GZ did not attack first, he followed him, TM attacked first.

 

Pay attention, my man. I didn't say HE DID. I said it's not required that he did in order to understand why Trayvon may have punched him.

Trayvon was provoked at least in that someone was following him and either upsetting him or making him nervous. Trayvon also had the opportunity to walk away and go home and decided, it would seem, to confront Zimmerman.

 

Correct from my understanding.

From what I have learned it doesn't matter who instigated or provoked the fight if the jury strictly follows the law and I've heard that opinion from both supporters and detractors of the Florida laws in play. Those same legal experts also say that if the jury strictly follows the law Zimmerman will be acquitted. The consensus I'm hearing is that if Zimmerman is convicted it will be of manslaughter and that will be a compromise or sympathy conviction because the jury will feel that since someone died someone has to be punished. The prosecution IMVHO based their entire closing on getting a manslaughter conviction so I think they know that he was overcharged. In fact I heard the term JURY NULLIFICATION a few time when describing the prosecutions closing in that they really didn't address the law at all they just played on the emotions of the jurors. I also think the Defense may have erred in not playing the Reasonable Doubt issue more prominently in their closing.

Explain how he (Martin) was a potential thief.

 

Because he was black.

 

If GZ had acted like a reasonable responsible adult, TM would still be alive.

 

Of course if TM was white he'd still be alive too.

I think where a lot of TM supporters lose me is when they say TM was provoked into fighting GZ. Come on. Dude is 100 feet from his house...a place of safety. TM chose to run, he got away from GZ....even when GZ was "provoking" TM by following him. We know from the 911 tape that GZ stopped following TM and while he made a mistake by getting out of his car he eventually chose to comply with the 911 operator.

 

If I am 100 feet from my house and I am feeling threatened....I GO INSIDE and make a phone call if need be.

 

I just don't get the people that want to place ALL the blame on GZ. TM made a couple of real bad choices, as did GZ. TM supporters want to ask, "At what point did TM lose his ability to defend himself?" My answer to this is...never. He made a choice to fight, whether "provoked" or not...he made that choice when a place of safety was 100 feet away.

Because he was black.

 

If GZ had acted like a reasonable responsible adult, TM would still be alive.

 

Of course if TM was white he'd still be alive too.

And if TM would have acted like a reasonable, responsible 17 year old...he would have run inside his house and would still be alive. Instead, he got into a confrontation in which he broke GZ's nose and was slamming GZ's head into the concrete.

 

With a broken nose, how many times does someone's head need to be slammed into concrete before their life feels threatened?

Just noticed that there is no parole in Florida, so if convicted of Manslaughter he would have to serve at least 10 years and up to 25 depending on the judge. Murder 2 would serve at least 20 or 25 years...either conviction is some serious time in prison with no parole and no early release as I understand it.

For those that have watched the trial with an open mind I have a question. If the jury comes back with a guilty verdict, since most think evidence wasn't strong enough to convict, any chance the Judge sets aside the jury verdict and over rules the jury?

 

Again not arguing guilt but any chance the judge would set aside a guilty verdict?

Maybe this has been answered and I missed it, but why only 6 jurors? I thought 12 was the standard, has that changed? or is this just a Florida thing?

according to the law that we all should apply GZ had every right to reach for his weapon . case closed . or at least it should be . If you dont like it , then change the law . But in this case he was clearly and without doubt legally able to defend himself with force , even lethal force. The talk about race in this case is background noise to me .

GZ didn't attack him first

TM did attack him

GZ didn't know if TM had a weapon or could kill him

GZ being a weakling obviously feared he would die and did what I would.

The fight wasn't some school fight where teachers break it up.

Real world, real consequences.

 

How do we know in TM's mind he wasn't acting in self defense. Some people run from fears. Others confront them. How do we know GZ didn't pull the gun out first and was just over powered. We know TM threw the first punch but we don't know why other than to assume it was because GZ spooked him. The media and GZ supporters to paint TM as a troubled child with discipline problems but we'll never find out the whole truth to the story other than GZ followed him and got but with the first punch. I have a really hard time believing that the first punch was thrown with absolutely no conversation taking place between TM and GZ before TM whipped GZ.

according to the law that we all should apply GZ had every right to reach for his weapon . case closed . or at least it should be . If you dont like it , then change the law . But in this case he was clearly and without doubt legally able to defend himself with force , even lethal force. The talk about race in this case is background noise to me .

 

Then you are ignoring what is making the case so volatile. Call it background noise all you want. If TM was white would we even have this 9 page thread? I say nope because GZ wouldn't have followed him in the first place.

Then you are ignoring what is making the case so volatile. Call it background noise all you want. If TM was white would we even have this 9 page thread? I say nope because GZ wouldn't have followed him in the first place.

 

Or because it would be just another crime that the media would ignore.

CNN, Fox, HLN, MSNBC live and die by news events, it is in there interest to publicize and stir up any controversy or angle for a story that they can. They gotta get someone to buy ad time on their networks. Look at how almost every week there is a trial somewhere that they are bending over backwards to cover.

 

Their definitely is a racial slant to this case, do doubt about that. There is no way to get around that.

How do we know in TM's mind he wasn't acting in self defense. Some people run from fears. Others confront them. How do we know GZ didn't pull the gun out first and was just over powered. We know TM threw the first punch but we don't know why other than to assume it was because GZ spooked him. The media and GZ supporters to paint TM as a troubled child with discipline problems but we'll never find out the whole truth to the story other than GZ followed him and got but with the first punch. I have a really hard time believing that the first punch was thrown with absolutely no conversation taking place between TM and GZ before TM whipped GZ.

 

You keep making the point that we have no idea what started the fight. Isn't that exactly why it should be not guilty? It's not on him to prove the case. It's the responsibility of the state.