The Trayvon Martin killing

[Jinsai]

You find my opinion bizarre. But find nothing extraordinary about the media's coverage on the Trayvon case. Interesting.

It might be because your opinion is stupid, and the media coverage is a separate issue from how stupid your opinion is.

[Tiz]

It might be because your opinion is stupid, and the media coverage is a separate issue from how stupid your opinion is.

Either you're the best troll ever, or an intuitive dumb ass.

Jinsai's inner-monologue: Wahhh! I don't like people with different opinions than me! Wahhh! You're stupid! Wahhh!

Scratch my balls.

[Jinsai]

Scratch my balls.

no thank you

[Space Suicide]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/16...6pLid%3D161719

[50 Volt Phantom]

Looks like he was high too...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/trayvon-mar...2#.T7WvsRySy1O

EDIT: It's also ironic that Zimmerman is no longer being referred to as "white" now, perhaps the media is going to start trying to find a way to slip out of the race baiting they did on this story before more facts started forcing their way out.

[littlemonkey613]

I don't see how these things would get him off without any charges or why they should. If you get in a bar fight and the other guy punches first but ends up dead, you get manslaughter at least. Guns vs 120lb fists on someone YOU followed? Am I missing something?

[Jinsai]

Looks like he was high too...

Weed stays in your system for a month. If someone smoked a joint last week, you'd still find THC in their system. Does this mean that the person is high?

[50 Volt Phantom]

So if someone attacks you and you end up killing them during your attempt to defend and protect yourself, you believe that you should be charged with manslaughter at the very least, am I understanding this correctly?

[50 Volt Phantom]

Weed stays in your system for a month. If someone smoked a joint last week, you'd still find THC in their system. Does this mean that the person is high?

No, I guess it just means that they make questionable decisions.

[littlemonkey613]

If I had followed that person, was twice as big as them and was more physically threatening. How can you argue its a flat out attack if they weren't the initial aggressor? Following someone and having a gun while doing so should make a difference...........................You really think Martin chose randomly as Zimmerman started following him to become an attacker for no reason at all? Really what would you honestly say the odds are that Trayvon attacked him out of anything but fear of his own safety........hahah like what does your gut tell you? (I'm not saying a jury should decide on that feeling I'm just asking personally really what would bet on?) You think Zimmerman followed him and just at that moment Martin decides to go ninja on his ass for violence's sake after being on the phone scared with his girlfriend, or do you think that if Martin struck first it was because Zimmerman had already scared him, and was now approaching in a way that could be perceived as threatening? Yes, if the person ends up dead...I don't think they should be able to just walk away. Last I checked a skinny underage teen throwing a punch to a guy whose been on his trail didn't warrant a death sentence nor should a child under the law end up dead in that situation. Excessive force is a crime too.

Like holy shit if someone walking down the street was literally half as big as me, and started slapping me repeatedly, no I don't think it should be lawful to take out a handgun and shoot them dead., especially If I was the one who put them on edge to begin with by staring at them and following them.... Hahahah that's like... a sick cartoon. Sorry I'm not down for the Wild Wild West. And if they were underage? Jesus.

[50 Volt Phantom]

That's not what you said originally though, you said if you get involved in a bar fight and the person initiating it ends up dead you should get manslaughter, I don't agree with that logic, it, like the Zimmerman case, is not that easy to boil down to.

[50 Volt Phantom]

Slapping doesn't cause the wounds Zimmerman received.

Ruiner, I'm actually for the legalization of practically all drugs, if people want to use them, then I say go ahead, legalize it all, supply a means for people to purchase legit and "safe" untampered product, that said, pot is illegal right now, which means he broke the law twice to get it in his system, obtaining and using it.

[theruiner]

No, I guess it just means that they make questionable decisions.

WOW. That's quite the stretch there, even for you. I guess I should be on the lookout for anyone who smokes marijuana, because they all make "questionable decisions."

Jesus, the mental gymnastics you do to find ANY LITTLE THING you can as ammunition in this discussion is laughable.


Edit: ...just saw this.

Ruiner, I'm actually for the legalization of practically all drugs, if people want to use them, then I say go ahead, legalize it all, supply a means for people to purchase legit and "safe" untampered product, that said, pot is illegal right now, which means he broke the law twice to get it in his system, obtaining and using it.

Oh, for God's sake. Really? That law is unjust, barely enforced and millions of otherwise law-abiding, intelligent, grounded individuals smoke pot. This is just reaching for straws, dude.

[50 Volt Phantom]

So buying and using an illegal substance isn't deemed a questionable decision by you? Is breaking the law at all not questionable to you then?

[theruiner]

No, I don't think buying and using pot is a questionable decision. Because I live in the year 2012 and I'm not 90 years old.

And even if you could consider it a questionable decision, it's pretty low on the list, don't you think? I really hope you are just an absolute perfect human being who doesn't do anything even remotely less than perfect if you're going to judge someone for smoking pot.

[50 Volt Phantom]

I'm sure your defense would work really well with a cop or judge.

[theruiner]

Wow. You are so beyond irrational it's just amazing.

"Oh, my God, Trayvon Martin was caught doing 70 MPH in a 65 zone! He made QUESTIONABLE DECISIONS! This changes everything!!!"

How about the 'questionable decision' of stalking a law-abiding citizen doing nothing wrong while holding a gun? How about the 'questionable decision' of not listening to the 911 operator who told him to leave it alone, that the police would take it from there? How about the 'questionable decisions' of a man carrying a gun stalking a child with a HISTORY OF VIOLENCE? How about the 'questionable decision' of punching an undercover cop?

No, but Trayvon smoked some pot, so OH MY GOD THE SKY IS FALLING.

[50 Volt Phantom]

No, I don't think buying and using pot is a questionable decision. Because I live in the year 2012 and I'm not 90 years old.

And even if you could consider it a questionable decision, it's pretty low on the list, don't you think? I really hope you are just an absolute perfect human being who doesn't do anything even remotely less than perfect if you're going to judge someone for smoking pot.

This would be a different story if there hadn't been so much effort made to portray Trayvon as just this poor little boy with skittles.

[theruiner]

If you honestly think a teenager smoking a little pot is enough to so much as even smudge his reputation, then you're just a complete idiot.

[sweeterthan]

Clearly if you smoke pot, you should be shot dead through the heart.

[50 Volt Phantom]

Ya, I don't think so, but I like that you've already assumed that if he did smoke pot, it was probably "just a little."

[50 Volt Phantom]

Clearly if you smoke pot, you should be shot dead through the heart.

Clearly that's exactly what I said.

[theruiner]

I don't care if he smoked pot every day. It has nothing to do with anything.

Wow. I mean, just...wow.

[50 Volt Phantom]

Except that Zimmerman clearly stated he believed Trayvon was high or on drugs when he called 911, I'm sure that didn't heighten his suspicion at all.

[theruiner]

Oh, it appeared that he was on drugs? Oh, ok then. I didn't know that. By all means, stalk someone with a gun. I didn't realize he appeared to be on the drugs!

Maybe he was smoking the pot! Those pot smokers are murderers, you know. That's what it does to you- it makes you have the munchies and it makes you kill people. Not necessarily in that order, though.

[50 Volt Phantom]

Ya, acting erratic out in the rain in a neighborhood with a major break-in problem would probably get the attention of anyone but you apparently.

[theruiner]

You know what I wouldn't do? Stalk him with a gun.

But you just keep avoiding that for some strange reason. Probably because Trayvon smoked pot, I don't know.

[50 Volt Phantom]

I haven't avoided that AT ALL.

[Jinsai]

So buying and using an illegal substance isn't deemed a questionable decision by you?

NO! Stalking people with a gun while pretending you're a fucking cop, that's a questionable decision.

Is breaking the law at all not questionable to you then?

It used to be legal to own slaves. Is obeying the law never a questionable decision to you then?

Until fairly recently it was illegal to engage in oral sex in several states. In Virginia it used to be illegal to have sex with the lights on.
Some laws are fucking stupid.

[allegro]

Except that Zimmerman clearly stated he believed Trayvon was high or on drugs when he called 911, I'm sure that didn't heighten his suspicion at all.

Okay, having been in the business of LAW for over 23 years, I can comment on this with a higher level of expertise than you.

First: Zimmerman didn't clearly state any such thing.
Second: Zimmerman is not an expert on such matters (determining if one is "high" on any form of substance while looking out a window) and wouldn't be considered to be an expert witness on such matters in a court of law. That defense will not be admissible, but it will be laughable.
Third: Because not even an expert could determine if one is "high on drugs" while looking at someone walking quickly in the rain in the dark, and Stand Your Ground doesn't include provisions allowing shooting people who appear to be high on drugs, no judge or court will even allow this allegation into trial.
Fourth: As an expert pot-smoker since I was 13, I can assure you, as a true expert, that smoking pot does not make you "erratic." It does, however, make you lazy. The t.v. remote was invented specifically for pot smokers.

I've smoked the equivalent of the entire country of Colombia's pot supply. I am a white female. This does not make it legal for somebody to look out a window, determine that I'm "high" (whether i am or not) and then chase after me, ESPECIALLY after the person pursuing me has telephoned the authorities and was instructed NOT TO DO ANYTHING but then disobeyed said orders and chased me down and played Super Cop.

If it was me, if I was Trayvon Martin, this is how I'd see it: I'm walking home to my dad's house, it's raining, my little half-brother wanted some Skittles, next thing you know, some dude is running after me, wtf, is he going to jump me? Rob me? Lynch me? I'm a female, I'm a hell of a lot more likely to be worried about being jumped or raped in the dark than YOU. Ditto for some big black kid.

Martin only saw his own perspective, hindsight is 20/20 for YOU: Some fucking crazy dude starts following him and who the fuck knows WHY because Martin hasn't committed any robberies (Stand Your Ground does NOT -- I repeat -- does NOT allow you to shoot somebody for being high on anything, or possessing any drugs, so get the fuck OFF the pot thing, it's not a part of the law, you're reaching into a cookie jar of stupid) or did anything wrong and all Martin knows is, hey, some fucking dude is following him, he's a kid, he's scared, he tells his g/f on the phone that he's scared ...

and if he PUNCHED THE LIVING FUCK OUT OF ZIMMERMAN, THAT'S SELF-DEFENSE.

So, in a court of law:

(a) blaming Martin for pot use is like blaming a woman for being a former prostitute and therefore deserving to be raped
(b) drug use in this case is likely to be inadmissible at a trial; irrelevant, doesn't speak to the facts
(c) the main issue will be "self defense"
(d) the main issue will be who initiated the aggression, thereby determining who initiated self-defense
(e) the major factor in the prosecution's case will be the evidence that Zimmerman called the police and was instructed to do nothing, but ignored those orders and took the law into his own hands; thereby, becoming the aggressor

This is no longer a race issue, this is an issue that will test Stand Your Ground in ALL states that have it. Armchair legal analysis has to be based on legal procedure, and not on your own moral opinions.