17yr old black kid shot and killed for walking in white suburbia?

Bobvela once again proves what an obnoxious piece of trash he is. The guilt of George Zimmerman's attacker does not sanitize Zimmerman's actions since the Martin killing. He has been accused of abusing two women (both alleged threats include accusations that he threatened them with a gun). In this case, the man who shot at Zimmerman claimed that George had threatened to kill him several months earlier and he attempted to file charges against Zimmerman but did not have any witnesses. It seems unlikely to me that three people have had such a vendetta against Zimmerman that they decided to make up stories about him, including that he made extremely creepy verbal threats that demonstrate his lack of character (threats of the "do you know who I am" variety are an example of Zimmerman trading on his reputation as a dangerous man rather than even maintaining the pretense of innocence).

In the Baltimore case, the police officers were overcharged. If it was a rough ride, that would more likely support manslaughter than second degree murder. The charges did not the last I checked have factual support because I don't think it's known when Gray suffered the injuries. However, if one of the police officers decides to cooperate it could be trouble for the other officers. I imagine something illegal did take place or a man would not have suffered a broken neck in custody. I am just not sure when or how it happened….and if there's a conspiracy of silence, you can't convict people based on their presence when someone was injured, because it's possible only some of the officers were responsible or that the officers are guilty of different crimes.

Anyhow, Bobvela is pretending that Zimmerman has had trouble since the Martin trial because of a lynch mob atmosphere. Very sorry, but the woman and her father who accused him of pointing a shotgun at them were not part of any lynch mob….and of course, everyone knows why you decided to use the phrase lynch mob…

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Originally Posted by trish

Why were any of these assholes carrying a gun?

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Good point. Zimmerman benefited from the lack of information (and living witnesses) available to convict him in the Martin case. He has since benefited from victims who were reluctant to come forward and in this case, a previous threat the victim (and now assailant) could not substantiate. Anyone who does not think the man has a serious character disorder at this point has one themselves.

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Originally Posted by broncofan

Good point. Zimmerman benefited from the lack of information (and living witnesses) available to convict him in the Martin case. He has since benefited from victims who were reluctant to come forward and in this case, a previous threat the victim (and now assailant) could not substantiate. Anyone who does not think the man has a serious character disorder at this point has one themselves.

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I always thought that the female cousin, who stated that he sexually abused her was significant. Now look at it. It's the same pattern as outlined by broncofan. No witnesses 2. he reportedly ingratiated himself with her parents, so that she was reluctant to come forward, until much later. One additional thing; he collected money for his legal defense, then hid it from the court, then did not pay his attorneys. I still don't understand how his wife was convicted of lying, and not him when they discussed it together on the phone, while he was in jail. And it was not admissible for his court trial. If he lied to the court about finances, its not a big stretch that he would lie about the details of his encounter with Trayvon. And not that I think about it, his becoming a neighborhood watch person could have easily been part of his pattern of cloaking negative intentions. He did not think enough of his duties to follow guidelines, and not carry weapon nor pursue someone. Wasn't he a captain or something, who should have been knowledgeable? Good thing he failed at becoming a police officer.

He has killed one man, and threatened to kill three additional people (he also threw a champagne bottle at a woman's head which I did not count in that tally). Bobvela says it's a lynch mob atmosphere, which is to indicate that the public does not want to give him a fair chance and people have a vendetta against him. But the people he has had altercations with were not motivated to lie about him out of solidarity with Trayvon Martin. With the exception of Apperson, they were people he knew and threatened. Why would this Apperson guy go to the police several months earlier with a tale about Zimmerman threatening to kill him? I don't see what his motivation was to make that up.

I do not know exactly what happened in the Martin situation, but it's obvious that Zimmerman likes to pretend to be more important than he is, and likes to make threats. There's no reason to believe his version of events is anything but self-serving. I did not know about the sexual abuse yoda…that's another interesting biographical fact for Zimmerman.

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Originally Posted by bobvela

I have no particular love for George Zimmerman,

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I was thinking about this line. It's not like you to use understatement, so I think it's more likely you are being literal. You have no love for him, but that doesn't rule out general affinity for, or identification with.

I do notice that you seem to be more concerned with any rush to judgment against Zimmerman than with the civil rights of any of his victims. What have you said about the woman whose head he targeted with a champagne bottle? Does she deserve any defense? How about the other women he threatened?

If he lied to the court about finances, its not a big stretch that he would lie about the details of his encounter with Trayvon. And not that I think about it, his becoming a neighborhood watch person could have easily been part of his pattern of cloaking negative intentions. He did not think enough of his duties to follow guidelines, and not carry weapon nor pursue someone. Wasn't he a captain or something, who should have been knowledgeable? Good thing he failed at becoming a police officer.[/QUOTE]

By no means am I sticking up for Zimmerman.

However, the neighborhood watch thing wasn't really a neighborhood watch. They didn't go out on 'patrol' with each other. They didn't wear windbreakers and carry walkie-talkies and whistles and flashlights or anything like that. It was more of an after the fact thing to tell each other about burglaries that had happened and such. GZ was the head of the gossip group. Today, it would be a Facebook page for the residents of the neighborhood and he'd be one of the administrators.

So, he didn't break any neighborhood watch rules as far as carrying his gun while he was 'on patrol', or 'pursuing' since he was never 'on patrol'. None of the residents went 'on patrol'. He had a gun permit, like plenty of other people in Florida do, and he was driving in his car. There was no evidence presented at trial that he went 'on patrol' on his own, like 'Oh, yeah that creepy guy drives around and around doing laps around the neighborhood all the time, middle of the night, etc.'

He's a liar, for sure, about the money. Too bad they didn't punish him for it. Too bad it wasn't admissible at trial, so the jury would have known.

Do you feel that people have a right to follow others, if they feel that person is exhibiting 'suspicious behavior'? Zimmerman claimed that Martin was "looking around". But is that in itself, suspicious behavior? I think many would argue, that someone following you is suspicious behavior. And especially if the person being followed, attempts to evade the follower.