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

You've played this card previously, and you're the only one I've seen play it.

Just because you claim self defense, that doesn't mean you are now guilty until proven innocent. It is still the State's burden to prove guilt, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Also, Zimmerman's mind set has been introduced into evidence. He fully cooperated with the police, and made statements to them. Those statements have been introduced as evidence. His interview with Sean Hannity was introduced into evidence.

Expert witnesses for the defense have also testified to the fact that Zimmerman could have reasonably feared for his life.

There is no need for Zimmerman to take the stand.

 

I understand all that. But if his mindset and what he was thinking is the key to the whole case, then I think he should be on the stand explaining it.

No big whoop if he doesn't. I'd just prefer if he would.

 

Other than the obvious loss of human life, I think the saddest part of this whole awful event is that it exposes once again how far we have to go to make a "color-blind society" more than a fucking politician's talking point.

As a man with many black friends, I can understand that based on their experiences with racism and violence, many blacks are predisposed to believe that Trayvon Martin is just another black kid who was killed by a white guy for no better reason than walking while black.

As a white man, I can also appreciate that there are many others among us who don't want Zimmerman (who isn't "white," if that matters) to get railroaded into prison for the next 25 years as some sort of karmic payback for all the lynchings and Klan rallies and awful fucking shit whites did to blacks in the Jim Crow south.

The race hustlers on both sides of this debate certainly haven't helped matters any, not that most of us thinking people expected anything else from them. They're scum and they act purposely to divide us.

I think I can speak for many when I say that I only want justice done in this case. If Zimmerman went out that night looking to get his gun off and went out of his way to provoke Martin into a confrontation so he could shoot someone, he obviously deserves to spend a long, long time in the hole. But if Martin overreacted to being "followed" and jumped Zimmerman, then I think Zimmerman acted within his right to self-defense.

Like most criminal cases, none of us know with 100 percent certainty what happened on that awful night. Martin obviously hasn't had a chance to speak for himself. Zimmerman has. The rest is up to the lawyers.

But given the preconceived notions on both sides that existed long before Zimmerman shot Martin, I'm not sure it was ever possible for either side to get a fair hearing anyhow. Human nature being what it is, I'm about 99.9 percent sure all 12 jurors already were leaning one way or the other before they were even empaneled.

This board is a fair representative of society in that respect.

 

Yes, because that's so common. We have black kids killed in Chicago nearly every day. How many of those are "just another black kid killed by a white guy?"

 

T

There are six jurors.

 

There are kids of all races killed all over America every day. But I'm not following whatever point you're trying to make.

 

I heard windbag/noted defense attorney Mark Geragos on a podcast. He said regardless of the innocence of a client, he would NEVER volunteer a client to take the stand, specifically speaking of Zimmerman.

A good prosecutor can slice and dice and make an innocent man squirm and look guilty. He says to never do it.

 

My point is, how many white guys are killing black kids?

 

Not nearly as many as there used to be.

 

Stalked?

How many days and weeks was Zimmerman stalking him before Martin attacked him?

 

If Zimmerman planned to shoot Martin, why did he invite the police to the scene of the crime?

 

Anyone following today's news? Apparently, in the discussion of letting the jurors consider lesser charges, the prosecution asked for child abuse charges to also be included. Defense went nuts over that motion.

Anyway, child abuse. Hell of a reach there, maybe indicating how weak their case is.