'Opinions are like ass-hole's. Everyone has them, and they all stink.'
I'm not sure who first said it...I'm sure it was floating around for decades before I was born. I found one site that attributed the quote to P.T. Barnum, and I know that Dirty Harry said something similar in The Dead Pool. Either way...it's a great quote, because it's so very true.
Bring me to my opinion on the whole George Zimmerman/Treyvon Martin case.
Now...I don't know anything that wasn't fed to me through the media, but from what has been force fed down my throat, I think the jury made the right call...I don't think Zimmerman was guilty of 2nd degree murder. I think at the moment the shot was made, George Zimmerman DID fear for his life, and by that slim standard, he was justified in the shooting.
However, I don't believe Treyvon Martin had to die that night. Somewhere along the line, George Zimmerman displayed poor judgment in his pursuit and confrontation of Treyvon Martin. That poor judgment lead directly to confrontation in which Martin was killed, meaning that Zimmerman went out of his way to create a situation that led to an unnecessary death.
In my world that makes him guilty of something...I'm just not enough of a legal expert to know what. I think that is the prosecutions fault for trying for 2nd degree murder instead of settling for some kind of manslaughter/aggravated assault charge right off the bat. The prosecution wanted to make a statement, and they overreached. As a gun owner, I believe Zimmerman should be doing some jail time for his actions that led to this death.
I just think the jury, faced with the decision they had to make, made the right call in deciding he was not a murderer.
But boy, if you are still someone who carries a gun with visions of John McClane running through your head, and this didn't convince you to change your attitude, you haven't been paying close enough attention.
Both of them used poor judgment that night. Both of them caused the situation to escalate into a fight to stay alive. Only one of them stayed alive, and whatever the legal outcome, his life has been pretty well ruined by his poor judgement.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Zimmerman used any more poor judgement than some man being vigilant about, oh, say, a prolific unrepentant pedophile in his neighborhood. After enough break-ins, with the potential that someone will eventually be home and have to confront an intruder, and the jerk acting like he was casing the places, places that had recently been burgled, and the police failing to do anything about it, people have to do it themselves. Which is exactly what he was doing. I'm sure that must be criminal somehow, definitely by modern media standards.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you might be right. But that means you need to lay off your local 'friendly', and just let the police take care of you. You can just wait until he offends again, totally ignoring his past and potential. That is what you are saying Zimmerman should have done. Don't worry, they may eventually catch him. Although, at some point, pedophiles begin killing to hide their crime, just as home intruders eventually become rapists and murderers in their careers. But, don't worry, the police will take care of it, when they can and get to it.
You have to confront evil. Or live with it until you become it. Your choice, of course.
Well, he was a standup teen, that's for sure. Don't be taken in by the common media. There is a ton else they "forgot" to mention. They even doctored things Zimmerman said, making him sound racist. Look, by this time, you should realize that typical media is simply not reliable, isn't on your side, and doesn't care about the truth or justice.
ReplyDeleteGiven that there had been break-ins in the neighborhood; including one home invasion of a nearly defense 23 year old mother, I ask you to put yourself in Zimmerman's shoes?
ReplyDeleteHow comfortable would you feel about letting the suspicious person wonder through your neighborhood unobserved?
I see the 'pursuit and confrontation' aspect of this played out often but don't see any evidence that Zimmerman intended anything other then keeping an eye on Martin.
I definitely don't see any evidence that Zimmerman initiated the confrontation.
Ding him for failing to maintain his equipment (flashlight failure), yeah.....that might have been a factor. Ding him for not maintaining Situational Awareness? Harder when apparently Martin deliberately (per Zimmerman's statement/evidence) approached from behind.
Hoping you can break it down for me exactly where his "poor judgment' could have be different.