It's Watch!... Neighborhood Watch. Not shoot.

In the court of law, you are correct. In the court of common opinion, it matters a whole lot.

 

I still feel like they went with the strongest charge available so they could start at the highest point possible before pleading down to some Manslaughter charge a few months from now when the media heat has died down a little bit. I'd be surprised if this thing goes to trial unless Zimmerman is convinced he can win a court case.

 

Before it gets to jury trial a judge could throw out case in pre trial under the guidelines of stand your ground.

 

Under the facts revealed to date, I really doubt that unless Zimmerman were to testify and make a compelling case. Even then, the court would have to be convinced that there was not probable cause that a crime was committed. Don't believe so under this scenario. Too many facts away from self-defense. Don't think that's what "Stand Your Ground" was intended to cover.

 

Of what "facts" do you speak? Because I'm not willing to take anything reported in the national media these days as facts. It seems like whatever side of the fence you're standing, you can find a national media outlet that will report "facts" to bolster your argument. As I said earlier, I don't think I've ever seen a case quite so polarizing.

Honestly, I think it's all a big muddled mess. I don't know that we'll ever find out the "complete truth" and frankly, I don't think either side will be fully satisfied in the findings when this is all said and done. That's just my $.02.

 

The myth of 'black-on-black' violence.

http://www.theroot.com/views/why-don-t-we-talk-about-white-white-crime?page=0,0

 

What's not a myth is that 50 % of the annual murders are committed by the group that makes up 10 % percent of the population. The guy who wrote the article in Roots must have hoped that no one would look closely at the DOJ report which he attached.

Also not a myth and reported as # 1 trend on Pg 1 of DOJ report:

Based on available data from 1980 to 2008—
Blacks were disproportionately represented as both homicide
victims and offenders. The victimization rate for blacks (27.8
per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per
100,000). The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost
8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000) (table 1).

Overall it's not very flattering.

 

I see a percentage for "arrests," not convictions

Be interesting to research how many "white" murders are never charged.

 

Again the most important stat - 50 % of the murders committed by 10 % of population conveniently left out in Roots article.

 

Most important according to whom?

And not germane to the Zimmerman/Martin case.

Again, the DOJ chart you cite lists 'arrests' not convictions. So I'm not sure we can use the word "committed."

Do you think it's possible that juries convict black murder suspects at a higher rate than white murder suspects?

 

WTF does that have to do with the Martin case?

 

How was your initial post citing the Roots article germane to Martin/ Zimmerman? You took us down this track. The Roots article was very misleading.