George Zimmerman found not guilty
The jury, which consisted (6) women, had been deliberating for more than 16½ hours total, including 13 today.
Background to case
CNN- The story starts the night of February 26, 2012, as Martin walked back to his father's fiancee's house through the rain from a Sanford convenience store, where he'd bought Skittles and a drink.
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, spotted him and called police. A 911 dispatcher told Zimmerman that officers were on the way and not to follow the allegedly suspicious person.
Nonetheless, Zimmerman got out of his car, later telling police he just wanted to get a definitive address to relay to authorities.
Sometime after that, Zimmerman and Martin got into a physical altercation. Some neighbors took notice: On one 911 call, anguished cries for help can be heard.
Who was yelling? Martin's mother testified she's "absolutely" sure it was her son; Zimmerman's parents said, with as much conviction, that it was their own child.
There are also disputes about who was the aggressor, about whether or not Martin may have seen or reached for Zimmerman's gun, about whether Zimmerman should have had more injuries if he was pummeled, as he claims.
And some had accused Zimmerman -- who identifies himself as Hispanic -- of racially profiling the black teenager, a claim the defense camp had flatly denied.
About the only thing that was not in dispute was that the now 29-year-old Zimmerman had shot and killed Martin.
Tensions were high ahead of verdict
There was a buzz outside the Sanford courtroom Saturday, punctuated by occasional speeches, songs and impassioned words -- at times directed against those on the other side of the debate.
There were those calling for a guilty verdict who held up a large banner reading "End racial oppression" and who yelled in unison, "We want justice." On the other side, Zimmerman backers toted signs saying "Self-defense is a basic human right," "Not enough evidence," and plainly "Not guilty."
Many of these themes had been echoing since the weeks after Martin's death, when tens of thousands attended rallies led by civil rights activists demanding Zimmerman's arrest and chastising authorities for their handling of the case.
Zimmerman surmised Martin was a criminal like those who'd struck in his neighborhood before -- at least one of whom was black -- a lawyer for the late teen's family said Friday. But Martin was not a criminal, which Daryl Parks said contributes to the racial tensions that still surround this case.
While he wouldn't call Zimmerman a racist, "this case in its totality has a racial undertone to it," Parks told CNN's Anderson Cooper.
The defense had strongly rejected accusations Zimmerman is racist, with O'Mara citing his client's work as a mentor to black children and his taking a black girl to his prom as evidence of his non-racist beliefs.
His defenders had been passionate as well, especially about a person's right to defend himself with a gun when attacked. Debate swirled over Florida's "stand your ground" law, which allows those who believe they are in imminent danger to use deadly force to protect themselves.
In light of this ongoing fervor, authorities had asked for calm while setting up contingency plans to respond to incidents tied to a verdict. The Rev. Jesse Jackson Jr. was among those appealing for peace Friday, while Zimmerman's family urged people to "respect the rule of law, which begins with respecting the verdict."
"Freedom of expression is a constitutional right," said the sheriff's office in Broward County, in the Miami area. "While raising your voice is encouraged, using your hands is not."
But O'Mara had said that, whatever the outcome, his client will not feel safe.
"There are a percentage of the population who are angry, they're upset, and they may well take it out on him," he said.
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35 Responses to “George Zimmerman found not guilty”
K*nt
Then they wonder why people don't believe much in the church anymore when they don't practice what they up and down professing.
And would you know that is exactly what the online American news bloggers are stating?
Now where is "Logical Conclusion",, "WTF", and "Color Blind" to explain away this one?
Right here, Ausar, right here.
But I don't know why you think I want to "explain away" this injustice. Is it because my opposition to your race-based posts makes you automatically assume I am a white racist or defender thereof? Does it make you think I cannot see the real world because I am so busy defending white racism? That seems to be your angle, fool.
Listen, there is vile racism afoot all over the USA, the BVI and the world. I am against it in whatever form it appears. I think it is destructive to individuals and to societies, so it should be fought where ever it raises its sick head.
In this case, I see an injustice that, if it was a black man shoot a white man, we all know the outcome would likely have been the opposite. The US legal system is like a distortion chamber - every day in a 1000 ways –and most of the time that distortion works against African Americans. This is one of them, no question about it.
But I hate bulls**t, too. Let's not forget this shooter was Latino, so you all got to come up with some reason why his actions were based on white supremacy. I don't know or care about the skin color of the jurors who decided his innocence, but if you saying they are working for a white supremacist agenda you need to come up with some evidence of that. Otherwise maybe they were manipulated by the white supremacist agenda to do their bidding, but that is, again, something you need to show before you jump on the 'hate whites because they hate us' megaphone.
OJ Simpson? That was racist, no question. That was black people wanting a murderer to go free just because he was black, instead of wanting him to be jailed because he had done a truly evil deed. That's racism, pure and simple.
This is where you and I part ways, Ausar. I see racism when it exists in whatever form and I HATE it. You see racism where ever it suits your bull cr@p hypothesis that all white people are wicked and are out to enslave all black people. That sh*t is totally whack. Just like the verdict in this case is whack.
It is not one or the other. It is common sense and human decency vs a jackass racial way of interpreting every damn thing that happen. I take the side of decency, you ride the jackass.
This is a shame! He is innocent in the judicial system, but in social system he is guilty. What is wrong with america's justice they shoulda put him in jail at least 10 year.
The victim had no weapon. He had a gun.
This was a setup from the beginning, I never followed the trial. My question is, are they all white jurors? Because if they are we cannot expect a guilty verdict.
So because you 'lived among whites for years' and you have decided they are all guilty of either racism or some kind of guilty pretense, what do you suggest? That we mistrust them all? All millions and millions of them? What about the ones who never done a damn thing wrong to a person of color? What about those who never even encounter a person of color n their whole lives? And what about the ones who love a person of color, and those have offspring and loving families with persons of color? What about those damn wicked whites who fought against apartheid and get killed and jailed for the fight, and those who work daily to stop racism by being activists for racial equality? What about those who are genuine people who are not hung up on skin but judge others on how someone behaves, what they do and what they say?
Saying all whites are either guilty of racism or they are pretending to be decent humans is like saying all men are rapists. It's like Adolf Hitler saying all Jews are such and such, so they should be gas. Like Osama Bin Laden saying non-Muslims are evil and deserve to do die.
I.e. it is total horse pi$$ you spreading and I hope people don't drink it because if they do the BVI will get REALLY sick.
If you had a bad experience 'living among the whites', I am sorry for you. But don't use it try make everyone's experience with people of differing skin pigment into a race war. That's just extremist psycho sh!t.
And yes, this is LogicalConclusion speaking. Your line of blog points in the same direction as Ausar's blogs always do - up the hind end of a jackass.