Neighbourhood Watch Kills Unarmed Black Kid

[KnitShoni]

...are you serious, right now? Where could you possibly get the idea that he even might have been forced out of his car? And, yeah. We do know he physically approached the teenager. In his car. Since you keep saying we don't know what went on, how would you know what is "blatantly false"?

[Rapscallion]

Looking at likelihood, an armed man being intimidated out of his car by a youth half his size armed with ... skittles - not the expectation I would have.

Rapscallion

[KnitShoni]

Armed with skittles that were still in his pocket, no less.

[Rapscallion]

Concealed skittles! Did he have the appropriate licence?

Rapscallion

[crashhelmet]

One of the links earlier in this thread says that Zimmerman got out of his car and followed him on foot after he hung up with 911 dispatch.

A dispatcher told him to wait for a police cruiser, and not leave his vehicle.

But about a minute later, Zimmerman left his car wearing a red sweatshirt and pursued Martin on foot between two rows of townhouses, about 70 yards from where the teen was going.

From this link

From an Orlando Lawyer's web site

Definition of Manslaughter
The crime of Manslaughter can be committed in one of three ways, either by:

Manslaughter by Act: Committing an act that was neither excusable, nor justified that resulted in the death of another person.
Manslaughter by Procurement: Persuading, inducing, or encouraging another person to commit an act that resulted in the death of another person.
Manslaughter by Culpable Negligence: Engaging in “Culpably Negligent” conduct that resulted in the death of another person.
Penalties for Manslaughter
The crime of Manslaughter is classified as a Second Degree Felony and is assigned a Level 7 offense severity ranking under Florida's Criminal Punishment Code.

If convicted of Manslaughter, a judge is required to impose a minimum prison sentence of 9¼ years in prison and can impose any additional combination of the following penalties:

Up to 15 years in prison.
Up to 15 years of probation.
Up to $10,000 in fines.

These could EASILY apply to Mr. Zimmerman based on the facts alone.

[HYHYBT]

we saw a kid bring a knife to school with the intention of stabbing another student

PROOF, please, since you're so bent on giving the benefit of the doubt otherwise, that he intended to stab the other student, as opposed to being prepared to defend himself if it came to that. (This is, if I remember rightly, about the point you simply vanished from the previous thread.)

Do you realize that constantly saying "we don't know who started what" makes it look as if you are willfully ignoring the facts? Because, ultimately, we do know.

Which Greenday admitted by saying the man "instigated." And then went back to acting as if this were totally unknown.

Again: why does this man get every benefit of the doubt you can imagine, while in the other story every detail must be interpreted in the most damning light possible? The biggest difference (yet again) is that in the one case it was the attacker (or at least instigator) who was armed and who came out alive, and in the other it was the other. Why is it self-defense for the guy who starts a conflict to shoot and kill the person he started it with, but it's NOT self-defense for the one who was uncontrovertibly *being* attacked to stab his attacker to death? (And don't even PRETEND you've answered this already in any meaningful sense.)

Looking at likelihood, an armed man being intimidated out of his car by a youth half his size armed with ... skittles - not the expectation I would have.

Clearly, you don't realize how dangerous Skittles can be. There was talk about licensing and background checks for them, but so far the NRA has held that off.

[Duelist925]

Clearly, you don't realize how dangerous Skittles can be. There was talk about licensing and background checks for them, but so far the NRA has held that off.

Little known fact, but John McLane was originally supposed to say "TASTE THE RAINBOW MOTHERFUCKER" rather than the more famous line. Test audiences found it too intimidating, so the scene as re shot.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I've also heard plans to class them as a "Class A" substance. That sugar coating does terrible things if ingested repeatedly.

[Greenday]

These could EASILY apply to Mr. Zimmerman based on the facts alone.

Manslaughter would be a lot easier to go with considering the facts we DO have. But people keep treating this like he was out to murder the teenager and they don't have the proof to go for that.

As I've already said, manslaughter is a more realistic charge with a lot more facts to back up that argument. Murder is going to be a lot tougher to prove in court.

[KnitShoni]

I think I see where you're getting confused. You think we're saying charge him with murder. We're not. One, maybe 2 people's words in the entire thread have called him a murderer. We're saying charge him with something. And, as you yourself admit, there is enough evidence to charge him with something.

[Greenday]

We're saying charge him with something. And, as you yourself admit, there is enough evidence to charge him with something.

I can get behind that.

[Ginger Tea]

I can't recall without rereading the whole damn thread, who said he should be charged with murder, but as KnitShoni said, most are after some charge to be pressed against him, I'm not sure any of us would find guilty of murder if we were in the jury. As I said in another post, Casey Anthony if charged with a lesser crime would be serving it now.

In some eyes yes he straight up killed a kid for no god damn reason and that's akin to murder, I say akin and NOT murder as legally speaking that's where IANAL comes in, but the various quotes on what he can be charged with all seem legit to me.

[Andara Bledin]

You know, I find it interested that while pretty much everybody in this thread as well as the parents and over 100,000 Change.org signers are calling for the arrest and prosecution of Zimmerman, the primary dissenter in this thread is fighting against the conviction of Zimmerman, which nobody has brought up but him, and would be up to the prosecution to secure.

Either quite an elaborate straw man, moving of the goalposts, or exceedingly poor choice of words. Regardless of what it is or isn't, most of us are talking about one thing and mistaking the other for participating in the discussion on the same topic, not just one that's very similar.

^-.-^

[SkullKing]

I thought the argument aginst conviction, was of the "If we charge him, even if there is no chance of conviction, it is a waste of time and money" nature?

If so I wouldnt classify it as a strawman.

I do think he should be charged with something. Not sure what exactly this something would be, legally speaking

[Greenday]

I thought the argument aginst conviction, was of the "If we charge him, even if there is no chance of conviction, it is a waste of time and money" nature?

Pretty much this. I think if you try to convict him now with what we have, he's walking. Cause right now, there's little evidence that'd support any murder chargers in court. Manslaughter would be a better bet but even then, that might be tough to prove.