travyon to start beating him but it also wasn't right for Zimmerman to follow a teenager minding his own business with a gun. If you want to use the self defense card, I could also argue that Travyon was feeling threated by being chased by a large man with a gun, and thus acted in self defense. It goes both ways.

You are NOT supposed to take to law in your own hands in this situation. You let the COPS deal with it.

to bad zimmerman was assaulted by a very fit young man. too bad martin was lying in wait to attack zimmerman. to bad martin started the confrontation and assault. to bad he had fists and fighting skills. To bad trayvon would be alive if he just had self control, and didnt needlessly attack someone. fortunately zimmerman is alive to tell the story. too bad...

i would think the guy thats getting pummeled is the one whose life was in danger. and guess what...

Come on you would take a fat non athletic zim who is probably slow against a lean quick athletic 17 year old? I would go with the athletic person