Zimmerman in a nutshell: you can't prosecute people for making stupid decisions because stupidity 'ain't illegal.

I don't disagree.  The situation shouldn't of happened, but just because something shouldn't of happened doesn't mean what happened was criminal.

If those stupid decsions result in a death, is that not manslaughter?

It's not criminal (perhaps). I agree that Zimmerman probably just panicked and it was accidental in that sense.

Still ... it's monumentally stupid on his part, and a kid is dead because of a situation that really he provoked/created out of nothing because basically he was unwilling to sit and wait for the real police to show up.

American laws are so screwed. He should have got locked up. The thought of someone stalking me whilst in possession of a gun is scary. You can get arrested in the UK for following someone. I dont care what colour these people are. Its irrelevant to the case.

The way it sounds to me,

Man follows boy.
Boy dont like it
Man and boy get into fight
Boy is winning?
man kills boy with gun.

Well... not really.  

Too prove manslaughterthey would essentially have to prove that Zimmerman should have known that  it was likely that if you followed a black kid would mean he would jump you.  (Since you'd have to cede a lot of the story to Zimmerman's side, since a prosecution can really only argue one interpretation of the crime.)

I imagine prosecutors didn't see this as a credible arguement.  

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/13/3499114/state-never-proved-its-case-legal.html

pretty much does a great job showing just how weak the case was as far as evidence goes.

Which, we require evidence even when we think someone is definitly guilty for a very good reason.

Pretty annoyed with the Prosecution closing statement.

"This isn't about standing your ground, its about staying in your car."

Can you imagine if everyone adopted this cowardly attitude.

America would have lost every war it ever had and United 93 would have been flown straight into the White house with everyone sat meekly in their seats.

I've heard this nonsense so many times it's really starting to bother me. Just because you pretend something is true does not make it true. Now, do you really believe that when you call 911, you speak directly to the police, or are you just deliberately inventing this false statement to make a nonexistent argument? When you call 911, you speak to a 911 operator, who is a civilian just like you or me. Sucker punching somebody from behind a bush and banging their head into the concrete while on top of them (as Trayvon allegedly did) is not self defense, it is aggravated assault. That's what the evidence suggests, that's what the jury had to make their decision on. Let me get this straight, you're saying if a guy 'walks towards you', you can just beat the shit out of him because you don't know his motives? Your argument is so weak it's kind of funny.

Granted, we can't know everything in this case for certain, but it does appear from the evidence that at the time Zimmerman pulled the trigger, it was self defense by law. It's obviously a terrible tragedy that Trayvon lost his life, but it does not appear that he was just some innocent kid in all this, nor was there any evidence this was race based. He was thought to be suspicious because he was walking along the front of the homes instead of on the street or sidewalk (IE, trespassing across everyone's yard). If I saw this in my neighborhood , I would be a bit suspicious as well, regardless of whether the person was white, black, or purple.

In that instance, looks like the dog lunged at the cop while he was trying to grab the dogs collar after the guy screamed don't shoot my dog, somebody get my dog.

Why do you need to be a police officer to follow and report a suspicious person? No, the 911 operator suggested (didn't tell) that they didn't need him to follow and george said "okay" and he stopped following trayvon. There is a huge difference between approching and following.