Shooting death of Trayvon Martin

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager, was shot and killed in a gated community in Florida late last month by a white neighborhood watch captain, according to police. But the watch captain, George Zimmerman — a 28-year-old college student who has admitted to police that he shot the young man — still walks free. And Martin's family is pleading for answers and demanding justice.

At this point there are more questions than answers in the young man's death, but this much is known: Martin was packing little more than a bag of candy and a canned iced tea on the night he was killed. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1332756.html

how is it self defense when he initiated the confrontation? some are blaming the Castle Doctrine and Stand-your-ground Law for this situation. what are your thoughts on this case..or lack there of?

[Jeff Brady]

My thoughts are that the bastard who shot the kid should be thrown into prison for life. He committed murder.

[Darrell D.]

It was straight up murder, and the fact that the shooter is still walking around free is disgusting.

[Guapo Méndez]

Indeed. Self-appointed captain of the gated community, carrying a loaded weapon and was told not to follow him, but did and then shoots and kills his "suspect"?

Get that vigilante off the streets and land his ass in jail.

[The Once And Forever]

Self-defense my ass.

That's my thoughts.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

Indeed. Self-appointed captain of the gated community, carrying a loaded weapon and was told not to follow him, but did and then shoots and kills his "suspect"?

Get that vigilante off the streets and land his ass in jail.

the police believes him,

[Darrell D.]

Self defense.
I had no idea that Skittles and Arizona Tea were considered deadly weapons.

[Guapo Méndez]

the police believes him,

All it takes now is someone self-appointing himself captain of a gated community, report Zimmerman for suspicious activity and he'd be free and clear after shooting him.

[pariah-1972]

It would be neat if i could just go round shooting un-armed people and claim it was self defense with absolutely no proof.

(sarcasm of course)

[DonC]

The problem with charging this guy is that only two people know what happened between them and one of those is dead. Zimmerman can say anything he wants, the other guy isn't around any more to contradict him.

[pariah-1972]

The problem with charging this guy is that only two people know what happened between them and one of those is dead. Zimmerman can say anything he wants, the other guy isn't around any more to contradict him.

Hard to believe there were no witness's

[Slam_Bradley]

The problem with charging this guy is that only two people know what happened between them and one of those is dead. Zimmerman can say anything he wants, the other guy isn't around any more to contradict him.

It's actually not a hard case to make a charging decision about. It's not even all that hard a case to try. What a jury would do with it is another issue, but it's really not that difficult.

[Monty_Cristo]

i'll give the neighborhood watch guy the benefit of the doubt and exclude respective race from the equation. but, even if he thought this kid was behaving suspiciously, what gave him the right to use lethal force? and why is neighborhood watch packing anyways? seems a tad overkill in a gated community.

p.s. i'd also be really interested to know (w/o looking at the article) the size of the community. how did he not recognize this kid?

[Spike-X]

i'll give the neighborhood watch guy the benefit of the doubt and exclude respective race from the equation. but, even if he thought this kid was behaving suspiciously, what gave him the right to use lethal force? and why is neighborhood watch packing anyways? seems a tad overkill in a gated community.

Spoken like somebody who's never had his letterbox vandalised. Goddamn bleeding-heart liberals!

[Iangould]

The facts that are apparently not in dispute are that Zimmerman was in his car following Martin.

It's difficult to see how at that point, Zimmerman could believe Martin presented a threat to him unless he believed Martin was armed.

If he did think Martin was aremd he should have doen what the police had already told him to do and driven away.

Instead he chose to park his car, get out and accost Martin - exactly what the police had told him not to do. And think abotu that for a second - you think theye guy of the footpath has a gun and may be dangerous so you take the time to park your car and get out and confront him. During the whole time you're doing that you're putting yourself in more danger than if you simply drove off.

Slam can correct me if I'm wrong here but it sounds very much like there's a case for manslaughter at the very least.