Zimmerman has suffered enough...

[m52nickerson]

What if Zimmerman is telling the truth?

[davedan]

Well actually I am pretty certain that Zimmerman isn't telling the truth. There are a couple of things which he has said which I am fairly sure have been established as untrue.  But in the end truth is ephemeral and not what the Court is interested in.

 However what if he was actually acting in self-defence?

Then he will be acquitted.

[niam2023]

If he's telling the truth, then we need to look into the surprising lethality of skittles. Apparently, those things are more deadly than a gun.

[chitoryu12]

What if Zimmerman is telling the truth?

Then he'll likely still be imprisoned for escalating the conflict. It's a fact, not a suggestion, that he followed Martin and was the one who confronted him. It's also a fact that Martin's body was found with no weapons on it, and there's still a lack of evidence that indicates that Martin had picked up an improvised weapon (usual statements are that it was a 2x4 or some such). Regardless, you can't use a firearm unless your life is in imminent danger. Zimmerman had no injuries on him that were worse than what you normally find on someone picked up for brawling, and Martin was (again) unarmed. Meaning it's highly likely that he escalated the conflict by drawing his firearm, something he cannot legally do.

[mellenORL]

Chances are he probably will get off, but come on. If you are a 17 year old male with some size and strength, and some strange dude in a truck was following you as you walked towards your dad's apartment, then that dude gets out asking you what you are doing...you tell him to fuck off, and if he gets out of the truck and he's walking towards you annoyed at your "fuck off", you walk right at him, too, and if needed...you kick his ass. And if he pulls a gun out, you freak out and yell for help. So, yeah, if only Zimmerman would tell the truth, that's probably close to what happened.

If anyone thinks that because Martin may have faced down Zimmerman and started a fight with him, that that makes it okay for Zimmerman to shoot? Fuck off. I used to walk a mile from the train station every day from work. A few times, shady assholes pulled up along side me in their cars, asking me if I want to ride, I said no thanks, they said "cunt" or "bitch", w/e. I said fuck off, creep. My heart thudding and shaking with both fear and anger. If they had gotten out of their car and walked towards me, I'd have done everything my crappy weak little female body is capable of with an adrenaline rush to try to kick their ass. If they shot me dead, that's a fucking murder. Zimmerman was never a security guard there nor was he on the neighborhood watch committee. He was a fucking wannabe, who failed twice on applying to police academies. He flagrantly disobeyed the 911 operations Police Officer to not follow Martin (Sanford 911 calls get transferred to the police HQ directly). He not only kept following, he got out and ran after Martin, then he yelled at Martin, the rest is lost in garbles and background noise and somebody screaming for help in a high stressed voice, 10 times in 16 seconds, then....silence. 

[chitoryu12]

Shit, I'm getting a concealed carry license. If I saw some strange dude in a truck following me and trying to confront me in the middle of the night, I'd be 100% within my rights to inform him that I'm armed and he should probably fuck off if he didn't want to get ventilated.

[mellenORL]

Yup. I also got robbed at gun point just a few months before I moved down from ATL. It SUCKED!~

[ThunderWulf]

Then he'll likely still be imprisoned for escalating the conflict. It's a fact, not a suggestion, that he followed Martin and was the one who confronted him.

Just want to emphasize this point here.  Even IF Martin did attack him, Zimmerman's life was out of danger when he escalated the conflict and shot Martin.  That's no longer self defense by any definition of the law.

[chitoryu12]

Then he'll likely still be imprisoned for escalating the conflict. It's a fact, not a suggestion, that he followed Martin and was the one who confronted him.

Just want to emphasize this point here.  Even IF Martin did attack him, Zimmerman's life was out of danger when he escalated the conflict and shot Martin.  That's no longer self defense by any definition of the law.

Correct. Zimmerman was the one who began the conflict by confronting someone who was walking alone in the middle of the night. It's not self-defense if you antagonize and scare someone until they attack you, then murder them in retaliation.

[nickiknack]

If he's telling the truth, then we need to look into the surprising lethality of skittles. Apparently, those things are more deadly than a gun.

You do know that a sure way of killing a man is a skittle to the eye, right?
In all seriousness, playing devil's advocate isn't exactly a great idea with this case.

[PosthumanHeresy]

I am so glad I'm out of Florida. Friggin crazy, as usual. On the even worse side, no matter what, he's won. He's famous. Everyone knows his name now. Fox News talks about him, we talk about him, tons of people talk about him. He was gonna be a nobody, a worthless pile of shit. But, he discovered what everyone from David Berkowitz to Richard Ramirez discovered: nothing makes you famous quite like killing. I'm calling it now, just like the recently deceased Night Stalker, if he's found guilty, he's going to get marriage proposals and fangirls. If he's found not guilty, he's going to ride the fame wagon as far as it goes, and still end up with fangirls. That's our society for you, we will sell our shadow to those who stand within it.

[chitoryu12]

I am so glad I'm out of Florida. Friggin crazy, as usual. On the even worse side, no matter what, he's won. He's famous. Everyone knows his name now. Fox News talks about him, we talk about him, tons of people talk about him. He was gonna be a nobody, a worthless pile of shit. But, he discovered what everyone from David Berkowitz to Richard Ramirez discovered: nothing makes you famous quite like killing. I'm calling it now, just like the recently deceased Night Stalker, if he's found guilty, he's going to get marriage proposals and fangirls. If he's found not guilty, he's going to ride the fame wagon as far as it goes, and still end up with fangirls. That's our society for you, we will sell our shadow to those who stand within it.

In this case? I don't think he'll appreciate that fame.

If he gets convicted, he'll be spending quite a long time in prison. But if he gets off? There's gonna be damn near riots. He's going to need to change his identity and flee the state or even the country to avoid getting himself lynched. There's already been chaos over the incident itself; him actually getting off could turn into a mini Rodney King.

[PosthumanHeresy]

I am so glad I'm out of Florida. Friggin crazy, as usual. On the even worse side, no matter what, he's won. He's famous. Everyone knows his name now. Fox News talks about him, we talk about him, tons of people talk about him. He was gonna be a nobody, a worthless pile of shit. But, he discovered what everyone from David Berkowitz to Richard Ramirez discovered: nothing makes you famous quite like killing. I'm calling it now, just like the recently deceased Night Stalker, if he's found guilty, he's going to get marriage proposals and fangirls. If he's found not guilty, he's going to ride the fame wagon as far as it goes, and still end up with fangirls. That's our society for you, we will sell our shadow to those who stand within it.

In this case? I don't think he'll appreciate that fame.

If he gets convicted, he'll be spending quite a long time in prison. But if he gets off? There's gonna be damn near riots. He's going to need to change his identity and flee the state or even the country to avoid getting himself lynched. There's already been chaos over the incident itself; him actually getting off could turn into a mini Rodney King.

If he gets convicted, there's still a good chance of him getting really good luck out of that. The various white supremacist gangs would want him for killing a n***** and would have his back. Additionally, the aforementioned fangirls. Richard Ramirez was a spree killer and spree rapist. His youngest victim was under eight, and he raped her. His oldest was in her 80s, and he raped her, too. He got married in prison to a chick who fell in love with him, and there were A LOT of those, up until his hep-c death, in addition to his cult of personality that rivals Charles Manson himself. Additionally, if he gets off, he could spin this into, at the very least, reality TV, because he's a famous name. Hell, Fox News might offer him a job at this rate, with how much they're already on their knees to please him.

[chitoryu12]

The difference between Zimmerman and other folks like serial killers is that he already lacks the mystique behind them. Even for those who don't have any obsession with them, serial killers are an interesting experience to delve into because their sheer insanity makes for (at the very least) interesting reading. In the case of people like Ted Bundy, they can have charisma that leads the less mentally stable to fall for them. Serial killers, cult leaders, and psychopathic or sociopathic murderers have a lot of Very Interesting Things that makes them so popular.

Zimmerman? He's got none of that. He's an idiot wannabe cop who acted like an asshole and murdered a guy that he was antagonizing and tried to pass it off as self-defense. There's no mystery behind him. He doesn't have charisma or charm, or a depraved childhood backstory. You couldn't write a whole website about him. In terms of actual interest, he's utterly banal. He's just like another million and a half folks.

[PosthumanHeresy]

The difference between Zimmerman and other folks like serial killers is that he already lacks the mystique behind them. Even for those who don't have any obsession with them, serial killers are an interesting experience to delve into because their sheer insanity makes for (at the very least) interesting reading. In the case of people like Ted Bundy, they can have charisma that leads the less mentally stable to fall for them. Serial killers, cult leaders, and psychopathic or sociopathic murderers have a lot of Very Interesting Things that makes them so popular.

Zimmerman? He's got none of that. He's an idiot wannabe cop who acted like an asshole and murdered a guy that he was antagonizing and tried to pass it off as self-defense. There's no mystery behind him. He doesn't have charisma or charm, or a depraved childhood backstory. You couldn't write a whole website about him. In terms of actual interest, he's utterly banal. He's just like another million and a half folks.

I seriously hope so. I just never underestimate human stupidity.