ZIMMERMAN TRIAL LIVE LINK

[BigDee]

The only reason this went to trial is because the DA and chief of police knew that if they didn't charge him they would spend ungodly amounts of money fighting civil suits filed by every civil rights organization known to man for the I foreseeable future, not to mention the political ramifications to their careers.

Zimmerman is nothing more than a peace offering (some may say sacrifice) to the civil rights groups.

[tmckay2]

The only reason this went to trial is because the DA and chief of police knew that if they didn't charge him they would spend ungodly amounts of money fighting civil suits filed by every civil rights organization known to man for the I foreseeable future, not to mention the political ramifications to their careers.

Zimmerman is nothing more than a peace offering (some may say sacrifice) to the civil rights groups.

i wouldn't say its that simple. i am the most annoyed person on this board with "racism!" accusations, it drives me nuts, but zimmerman, by all accounts (even his own in my opinion), started the confrontation by exiting his vehicle. that certainly doesn't mean he should be found guilty of murder as i do believe his story of how things went down, but he does deserve to go to trial. with no REAL witnesses, no weapon on trayvon, and zimmerman with a pistol, you pretty much have to take that to trial. i can actually understand the black community thinking race played a part if they don't even charge him, i mean there is certainly enough evidence to at least charge him with some sort of negligence.

i don't think it was racially motivated and i don't think zimmerman is a bad guy, but i think the white/hispanic community has to try to look at this as objectively as possible if we expect the black community to look at it as objectively as possible. right now you got the black community saying hes absolutely, no doubt about it guilty of murder and the white community saying he is absolutely, no doubt about it innocent of all charges. now you can't tell me both sides aren't using race as their basis because there is very little evidence and hardly any witnesses. no one really knows anything, and trayvon is dead so we only have one guy's story. to me, i think it is fair to find him innocent of murder, i don't think he went there in any way hoping to or trying to kill trayvon. but i do think he is guilty of something, how you want to phrase it or term it is up to the lawyers, but his actions weren't necessary and should have been avoided.

we are all gun owners and all respect the right to defend oneself and we like to defend our own. but we need to be honest and realistic when one of our own does something wrong, and in this case i think it is pretty obvious zimmerman made some mistakes. we shouldn't burn him at the stake but these mistakes warrant some form of punishment. trayvon took part in this too, but right or wrong he already received his punishment and it was pretty severe.