Trayvon had plenty of chances to completely speed away from Zimmerman (healthy teen vs a fat man) or call for help. Doesn't matter if he took an alternate route (I didn't know this), he should've just run away at full speed to safety, but it seems that he chose in the end to confront Zimmerman (seems, no one is certain of this).

There was NO cops "on their way". He called a non-emergency line, and there was NO cops requested to the place. The main purpose of calling the non-emergency line is to request advice and let the cops know that there could be suspicious activity. The cops only came after one of the witnesses called 911 during the fight between Trayvon and Zimmerman.

Oh please, things aren't as simple as "he stalked, he must get beaten or die". Zimmerman followed Trayvon because there were recent break-ins in the neighborhood, and he thought Trayvon could be trying to break in(obviously he was wrong). Zimmerman could've simply tried to follow Trayvon, and nothing else, no one knows for certain.

Nothing in the court proved that Zimmerman actually tried to do more than following Trayvon. 

The only thing that's missing is "who threw the first punch?". No one knows who physically started the fight:
- If Zimmerman started the fight, then he deserved a manslaughter charge.
- If Trayvon started the fight, then Zimmerman deserved to defend himself from Trayvon.

But there is no proof of who started the fight, and because of this there is reasonable doubt. Since the court assumes innocent until proven guilty, and there was reasonable doubt, then Zimmerman deserves to be a free man.

Zimmerman shot Tupac.

If it was a blonde white female, you wouldnt even knew she ever existed. because the media wouldnt give 2 shits about a case like that

Trayvon wasn't 'getting away' from anything except the creepy man stalking him for no apparent reason.  

He already let the police know his location down to address and heading and was told they would meet him at the mailboxes.  Citizens aren't supposed to trail suspects and help along the arrest they put themselves and others in danger. They are to give the relevant information to those whom are empowered to do something about it. People who can't leave it to the police have often been called vigilantes.  

Following someone around doesn't constitute a beating and is not illegal provided there is no restraining order.  Trayvon ran away from him.  It seems strange to me that he would then come back and then start a physical altercation after having already fled.  

After doing a little more reading I think this definitely sums up how I feel about the situation: the encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and waited the arrival of law enforcement or conversely if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialog in an effort to dispel each party's concern". "There is no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any criminal activity at the time of the encounter.

I definitely feel that people whom have been charged with negligent manslaughter should have those gun carrying rights looked at. I don't want people that don't follow the sensible routes of behavior first having guns.  I don't think it's silly to expect more of him given that he is legally an adult and apparently Florida thinks he's okay to carry a gun. I think we can and need to have a higher definition of responsible for those people.  

I think it would have made the news just for shits and giggles.

But if it were a white person that smoked pot and had a history of getting in trouble at school. Not the slightest shit would have been given. In fact, people would have said he deserved it.

Trayvon ran away from someone that was suspicious of him. Trayvon running away for no apparent reason obviously raised Zimmerman's suspicion. Hence, it was a misunderstanding by both men.

I don't think being a neighborhood watchman is the same as a vigilante. They apparently reduce crime so what he was doing is arguably a good thing. Following someone that's making themselves even more suspicious is not being a vigilante in my opinion.

We don't know who started the physical altercation. All we know is Zimmerman took a brutal ass beating before he used his gun.

I feel the incident was avoidable by both men.

Given his gun was believed to be used in self defense, why take away his guns? However, I can't imagine he still has guns given his recent issues with the law.

What about Jon Stewart whatever his last name is, because I only remember his first & middle name & John Oliver:

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=jon%20stewart%20daily%20show%20trayvon%20martin&sm=3

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=daily%20show%20trayvon%20martin&sm=3

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tj3pwV3jOEo

And what about Stephen Colbert, who is one of the few literally 100% white Caucasians left on the planet (almost all other whites on the planet are only up to 98% Caucasian):

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=stephen%20colbert%20trayvon%20martin&sm=1

If Martin was a pale blonde white boy with acne and frickles then he wouldn't have found him suspicious. George said "they are always trying to get away with something"....that's a racial reference to black people by anti-black people, that is always said by those people only.

Goeroge Zimmerman clearly had a racist bias against blacks & Mexicans his whole life, and he never consider himself Hispanic, and said he hates Hispanics, LOL but true.

Rest of this thread is bullshit, but this was the last post, so...

To claim that Zimmerman had used racial profiling is to suggest that he would have treated Trayvon Martin as suspicious just for being black. No other factors. Not age, not gender, not clothing, nothing. To claim that he would have stalked a little old black woman, or even a black man of the same age who was wearing, I dunno, upper-middle class college attire seems like a massive stretch.

Here's the thing, most people do make snap judgements about people based on their properties. I'm a tall, white male 22 years old. You know what, if I walked around with a skin head, covered in tattoos, some kind of white vest on, or whatever, people are going to judge me as being dangerous, and with good reason.

The fact that Trayvon was wearing low-riding trousers and a hoodie is just as much of a factor in Zimmerman's judgements than his skin colour. Not to mention that he was walking late at night in the rain, in an area that had recently seen a large number of home invasions. Turns out, he had a somewhat legitimate reason (returning from the store with ingredients to make lean, a type of drug - which has the property of increasing paranoia), but being suspicious of Trayvon in those circumstances is something that most people would be "guilty" of.

Also, let's not forget that Trayvon almost certainly WAS a thief. He was currently living with his dad, after being expelled from school for breaking into lockers and stealing materials. Now, Zimmerman thought the guy was a thief, based on all number of properties and circumstances... and it turns out that he most probably was a thief. Seems to me that Zimmerman did a good job in profiling.

Seriously? Its obvious you view liberal opinions as gospel, but they aren't swaying me.

Its amazing how some people have a dead set opinions with no facts to back it up.