The Trayvon Martin incident

[Alan]

What grand jury??? If I recall correctly Zimmerman was charged without any grand jury being involved.

That's true, he was charged under a heresay affidavit, which highlights one of the problems with this case. With the available evidence, there was no guarantee a grand jury would return a true bill and the pressure put upon the local prosecutor by those wishing to make this a racial case was intense.

[reader99]

I'm really surprised no one has brought this up yet. I wasn't quite sure where to post this.
Maybe people are afraid to voice their opinions?
There's so much that isn't known about what really happened. Its been in the media that its a cut-and-dried murder, but the more I hear about it, the more confusing it becomes.
I have learned that there's very little I can say about non-whites, so I'm not sure what all I can say here without getting flamed.
I'm having a hard time understanding all these protests and marches being held when we don't have all the facts yet.
I tend to agree with Geraldo Rivera in that wearing a hoodie can get you into trouble, because its the garb of alot of young black criminals.
I also agree that Zimmerman shouldn't have gone after him with a gun.

Its interesting that the picture chosen for the media was of an innocent looking young boy, but not of some of his more recent poses where his pants are half-way down and he's giving the finger.

There's just so much conflicting information coming in. But I am concerned about the violence that may come from this. Even if everything is handled properly and Zimmerman is found innocent (if only because of the "Stand your Ground" law), there will be so much rioting. The new black panthers have put out a bounty on Zimmerman's head. There have also been flyers distributed "Wanted Dead or Alive".
And another thing that concerns me is that no one seems to get upset with the black-on-black violence in their communities. Recently, in the city close to here, a 16 year old back youth shot 5 other young black youths. Where's the outrage there? Where's the protesting there? Seems the only ones concerned are a few of the black ministers (who try to do alot to help the black youths).
I'd like to have a conversation about this case in Florida, hopefully without people calling me a racist.
Any opinions about it? Or is this something everyone wants to avoid?

I haven't said anything about it because I take the radical position that it's none of my business. The judicial system is doing what it does. I'm not on the jury, not a reporter, not acquainted with any of the parties. I have no information about it of my own knowledge. What I think about it (if anything) doesn't actually do anything in the real world. Me saying anything about it wouldn't be worth the bandwidth it would take up.

[redfox]

What grand jury??? If I recall correctly Zimmerman was charged without any grand jury being involved.

How interesting! Yes, upon researching this, I see that the state of FL only requires Grand Juries for capital murder cases. Thanks for mentioning this.

[CathyA]

3 hours each for closing arguments? Really? I never knew they could be so long. Seems like they'd start losing the jury's interest.

[Alan]

Now it's come to light that the Department of Justice, Community Relations Service unit, may have been involved in some of the initial protests and helped arrange the resignation of the local police chief. http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-r...rtin-protests/

I wonder what's up with that?

[redfox]

Your source:

"Not to be outdone, Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman dubs Obama a “racist, black-Muslim sympathizer and Jew-and-white hater” who is “the biggest and most evil whore of all”:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/conten...e-white-people

[Alan]

Not a source that is independent or trustworthy. That's what's up.

"Not to be outdone, Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman dubs Obama a “racist, black-Muslim sympathizer and Jew-and-white hater” who is “the biggest and most evil whore of all”:


http://www.rightwingwatch.org/conten...e-white-people

Three hundred plus pages of documents obtained under FOIA requests detailing the unit's activity should be ignored because you don't like the group requesting them?

[redfox]

Dude, anyone can request a raft of docs under FOIA, and make whatever outlandish claims they wish about them. I cannot take seriously any claims brought by such a disreputable organization. The quotes I found by them is beyond distasteful.

I know that there are über right wing fringe groups that have expressed dislike of the President. The quotes I found by this group are hateful; not a rational critique. For while they have the absolute right to say what they wish, I no more consider them a reputable source than I do the KKK.

[CathyA]

I don't understand how its legal for the prosecution to wait until the very end of the trial (and probably fear it's going to lose), and bring up wanting to also add manslaughter as a possible charge. Seems like this isn't fair.

[Alan]

I don't understand how its legal for the prosecution to wait until the very end of the trial (and probably fear it's going to lose), and bring up wanting to also add manslaughter as a possible charge. Seems like this isn't fair.

They're grasping at straws, trying to get a conviction on any possible charge. At least the judge threw out the suggestion of child abuse.