Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 702947)

And you know it was lie after lie because you were there to witness the whole thing?
Talk about acting like judge jury and executioner. You have this guy convicted when you have no facts.

Originally Posted by mickey100 (Post 703007)

I see nothing wrong with a 17 year old kid going out at 7:30 at night to take a short walk to the store to buy skittles. I must be a horrible parent. Sue me. The fact is there is nothing illegal or criminal about what he was doing. It matters not who's apartment it was, who's wife or girlfriend it was. It matters not where he had A's in school had a run-in with the law a few months ago, or if he posted rapper type poses on his Facebook page, which by the way, is very common among young men today and doesn't mean they are criminals. The bottom line was - did he do something that particular night that a reasonable person in George Zimmerman’s situation would have suspected Trayvon intended to burglarize someone’s home or steal someone’s property. Walking through the neighborhood when it is raining and looking at houses does not suggest criminal activity. You can't just have a "hunch" that someone has criminal activity in mind, there has to be probable cause, which there wasn't in this case. If Zimm had been a police officer he would have stopped Martin, and identified himself as a police officer and asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood, or just asked if he needed assistance. Zimm did neither of those things. In fact Zimm acted as the aggressor when he followed Martin with a loaded weapon. Since Zimm was the aggressor, how about allowing Martin the right to Stand his Groundand defend himself against Zimm ?

Originally Posted by mickey100 (Post 703007)

I see nothing wrong with a 17 year old kid going out at 7:30 at night to take a short walk to the store to buy skittles. I must be a horrible parent. Sue me. The fact is there is nothing illegal or criminal about what he was doing. It matters not who's apartment it was, who's wife or girlfriend it was. It matters not where he had A's in school had a run-in with the law a few months ago, or if he posted rapper type poses on his Facebook page, which by the way, is very common among young men today and doesn't mean they are criminals. The bottom line was - did he do something that particular night that a reasonable person in George Zimmerman’s situation would have suspected Trayvon intended to burglarize someone’s home or steal someone’s property. Walking through the neighborhood when it is raining and looking at houses does not suggest criminal activity. You can't just have a "hunch" that someone has criminal activity in mind, there has to be probable cause, which there wasn't in this case. If Zimm had been a police officer he would have stopped Martin, and identified himself as a police officer and asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood, or just asked if he needed assistance. Zimm did neither of those things. In fact Zimm acted as the aggressor when he followed Martin with a loaded weapon. Since Zimm was the aggressor, how about allowing Martin the right to Stand his Groundand defend himself against Zimm ?

Originally Posted by John_W (Post 702971)

Well yeah, he was suspended from school 3 times that year. He was caught with stolen property and burglary tools. As a parent it's OK to say, go to the store by yourself, even though it's dark and raining, and he has a tendency to find trouble? At 7:30 in February it is dark, That' a fact. His mother shipped his butt from Miami up to Sanford. If you don't see anything wrong with that scenario, then you are not any better. You have a juvenile delinquent staying at your place and you let him have free roam of the neighborhood after dark. Not a good practice, in fact he's dead for that very reason.

If I lived in a apartment complex with as much criminal activity as this place, the last thing I would want is to have him roaming the neighborhood unsupervised at night. Maybe you have a better insight, but then again, Trayvon is dead for this very type of behavior. I lived for a year in a similar apartment complex in Atlanta. Couldn't go to the laundry room at night, cars were broken into, and I called the police on several occasions about my neighbors. I would never have had a teenager stay for an extended period of time. Then again, I've never had a son get suspended from school on multiple occasions or caught stealing property.

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Originally Posted by Monkei (Post 703031)

It would appear that all kids who do bad things and look suspicious were open season in Zimmerman's complex (not to mention black). Just follow them until you provoke them enough to jump you, then shoot them, claim self defense and all is right with the world. There is something wrong with that scenario and as a gun owner and a concealed weapon permit holder for over 10 years I am sick that someone would put themselves in the situation GZ did. I have heard no testimony yet that does not at it's basic terms boil it down to those facts. Sure we can add kid was suspended three times from school, was out at 7:30 at night (egad!!!) was a guest at the complex (not a crime as far as I could tell) and that Al Sharpton got involved. There has been enough testimony in this case to warrant a trial. Not second degree, but surely manslaughter is a charge that holds some weight.

This if he was white there would be no trial is a crock because I think if he was white, Zimmerman probably would not have followed him, because the white kid did not look like he was trouble or up to no good in the cop wanna be mind of Zimmerman.

Ask yourself this question. Would GZ followed Martin that night if he did NOT have a gun? Or, would he have made the call and left it to police to handle?

Originally Posted by graciegirl (Post 703023)

Good grief.

Leave race out of this. We have now police wannabe and a punky lookin' kid.

We have the situation where there had been robberies and break ins.

I would have gone home and called the police. He called the police and he was on some neighborhood watch thing if I remember correctly. I don't do guns but George ZimmERMAN had one and a permit. If me, an old lady had followed the kid and he banged my head into the pavement, I would have probably used the gun if I had one and shot him in his elbow because I don't think I would be able to shoot to kill anyone and would probably have missed or he would have shot at me.

I wish they had given each other a black eye. Then the parents of Mart could sue George ZimMERMAN.

Originally Posted by Parker (Post 703037)

I hear a lot of people here who are certain they KNOW what was in the mind's of both parties.

Originally Posted by Monkei (Post 703031)

It would appear that all kids who do bad things and look suspicious were open season in Zimmerman's complex (not to mention black). Just follow them until you provoke them enough to jump you, then shoot them, claim self defense and all is right with the world. There is something wrong with that scenario and as a gun owner and a concealed weapon permit holder for over 10 years I am sick that someone would put themselves in the situation GZ did. I have heard no testimony yet that does not at it's basic terms boil it down to those facts. Sure we can add kid was suspended three times from school, was out at 7:30 at night (egad!!!) was a guest at the complex (not a crime as far as I could tell) and that Al Sharpton got involved. There has been enough testimony in this case to warrant a trial. Not second degree, but surely manslaughter is a charge that holds some weight.

This if he was white there would be no trial is a crock because I think if he was white, Zimmerman probably would not have followed him, because the white kid did not look like he was trouble or up to no good in the cop wanna be mind of Zimmerman.

Ask yourself this question. Would GZ followed Martin that night if he did NOT have a gun? Or, would he have made the call and left it to police to handle?

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 703058)

This community of 260 units had in the year prior to the shooting experienced several burglaries, thefts, a shooting and other felonies. Police had been called by residents 402 times in the prior 14 months, about one call per day. Zimmerman had previously called police and waited for the police to arrive and handle things. Of course the suspects were long gone before the cops showed up at the scene. Check out the Background of the Shooting in Wikipedia. Shooting of Trayvon Martin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by Monkei (Post 703060)

So vigilante justice was ok?

Originally Posted by gomoho (Post 703046)

Monkei - consider this for a moment. What if George Zimmerman did follow Trayvon that night and was not armed. Would Zimmerman have survived that night??? Lots of woulda, shoulda, coulda going on here. No one knows what really happened that night except George Zimmerman.
Some are guilty of assuming Trayvon is the bad guy 'cause he's black and some are assuming he's not guilty 'cause he's black. Stop looking at the color and look at the people.