you shoot and kill an unarmed teenager who was just taking a shortcut. Then it's murder 1 no question.  
Give the arsehole the chair.

Quote from Rat Man on May 3^rd, 2012, 11:37am:

 
No worries.  And just to be clear, I don't agree with his assessment of the situation either.

If a person is guilty of premeditated murder, especially preditory actions I think they deserve the most severe puhishment the law will allow. So far the information coming out for this case, before and during the political grandstanding shows that this is not a premediatated murder. The real, in the moment truth of what happened will probably never be known.

This thread is sure to get out of hand im afraid........
that being said, none of you have even mentioned the blood on the back of zimmermans head, which is backed up by police reports. along with medical personal reporting that he was treated on site for facial cuts as well as the cuts to is head.  
Trevon was no kid but a 6'4" man by biologic standards and took pride in being a thug.
thats why the media will only show a picture of him when he was 13 and in his football uniform.  
 
Thousands of black men are murdered each year by other black men, and yet no out cry is heard from AL or Jesse or other so called leaders. or the media for that matter.
 and we wont even get into the 911 tapes being edited to show zimmerman in a bad light!

please don't think that i feel that travon deserved to die.....far from it
my last post is about the facts of this case and the hypocrisy of socalled leaders in the media
 
many are crying about injustic in this case......and the new black panther party even issued a bounty for the death of zimmerman, and no one has been arested for that?     this whole this stinks of race baiting and opportunism by those who seek money and political power

Quote from Dan on May 3^rd, 2012, 4:40pm:

I generally believe in the impartiality of the mainstream US media. In this case, I don't.
Current photos of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman:

5+ year old photos being shown by mainstream US media:

It's a more compelling story when people empathize with the victim, and photos  of children with their larger eyes and rounded faces are more likely to make you feel empathy. I don't see an agenda behind what the media is doing, I see their ratings being boosted. Unfortunately it's also serving to inflame old woulds over race relations, which is irresponsible of the media.
 
George Zimmerman followed Trayvon Martin, possible harrassment.
Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman fought, depending on who attacked whom and whether they talked first this could be assault, aggravated assault, or self defense for either person.
George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, again depending on who attacked whom this could be murder 2, voluntary manslaughter, or self defense for Zimmerman.
 
It has been alleged that Martin's sweet tea was used as a cudgel and/or was thrown at Zimmerman. If this is true and Zimmerman had not drawn his gun at this point, that would be assault with a deadly weapon for Trayvon.
 
It has also been alleged that the pleas heard on tape were Trayvon Martin's and not as Zimmerman claims, his own. If this is true then Zimmerman will either get Voluntary Manslaughter (if Trayvon Martin still had his improvised sweet tea club) or Murder 2 (if Martin were unarmed.)
 
Keep in mind that Arizona Tea cans are larger and pressurized. I have no doubt they would make an effective club.

Even though you don't agree with my assessment, thank you gentlemen.
 
@Atlatlista for coming to my defense.
and  
@Rat Man for owning up to the fact that information was redacted.
  
You may rest assured that I will not use a "racist, hateful, inflamatory slur" ;  unless it is directed to a specific individual via a private P.M.
I've not used that type of invective in over a thousand posts and I don't intend to begin now. I will continue to post information that
I believe is true and well veted information. I will not present information lite; just to let people feel good about what they are reading.
 
Regards,
 
* Steven

So far all I know for sure, or at least almost all sources have agreed on is:
 
Zimmerman saw a suspicious kid walking around, and ignoring professional advice, confronted him
 
At this point most media networks make a big fuss and point out that an extremely important part of the case is that Trayvon was holding some iced tea and a skittles. Surely this must be really important /sarcasm
 
Sometime later a scream for help is heard.
 
Zimmerman phones the police and said he was getting his head smashed on concrete, so he shot and killed Trayvon in self defense.  
 
Police come and say that Zimmerman has the head injuries to back it up.
 
When Zimmerman is charged, he then turns himself in voluntarily.  
 
Right now I don't know the extent of the injuries Zimmerman had to really comment. As far as body size goes, I don't really count it. A large beefy person who doesn't know how to fight will take a few more hits than an average person, but a smaller opponent who knows how to fight can easily kill you with their bare hands just by beating you to death. If it was that bad, then I think Zimmerman has the right and necessity to try to save himself, whether or not he started it. Of course I would think that he would serve some minor prison sentence for starting a fight/assaulting someone, but not for killing someone.  
 
I don't see how who started it makes a major issue. Hypothetically it doesn't matter if I was punched first, only that rather than leaving or stopping the fight, I choose to engage and fight back (and possibly get my tushy whipped). Zimmerman started it sure, but Trayvon holds equal responsibility for trying to beat the crap out of Zimmerman. Likewise, Zimmerman is at least guilty for doing possibly attempting to beat the turd out of Trayvon (haven't found anything definitive on this).
 
What really annoys me is that it's got so much media attention. Every sentence I type, someone in this world probably dies from non-natural causes. I'm not saying this as a guilt thing (30,000 people die of famine each year, yet people only cry for the death of one [referring to statuses on Facebook referring to Michael Jackson's death]), I'm saying it because it's very un-incidental, certainly not enough for national news. A plane crashed last week and killed 100+ people, the entire cabin and crew. Today (or yesterday, forget which) a boat in India capsized and lead to the death of 100+ people. Some time ago a mine collapsed and even more people died. I think a few hours ago a bomb just exploded in Russia, killing 20 people. Yet these incidences get no more than an honorable mention in major news sites. WTF is up with this guy getting so much attention. Sure if I lived down there I would definitely care, but it would still be a local, or at least state wide thing.
 
The racism allegations are just really crazy, not even going to go to detail.