Trayvon Martin vs. George Zimmerman ....

Some of the responses in this thread baffle me, but its about what I expected when this thread started.

 

Is it a fact he did slam his head on the ground? Or did his head get hit in the fight? Who started the fight? We do not know any of these facts.

What we do know is the police told Zimmerman not to follow the kid, Zimmerman got out of his car to confront the kid. At some point there was a fight(we do not know who started it) and Trayvon was shot.

Zimmerman had no right to confront Trayvon or anyone elses kid walking down the street eating skittles.

 

Didn't you follow some kids a few years ago that you suspected of breaking into your car? What if one of them got ahold of you and was beating you to the point that you feared for your life......if you did what it took to stop the assault would you then not be able to claim self defense?

I guess my point is that we really have no idea what happened here, and not all the info has rose to the surface. Yet everyone seems to have a very strong opinion on if this guy is guilty or not guilty. I think we can all agree that this could have been avoided, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this guy is guilty of murder by the letter of the law. If he walks and did indeed murder this guy, he's still got his judgement day coming, I have faith in that.

Following someone and starting a physical assault are two different things in my eyes. From what I read, Martin was simply looking to evade Zimmerman while he was being followed. It doesn't sound like anyone got aggresive until Zimmerman was already retreating to his car. If that's when either of them started to get aggressive after Zimmerman's retreat then it's going to be pretty hard to convict him. We also don't know what Zimmermans intentions were when following, he may have simply been following to see where this kid went so that he could provide better info to the police, we don't necessarily know if he was looking for an altercation.

 

Trayvon was walking in the dark, with his hood pulled over his head, in an area that has problems with theft. Obviously Zimmerman was racial profiling, but according to national statistics, young, black males do commit the most thefts. So at what point does Zimmerman have the right to question Trayvon?

 

Is this a serious post? I hope its not cause I like you.

 

I caught them putting mustered on my car on my property, yes I ran the fat one down and called his parents.
They were commiting a crime, and being they were under age, if he would have fought back, I would have walked away.

If you are following someone you cannot claim you were standing your ground, how logically can one do so? Take all the other fluff out of this case. Just look at claiming you were standing your ground against a person you were following and told not to by the police.

 

None at all, was the kid breaking any laws walking down the street in a hoodie eating skittles?

 

Following a perceived suspicious person in your neighborhood is not a crime. Beating someone in the face is a crime.

 

Nope, just like Zimmerman was not breaking any laws when he confronted Trayvon about his motives for being in the neighborhood.

And if in your neighborhood, you all of a sudden had a string of thefts, and you saw someone fitting the description of the thefts walking around your neighborhood at night, would you not take action?

 

I have a hard time believing a kid with no violent history chose to beat up a grown man simply because he was following him. Especially when the man has a history of violence, paranoia, and accusing young black men of crimes he had no evidence of.

Zimmerman's story just doesn't add up. You have two people involved in a situation. One killed the other and is now being investigated for murder. Who here would be shocked if Zimmerman was lying?

 

Where have you seen this information? I saw that there have been some thefts in the area, but where did you see suspects were listed as "young black men"? I have read just about every thing I can find on this case and have yet to come across that.

Or are you using "young black men are more likely to be criminals" stat to make an assumption?

 

People are viewing this case by either pointing out how good or bad of a person Trayvon was....which is sickening. It doesn't matter (to the law) whether the person shot was Tim Tebow or Casey Anthony....it matters the sequence of events.

NEITHER person involved was the saint either side is painting them to be. Is Zimmerman slightly racist? Probably, but that isn't a crime. Should he have followed him? Judgement call. Turned out to be a "kid" with skittles....had it been a 22 year old with pockets full of cash from a robbery he just committed he would have been awarded an honorary medal from the police for his actions.

Should Zimmerman have approached Trayvon? Judgement call. Doesn't matter. What matters is what happened after that and there are only two credible witnesses that I have read of so far. One is dead, the other has all the reason in the world to lie if he was in the wrong. If Trayvon assaulted Zimmerman after Zimmerman approached him, by law he was justified in using deadly force to protect himself....If Trayvon didn't start the fight, it was murder....In my simplified eyes anyway.

It just makes me uneasy how everyone wants to paint race over everything.

 

For those that are unaware, wearing a hood is a popular among teenagers these days. I sure hope Beebs doesn't walk through the wrong neighborhood.

 

I'd call the police if I saw him breaking in one of my neighbors.

Do you want a guy like Zimmerman questioning your kids?

 

I agree 100%, but what if Zimmerman was yelling at him accusing him of stuff? Is it justified to beat him up then? I can see both sides of this, I just wish the races were anonymous in the reports so people could think more logically about what happened.

 

Apparently there are witnesses to Trayvon slamming Zimmerman's head into the concrete. And according to Trayvon's girlfriend, Trayvon told her that he was not going to run when he was hiding, and then she heard Trayvon ask Zimmerman "Why are you following me?" So it seems that Trayvon went back to Zimmerman after he had given him the slip.

I don't know. I don't trust Zimmerman. But it appears that both parties could have done something to avoid the altercation. Zimmerman should have never been following Trayvon, and Trayvon should have left after he gave Zimmerman the slip.

 

I have asked a logic question this entire thread. How does "Stand your Ground" apply in this case when you are following someone.

The person being followed has no idea what the other persons attentions are.

 

I was just giving Germ a blank scenario in regards to the question "at what point does a person have the right to question someone in their neighborhood?"

 

Agreed.

I think I see where you are going with that, but you still can't shoot an unarmed robber walking down the street. Had Zimmerman confronted him, and Martin pulled a gun after just committing a robbery, then I agree Zimmerman would be looked at differently. But thats not what happened, which is why he shouldn't have made an assumption based on the information he had.

I agree, racism is not a crime, but if it comes out that what he did was racial motivated, then that is a crime...that carries a heavier sentence.

Agreed.

I do think race is brought into situations when it shouldn't. However, what the information we know about Zimmerman, I do think it has some warrant here. Maybe not to the extent is has been, but certainly should be noted.

 

That I do not know.

Does it matter if its your neighborhood? Do you have certain neighborhood rights?