Serowbot wrote on 07/11/13 at 18:16:13:Dane Allen wrote on 07/11/13 at 11:08:20:And will guarantee and mistrial on appeal. This should never have gone to trial!!
A boy was killed... a boy with no harmful intention,.. walking home, unarmed, carrying an iced tea, and candy...
He wasn't going anywhere to do anything wrong... he was walking in the direction of his home...
You really think his death doesn't deserve his killer even going to trial?...
If he had killed Zimmerman would you want a trial?...
That is,.. if the unarmed boy had managed to kill his armed attacker with his bare hands?...

...
Here's is why I no longer tend to participate in the TT...
The arguments have become ridiculous....
Whether you believe Mr.Z is guilty or not,... a trial must be deemed necessary by any reasonable person...
Fact is,... if Zimm had not been armed,... this would not have happened...
Zimm had his macho on,.. and felt invulnerable... he was the root cause of the incident... and he, being armed, and a legal adult, in a public place, had the responsibility to use better judgement...
He's lucky I'm not on the jury...
I respectfully disagree with several of the points of this reply. First off, though, I think it is important to remove emotion from the consideration because I am sure we all agree that this has been a terrible tradgedy, a boy is dead and families are suffering. But, we do not convict people because we feel bad for someone.
That said, I think we can agree that Zimmerman did everything right at least up until the point Martin attacked him. There were many recent burglaries in the community, Zimmerman observed a guy he didn't recognize from the community climbing fences/crawling through bushes. He called the police and kept an eye on the suspect. The 911 dispatcher asked questions and provided some simple instructions.
Martin came after Zimmerman - Zimmerman, who is supposedly martial arts trained, folded like a cheap deck of cards. Martin, known as an accomplished street fighter, narcotics abuser and gun trafficker, pounded Zimmerman with impunity. Hardly unarmed, Martin had aggression, rage and a sidewalk at his disposal in addition to his youth, fighting skills and fists.
Zimmerman was a guy helping his community which was suffering a crime spree by taking his turn keeping watch and calling the authorities when he witnessed something suspicious. He did it right.
If Zimmerman was not armed then it would be Zimmerman who would be dead. It's odd that in todays world it is ok for a 17 year old, for the sake of being a minor, to visciously assault a resident for whatever reason he had. Why didn't he just ignore Zimmerman and continue home, Zimmerman didn't approach, talk to or engage Martin? Why attack a guy while he is on the phone to 911?
Martin was the aggressor and it is sad that his life ended the way it did but we as a society can't jail Zimmerman because we feel bad for the family. Zimmerman rightfully protected himself and for the state to try to railroad him while whipping up racial tensions is inexcusable.