199 replies to this topic

[Lucian Von Dooom]

If I had to guess I would guess that Todd is a Republican and backing Zimmerman only because other right wing nuts are.

Why Republicans seem to take to this issue is beyond me. I don't really get it.

[Johnny Henning]

Preemptive defense of the right wing gun laws (stand your ground statutes and concealed weapons) are the most obvious conservative interest. If Zimmerman had been wearing that gun in sight, I doubt he would've had to use it. If he didn't have a gun, I doubt he would've followed Martin after making the 911 call.

[Mike Tattoo]

The way I read it is that Zimmerman was drunk on what little power he thought he had as neighborhood watch guy, he had previously caught a burglary in progress and now thought he was Dirty Harry and looking for his next adrenaline rush like a charckhead seeks rocks and that ANY kid with a hoodie would be on his radar.

That’s why the racial angle of this story bugs me. I seriously doubt that the majority of people getting so upset in Florida right now would have given this story a second thought if Trayvon was white.

[Johnny Henning]

Probably because, as others mentioned, Zimmerman would not have called 911 or stalked a white kid walking in the neighborhood. There would have been no event and no story.

[Jim Ohara]

That’s why the racial angle of this story bugs me. I seriously doubt that the majority of people getting so upset in Florida right now would have given this story a second thought if Trayvon was white.

Well the theory is if Trayvon was a white kid Zimmerman would be in jail already. Given how the police have treated black people in the past century there's probably reason for the black community to have that theory.

[Mike Tattoo]

Probably because, as others mentioned, Zimmerman would not have called 911 or stalked a white kid walking in the neighborhood. There would have been no event and no story.

Neither you or I can say for sure if that true or not, we’re all just speculating at this point, but my gut feeling is that Zimmerman was looking to bust someone, anyone, and that a shady looking white guy in a hoodie would be just as much fair game as black kid in a hoodie. White people don’t always give other white people a pass just because they have the same skin color.

[Johnny Henning]

Well, if this description of his 9-1-1 calls is to believed, he had an interest in black males in the neighborhood:http://motherjones.c...trash-black-men

...But even more than cars, he was concerned about black men on foot in the neighborhood. In August 2011, he called to report a black male in a tank top and shorts acting suspicious near the development's back entrance. "[Complainant] believes [subject] is involved in recent S-21s"—break-ins—"in the neighborhood," the call log states. The suspect, Zimmerman told the dispatcher, fit a recent description given out by law enforcement officers.

Three days later, he called to report two black teens in the same area, for the same reason. "[Juveniles] are the subjs who have been [burglarizing] in this area," he told the dispatcher.

And last month, on Feb. 2, Zimmerman called to report a suspicious black man in a leather jacket near one of the development's units. The resident of that townhouse, Zimmerman told dispatch, was a white male. Police stopped by to investigate, but no one was there, and the residence was secure.

After that, there's one final call logged in the report. At 7:11 on February 26, Zimmerman called police to report a black male in a dark gray hoodie. A few minutes later, that male—Trayvon Martin—lay dead on the sidewalk...

Now, it doesn't automatically cast him as a racist since apparently the police description of the burglar suspects must've said they were black, too.

As far as I can tell, Zimmerman had not captured any burglars. He was just on the lookout because four houses were burglarized in the estates in January.

[Mike Tattoo]

As far as I can tell, Zimmerman had not captured any burglars. He was just on the lookout because four houses were burglarized in the estates in January.

I’ll have to find that source, it was one of the first stories I read on this topic that has since been buried ages ago.

Someone, I think it might have been a coworker or supervisor, was defending Zimmerman as being a good Neighborhood Watch guy who had caught a burglary in progress.

But as with everything with this story, new details and contradictions are emerging all the time.

[Johnny Henning]

Right - in another article, they asked his neighbors about the burglaries, and she told the reporters she didn't know about any burglaries.

It's easy to see this progression.

Zimmerman to Friend 1: I saw some kids the other day I think are the ones breaking into houses so I called the cops but they didn't do anything.

Friend 1 to Friend 2: George called the cops on some kids the other day. He thinks they were the ones breaking into houses.

Friend 2 to Friend 3: You know George Zimmerman? He called the cops on some kids he caught breaking into a house the other day.

Friend 3 to the press: I heard he caught some guys breaking into a house a few weeks ago.

The press to the public: Buoyed by his success in the capture of a burglar a few weeks earlier, George Zimmerman had become the self-appointed protector of this crime-plagued gated community.

[Mike Tattoo]

I’m reading the story of how now the funeral director who oversaw Trayvon Martin's burial says he saw no signs of a fight on the body and this is by far the best comment of the day -

**
looks like there are just a lot of pasty nerds on this website, as expected. clearly none of you have been in a fight (internet battles don't count).

BREAKING NEWS: when you punch someone in the face, it causes wounds on your hands. scientists are working hard to figure out how exactly how this occurs. check back in for more details as they come.

[Johnny Henning]

Still - a funeral director is not necessarily a pathologist or trained in examination. There should be an official autopsy report, right?, before the body was even sent to a funeral home.

I worked for a funeral home in high school and assisted in the embalming of bodies, and though the director knows how, he is also not necessarily the guy who does most of the embalming. Today, many homes use embalming services in busier urban areas to cut down on the overhead costs of purchasing, maintaining and upgrading equipment. It's possible all the funeral home does is dress and make up.

And, naturally, he's getting paid by the family, right? A funeral director is in a social business, so his business is making friends with families so they come to him whenever someone dies.

Ah - there was an autopsy, but it is shielded during the investigation http://www.ibtimes.c...e-zimmerman.htm

"In Florida when a death is being actively investigated by any agency ... the autopsy information is shielded under the Florida public records law until the investigation becomes un-active, or inactive," Byron told the IBTimes via phone Wednesday morning. "So in this case I think we can all agree this is an active death investigation, so what I need to do is refer all calls to the State Attorney's Office in Jacksonville."

This just reminded me how difficult it was to embalm a body after autopsy. That really tested the new employees. In the seven years I worked there (High School and Jr College), I only had one homicide, but she was shot in the head so they only autopsied the brain and skull area.

[Chewy Sun]

And Chewy, in almost any other state, I would agree that you at least charge him. I still don't think the charges would stick. However, in Florida, stupid as the law is, with the evidence we have, I don't see how the prosecutor would be doing anything but wasting taxpayer money by charging Zimmerman and having a trial. It's just not feasible (based on what we know so far).

Whether the charges stick or not is not the point of filing a charge. Criminal courts/trials is a 3 step process in the charging process. 1st step, depending on jurisdiction, prosecutor has judgement to bring charges if there is evidence that there "may" be a crime. 2nd step, is if under the most favorable light for the prosecutor side, the pleading can be thrown out by the judge if the pleading isn't enough to "may" be convicted. The third step is the actual trial process.

Unfortunately, too many states/counties have made the prosecutor position an electable position (as opposed to an appointed position, where they serve the people and the governor), so some prosecutors vary in competance. But again, if there is a good chance (i'd say from 25 to 50% chance there could be a crime), the prosecutor has the discretion to bring the charge. However, even with the self defense law in florida, the fact that he, as a person carrying a weapon, made the active choice to put himself in a position for a confrontation that resulted in the death of a person, could be a second degree manslaughter type charge in most states.

I’m not sure where you’re from but here in America it doesn’t work that way.

The prosecutor doesn’t really care if a crime has been committed or even what is right or wrong.

A prosecutor cares about one thing and one thing only.

Winning or losing.

I enjoy it when someone doesn't know who he's talking to, and compounds it with an insult to the person, and adds more complete ignorance without any actual experience to the subject matter.


As a licensed and barred lawyer in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, i will tell you that you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Having friends in DA offices in many different jurisdictions, while certainly a conviction rate is important to only the douchest DAs, it matters very little on an everyday basis. You characterize it as if it was the only thing, which is a movie/tv affectation. In a prosecution office, most of the lawyers are there to get experience, help society and maybe end up at a better paying job defending criminals. Few are there, in a suburban prosecution office, to worry about conviction rate, in preparation for a future political career.



Chewy............................................... but heck, according to you, this is the internet. My "knowing what the fuck i am talking about" doesn't hold a candle to your opinions based on NOT "real life experience, study, or research."

[Johnny Henning]

Yeah, it makes sense that a prosecutor has to worry as much about a situation where he or she decides there isn't enough to prosecute and faces the possibility of this sort of public outrage as much as they have to worry about whether they can win the case.

However, to that point, I think minorities have suffered disproportionately from the tendency to prosecute because they think they can win much more than they really think the person is guilty. And there have been notable cases where prosecutors have actively worked to suppress revealing new evidence supporting innocence.

Still, many of those cases deal with convictions that are decades old, like the West Memphis 3.

[Mike Tattoo]

I enjoy it when someone doesn't know who he's talking to, and compounds it with an insult to the person, and adds more complete ignorance without any actual experience to the subject matter.


......

Well I’m glad to see you found at least one small thing to bring you joy today.

Have a killer weekend and try not to let anyone else out there harsh your mellow.

[Adam Balson]

It's things like this that really aren't helping either:



This image while trying to highlight a bias opinion is in itself being biased...is it not?

[stephanie familiar]

i suppose there's nothing anyone can say in regards to this matter, as clearly the only person who is allowed to say anything is chewy because he apparently has a law degree (which is not, to my knowledge, in criminal law).

have an awesome weekend everyone!

[Robert B]

It's things like this that really aren't helping either:



This image while trying to highlight a bias opinion is in itself being biased...is it not?

That picture on the bottom right was of a different Trayvon Martin, not the one who was shot. This has been disproven and stated multiple times in the last week but people don't like letting facts get in the way of their media bias claims.

[Mike Tattoo]

That picture on the bottom right was of a different Trayvon Martin, not the one who was shot. This has been disproven and stated multiple times in the last week but people don't like letting facts get in the way of their media bias claims.

This is true. It’s an honest enough mistake considering they have the same name and share the same personality.

But really, you have to wonder if Obama would be so quick to race bait if he were using Trayvon’s current pictures from his @NO_LIMIT_NIGGA twitter feed.

[Adam Balson]

That picture on the bottom right was of a different Trayvon Martin, not the one who was shot. This has been disproven and stated multiple times in the last week but people don't like letting facts get in the way of their media bias claims.

Damn, then things like that really don't help. Like many people have said before, this is getting really ugly and messy.

[Arjan Dirkse]

There's a lot of distractions here...I agree that the race debate shouldn't really muddle this up. I'm not sure about the wisdom of Obama's "my son would look like like this" comment either.

Even if Zimmerman was a terrible racist, which doesn't seem to be the case, that's not what this is about.