Shouldn't George Zimmerman be found not guilty?

Question

I have followed this issue rather closely, and I have changed my mind on who is the guilty party many times. Now, I feel there are two likely scenarios that could have occurred:

1) Zimmerman is telling the truth. He stopped pursuit of Martin, went back to his car, was attacked, and acted in self-defense.

2) Zimmerman is lying, and "the friend on the phone" is telling the truth. He did NOT disengage pursuit of Martin, he confronted Martin and Martin, fearing for his safety, attacked Zimmerman. In this case, Zimmerman is the aggressor and Martin was the one acting in self defense.  

(regardless of what many people in this forum will tell you, you do NOT have the right to ask other citizens to show their identification. This is not Nazi Germany. Confronting someone in this manner is considered assault, and Martin would have been acting in self-defense.)


I personally believe #2 is probably the more likely. Zimmerman probably thought (as we all have thought, myself included) "black guy wearing a hoodie - must be a criminal". I also know how security guards and neighborhood watchmen, people who have responsibility they have not earned (unlike policemen or soldiers, who earn theirs) usually let the power go to their head and  always act extra pushy. Note - none of these make Zimmerman a bad person, they are just human nature. Regardless, they must be taken into account.

(Also must be taken into account is the levels of THC found in Martin's blood after the event. However, I must say this does not hurt Martin in my eyes, and in fact helps him. I have taken marijuana in my youth, and know that on this drug, fighting is the last thing you want to do. Maybe if he was on cocaine or amphetamines, the story would be different).


That being said, although I BELIEVE Zimmerman may be guilty, with the evidence shown so far I think there is much more than a "reasonable doubt" either way, in which case he should be freed. You can't convict a man based on what most people in his situation would normally do. 
And freeing him is probably the best scenario. I'm sure he feels incredibly guilty about this, and I sure that, if he did confront Martin, knowing what would have happened, he would have not done so if given another chance. Either way, it was a sad accident, and putting someone in jail won't solve anything.

Uncle Pennybags · Accepted Answer

I personally believe scenario 1 is the most likely.

According to the 911 transcripts, Zimmerman knew a cop was on the way and was indeed supposed to meet him by the mailboxes.  So why confront Martin?

Therefore, I think Zimmerman is innocent, having killed Martin in legitimate self-defense.

I also believe scenario 2 as you put it is unlikely.  Even if Zimmerman goes up to Martin and asks him what is he doing around here or asks him for ID, Martin could have run.  He could have pushed or punched Zimmerman and then ran.  But to stick around and continue to beat on the guy "MMA style" as one witness put it means Zimmerman again had the right of self-defense.

Only if Zimmerman initiated the attack should he be convicted of murder.

? · Answer

I don't know which scenario may be true.  I haven't made a decision about guilt or innocence of either party.  But I will make a small observation, if I may.  If scenario 1 is valid and Mr. Zimmerman returned to his car, why did the shooting occur so far from Mr. Zimmerman's car?  Trayvon was almost home when he was killed.  This would indicate to me that Mr. Zimmerman did not break off his pursuit. You can apply this little-reported information to both scenarios, now that I think about it.

Most importantly, it is not up to anyone but the six who were chosen to determine his fate.  Society has agreed that we will abide by this, and I hope no matter what happens that we do.

? · Answer

so which you're saying that if Zimmerman became into following you, you will possibly have tried to run an escape basically as Tayvon has accomplished... yet he went back.. might you have long gone back to confront Zimmerman too. It would not mater who became into following who at what time and for what reason. The information are Tayvon confronted Zimmerman.

jxt299 · Answer

Seems like he started the fight.  He followed Martin against instructions of the 9-11 operator.  I guess if you are Black and a white guy starts beating you up its illegal to defend yourself.  Seems that way.  Just lie on the ground and let him kick you to death.  I remember the Rodney King case from LA.  The prosecutors were so cute, they moved the trial to an all white suburb where the jury duly brought back innocent verdicts against 4 cops who were clearly videotaped (it was seen by millions) beating the sheet out of unresisting Rodney King.  And when the verdict came in there were huge riots, LA burned, billions of dollars of damage, something like 58 killed.  I wonder if the authorities learned anything from all that, or if they are looking for a replay in Florida this summer.  When will they ever learn, when will they ev-er learn, la la la.

u_bin_called · Answer

all you've accomplished is to further illustrate how silly and useless it is to argue real-world legal matters in an opinion-based forum...


...and how foolish some people can sound when intoxicated with a false sense of self-righteousness...

Barack Lesnar · Answer

Yes,Probably what will end up happening anyways

Anonymous · Answer

I think that in this case people have forgotten that regardless of the technicality of the law, if you kill someone's family member, they will not rest until they have justice.

Anonymous · Answer

Let the court do it's job

I wasn't there & neither were you

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Shouldn't George Zimmerman be found not guilty?

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