Zimmerman found 'not guilty' of Trayvon Martin's murder

[Kveta]

m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23304198


Bloody hell.

How utterly crap for Martin's family and friends :( and how dangerous for race relations in Florida :(

[fuzzywuzzy]

The poor family.

I can't get my head around the concept of justifiable deadly force against an unarmed teenager.

[SavoyCabbage]

I'm stunned. And disgusted.

Self defence! When he followed a 17 year old through the streets. A 17 year old who had gone out to buy some sweets!

Zimmerman followed Trayvon. And shot him.

[differentnameforthis]

Self defence? What was Trayvon going to do, throw sweets at him??

Speechless!

[PatPig]

So how much of the evidence presented in the two week long trial have the above posters reviewed?

Zimmerman was on trial for murder, the prosecution hopelessly failed to prove this and he was therefore found not guilty.

Absent a race baiting media this is generally what is referred to as 'justice'. obviously all the eyewitnesses above know better however....

[Onetwo34]

I have been following the trial. I am horrified at the result. :(

[TabithaStephens]

If you were in the jury, and were presented with the evidence that the jury were shown, would you have found Zimmerman guilty?

[Roshbegosh]

Why was he prosecuted for murder? I suppose he knew it would be unlikely he'd be found guilty of that and so it was a smaller risk than being prosecuted for manslaughter. Cynical lawyers who want to get him off and don't give a shit about justice.

[HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey]

I have just seen this on the news and am shocked.

I have not seen the evidence that Tabitha mentions, would be good if you would elaborate.

I think despite having a black president there is still a long way to go in America.

[TabithaStephens]

He was shot while on top of Zimmerman, punching him in the head. This was backed up by ballistics reports and the testimony of the medical examiner.

[TabithaStephens]

The way the media have covered this case has been absolutely ridiculous. They will have blood on their hands if deaths result from any violence following the verdict.

[HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey]

I haven't followed any of it and so only remember the initial report.

I know America is not the united America it appears to be now it has a black president.

I have family in Virginia and she is always saying how different it is in America, that it is nothing like London. There are white areas of town and black areas of town and you only go to "your areas".

[Mixxy]

I've watched the entire trial Patpig. And he was actually on trial for second degree murder and for manslaughter. I do not think the prosecution met the burden of proof for 2 degree murder, bit I do think they did for manslaughter.

Florida is a cesspool. Just look at the Casey Anthony trial...

[DoraExplorer1993]

Yes the poor innocent 17 year old 'gangsta' with a string of burglaries, history of violence and drug abuse, and gold teeth hasn't got "justice", how terrible

I can understand thickos in America being taken in by the laughable media coverage of the case (using a picture of Martin when he was 13 FFS), but it's disappointing so many in the UK are stupid enough to be taken in by it too.

[Flojobunny]

dora thickos in America? Clearly you are a racist too.

[HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey]

Well clearly if he had a criminal record he deserved to be shot whilst armed with a pack on skittles & a can of iced tea then Dora

[DoraExplorer1993]

Yes very good Flojo, have a blue peter badge. So nobody in America is thick? Jolly good, move along.

[QueenofWhispers]

Firstly, I'm from America and I am most definitely an ethnic minority. I lived in FL for a little while before moving to the North East of the country...there are pockets everywhere (including London) filled with racist A**holes.

I've faced less racism in the depths of America in the 22 years of Life I spent there.

I faced more racism in the first week of living in London than ever before.

I don't understand the Zimmerman case...it truly seems unjust; but it's never really been about evidence has it? It's about having a better opponent in the ring to fight your corner. I don't like it; but thats how it works. It's not fair; but at the same time Karma will get back to this guy.

[DoraExplorer1993]

So Hokey, if you have skittles on you it's ok to repeatedly punch somebody much smaller than you in the head and bash their head into concrete? You must spread that message to all the people with violent husbands on mumsnet, then they will know to check if their partners have a bag of skittles with them because accusing them of doing anything wrong.

[HokeyCokeyPigInAPokey]

I am talking about one incident Dora don't try and score points by relating what I said to domestic violence.

Was it reasonable force, I don't think so, there we can agree to differ.

[chocolatespiders]

Heartbreaking.. family must be absolutely drained.. The pictures shown of the body on the ground and in the morgue were disturbing.

[mayorquimby]

Don't think many people who watched the trial will be too suprised by the decision (whether they agree with it or not) the defence established their narrative and case very well while the prosecution simply didn't.
The stand your ground law always favoured Zimmerman, and the fact that many of the factors which were jumped upon by the press early on turned out to be so unreliable that it all started to go zimmermans way.
By that I mean the initial editing of the 911 call by NBC, the fact that the initial witness testimony placing Martin on top of Zimmerman was almost wholly ignored and as such the aspect of self defence was derided and dismissed by pretty much everyone. I think that then as information cropped up over time which had the potential to support this version of events and the media had to begin to backtrack etc it swung all the momentum zimmermans way and meant that for many "reasonable doubt" was now in play

Can't help but think the media have handier the whole thing appallingly from start to finish

[creighton]

the police handled the case appallingly from the start. they took Zimmerman's word that it was 'self defence' and didn't bother investigating the crime until they were forced to.

[FadedSapphire]

My gut reaction is shock concerning everything about this case.
Zimmerman should NOT have been following/ stalking him. If he had not done that perhaps none of this would have come to pass.

[FadedSapphire]

Zimmerman comes across as a not very bright, obsessed and dangerous man.
The fact that his 'word' was taken as truth and a trial was forced shows how different things are in America. Mind boggling...

[fuzzywuzzy]

The police told Zimmerman not to follow Martin, he should not have been chasing after a kid with a gun.