I think in today's climate, in the United States due to slavery and the civil war, and consequently the race problems we've had since the beginning and through to today, any time a white person kills a black person, it's going to make national news and it's going to be a big deal. Not saying I agree with it, because I don't, I think people have too much time on their hands and none of us were there, we're just siding along ideological lines.

All of this just shows how terrible race relations in the United States still are. There aren't really any modern equivalencies to it, either. We're sort of a special case, so it's difficult to point to any other modern society and say "Look, they had similar problems and they're dealing it much better than we are." It's impossible.

We're sort of still in the experimental stages of our American society, and we're learning things as we go, and this kind of thing isn't going to go away anytime soon. We still have African-americans calling for reparations for crying out loud. Today. People that are no less than eight or nine generations removed from slavery.

I find it hilarious that people who weren't their and didn't know either person personally want to make judgements.

This isn't a movie and you people aren't Judge Dredd. The jury got the full rundown on everything that happened, and the only reason why Zimmerman got off was because the prosecution reached too far. Had they gone for manslaughter, Zimmerman would have gotten 20-25 years due to Florida's "10-20-Life" policy. The jury said they would have convicted him of that. Frankly, I think that would have been enough justice for Martin. The real bad guy here is the NRA and the Florida government, and their "stand your ground" bullshit.

http://blogs.lawyers.com/2013/07/stand-your-ground-more-homicides/

Neither were saints, but NONE OF US ARE. Maybe Trayvon could have run away instead of fight. Maybe Zimmerman could have retreated instead of "stand his ground". Maybe they could have just talked. We don't know and we never will. That doesn't mean we get to make uneducated judgements about either person.

The stand your ground law had NOTHING to do with this case. Stop bringing it up people.  

What trayvon liked to do was get into fights, steal jewlry, deal drugs, look to purchase a handgun illegally and abuse drugs. Thats far from being a normal teen. But fuck, lets pretend that it is appropriate for 17 year olds because the media says so

Initially i thought Zimmerman was guilty because of what i had seen in the media. However slowly as the facts came out i started to realize he was not guilty, and i was being played by the media.

He is not presenting facts himself. All he is doing is looking for an argument and trying to point fingers. I still cant even get an answer as to how i was spreading lies and misinformation from him. Heck no one here can even refute my claim that Zimmerman should have got manslaughter. Why is it manslaughter?.....a kid got stalked and killed. Self defense or not manslaughter is manslaughter and Zimmerman was responsible for his death.

He hasn't been proven of anything yet... or he would have been convicted. In the eyes of the law Zimmerman hasn't done anything wrong. Zimmerman has a choice if he wants to carry anything and he goes with a gun. Its his right as it is yours. We can't blame him for that. You might not agree with it but that doesn't mean he is wrong or that he is guilty.

Most people are shitty shots. Even cops. But I doubt hed be fucked right away. If each person is aware of the gun they would probably get a few shots off each. Both would probably be just as fucked. Watch that one video of a guy pulling an assualt rifle out on cops. He emptied his clip and took of one of the cops fingers. While 3 cops shot I want to say over 100 times and hit him 19 times and he was still going.

"Zimmerman was a wannabe cop" was a line the prosecution was trying to push... but heres the thing. There isn't anything wrong with aspiring to be a cop. So I don't see the point of bringing it up. Its really is irrelevant like most of the other things the prosecution said. And this brings me back to it being his right. When someone gets a conceal and carry permit do you want them to ask "Do you want to be a cop someday" on the application? It will never appear on it because of how irrelevant it is.

He shouldn't of gotten manslaughter because under Florida law you can not get manslaughter for self denfense.

The prosecution couldn't prove it wasn't self defense so there was no case to be made either way.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/07/11/the-manslaughter-option-in-zimmermans-trial-an-explainer/

I will ask again is Trayvon's unrelated past evidence that he started the altecation? Also Trayvon tried to get a gun....the other guy had one that he deliberately stalked a kid with on him. Zimmerman is no saint but for some reason you want to paint a picture that he was innocent and never did violent things in his past. If Trayvon's unrelated past is evidence then Zimmerman's unrelated past should also be evidence.

Yup. This was a straight up self defense case. Stand your ground was touch on a little bit but it wasnt the focus really. I also chuckled when nuckles said the prosecution over reached and he would have been convicted of manslaughter... You know the other charge the jury was able to consider. But when the initial vote was cast it was 3 not guilty to 3 guilty and as we know the 3 guilties switched... The jury was never even really considering it. We know that one was holding out when they asked for clarification of manslaughter. (Probably the juror who just spoke out this week)