The future George Zimmerman Acquittal Trial Megathread!

[Razgovory]

Okay, Yi.  I know which side you are backing.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm backing the guy who the evidence presented tends to support.

Examing the facts *then* coming to a conclusion is an exhilarating feeling Raz. 

[Razgovory]

Fact brought before a jury aren't all the facts.

[The Minsky Moment]

What relevant facts are being kept from the jury in this case?

[grumbler]

What relevant facts are being kept from the jury in this case?

Presumably, the secret ones that would justify the pre-determined positions of Raz and Seedy.

[Admiral Yi]

I recommend taking a mulligan Raz.

[DGuller]

It's nice how this has become about the guilt or innocence of the victim.

When the defense team is done, they're going to exhume Tayvon's body and put it in the electric chair.

[derspiess]

If in fact Trayvon was ultimately the aggressor, wouldn't it behoove the defense team to identify him as such?

[DGuller]

If in fact Trayvon was ultimately the aggressor, wouldn't it behoove the defense team to identify him as such?

Maybe, but putting his body in the electric chair?  That's uncalled for.

[Eddie Teach]

Well I suppose he could be charged with felony murder. 

[derspiess]

If in fact Trayvon was ultimately the aggressor, wouldn't it behoove the defense team to identify him as such?

Maybe, but putting his body in the electric chair?  That's uncalled for.

That might be a bit much, yes.

[CountDeMoney]

If in fact Trayvon was ultimately the aggressor, wouldn't it behoove the defense team to identify him as such?

The trace amounts of marijuana in his system will prove the behoove. 

It's an established fact in the scientific community that the pot you smoked last week makes you ground and pound the wannabe cop that starts a fight with you.  Reefer Madness, baby.

[garbon]

If in fact Trayvon was ultimately the aggressor, wouldn't it behoove the defense team to identify him as such?

The trace amounts of marijuana in his system will prove the behoove. 

It's an established fact in the scientific community that the pot you smoked last week makes you ground and pound the wannabe cop that starts a fight with you.  Reefer Madness, baby.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Unless the jury is swayed by emotionalism I still don't see how Zimmerman gets convicted.

Even with SYG laws, I'm reminded of a story I may have told on here at one point in my 10 years of posting here. I have a cousin (actually he was my grandfather's brother's son, so my cousin once removed) who because of age difference quirks in my family tree was substantially younger than me such that we had more of an uncle/nephew relationship. In any case, he had a girlfriend in High School that he broke it off with. A few months later she starts "chatting" with him on instant messaging (this was late 90s in the height of the YIM/ICQ/AIM days), and then she basically intentionally tells her new bo that she's chatting with her ex a lot, to make him jealous. Her new boyfriend was in his early 20s dating a 17 year old. Anyway, he gets mad and starts threatening my cousin, my cousin being a hot headed young guy at the time decides to meet him for a fight in the parking lot of a local retail store (classic.)

Now, despite being around 4 years younger than this guy, my cousin was a heavy weight lifter in High School, one of the best wrestlers in the state and a linebacker on the football team. So he was a pretty big, tough 17 year old. In the fight, the older guy who was more of a thin/Idealogue (white trash era) looking guy gets his ass beat and ends up flat on his back. At that point he decides he doesn't like losing their bout of mutual combat and after my cousin backed off he jumps up and stabs him--catching his liver.

A bunch of people were there to watch the fight, so they all react in shock and try to get my cousin to the hospital, but the guy with the knife runs up and starts slashing the tires of the car they're trying to get him into. At that point two girls that were friends with my cousin actually chase the knife-wielding guy away by basically trying to run him over with their car, at which point my cousin is rushed to the ER. He ends up being fine after a few days in the hospital, with a scar and a cool story to tell.

At the trial, the guy is acquitted 100%, his attorney successfully argues that while it started as a mutual fight, once my cousin had his client down on the ground he had a fear for his life (even though several witnesses were there and said my cousin was not hitting him or kicking him while he was down.) In Zimmerman's case, I think the prosecution has even less to work with, no eye witnesses, clear evidence that when Zimmerman was on his back, Martin was over top of him etc.

I actually suspect the particulars between the two fights are very similar. I suspect Zimmerman started stuff with Martin, I won't say who threw the first punch but I'd say up to the point Zimmerman went down it was probably classic "mutual combat." Once Zimmerman was down, I suspect like the guy who stabbed my cousin, he didn't like losing a fight, so he decided to kill Martin. But he had a gun whereas the guy who stabbed my cousin had a knife, so Martin ends up dead.

[CountDeMoney]

Unless the jury is swayed by emotionalism I still don't see how Zimmerman gets convicted.

Unfortunately, it's going to have to take a different case to knock off this "Stand Your Ground" crap with wannabe cops. 
Because not enough wannabe cops are getting themselves killed, the other alternative is to send them to jail.

But at least he can enjoy dealing with the very long, very expensive wrongful death civil lawsuit for the next several years.