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Zimmerman should have stayed in his house. He was told not to follow the kid but he got what he wanted, he got the kids attention and the kid beat his ass down. Zimmerman got his ass handed to him and couldnt take it so he shot the kid. It was Zimmermans fualt, he should have stayed in his ****ing house.
We have neighborhood watches around my area and one of the rules is you are not allowed to carry a weapon, sets a bad precedent to have armed neighborhood watch people patrolling your neighborhood who arent police, havent trained to be police and are obviously potentially capable of turning into gun toting vigilantes..
I thought the whole idea of Neighborhood watch was to watch and call police if there is a problem and to not intervene especially with guns as innocent people may be killed through mistakes and mis communication..
Stories like this abound,particularly in Fla, could this have been a similar way Martin and Zimmerman got into it? http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/311...ass-for-murder
You guys just cant help yourselves can you? this particular topic is about the Canadian perspective on the issue not the American perspective on the issue. If you arent Canadian you're hijacking the topic.
What makes you think Canadians would look at this issue differently than Americans?
Both Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin made mistakes, but Zimmerman should not have made himself the local judge, jury and executioner, deciding who seemed to fit in and who didn't, and then to pursue and harass someone who he profiled as being out-of-place and possibly up to no good.
But I do believe that, under Florida law, Zimmerman is innocent of murder. These "Stand your Ground" laws are complete BS, and allow people to create a dangerous situation and then kill someone when the situation they instigated becomes potentially life-threatening, and claim self-defence. I personally believe that Zimmerman is guilty of manslaughter or criminal negligence causing death, but certainly not second-degree murder. But I doubt he will be convicted of anything, because what he did was perfectly legal under Florida law. The cops never would have arrested him, nor the DA charged him if it weren't for the public outrage and pressure. This case has become more about race than whether or not Zimmerman broke Florida law - which he doesn't seem to have done.
My prediction - not guilty.
If this were Canada, it would be illegal for him to be armed with a handgun in public in the first place, so any death that resulted would make him automatically guilty of unauthorized possession of a dangerous weapon, and certainly third-degree murder. However, if he were not armed with a handgun, but a baseball bat, and clubbed Trayvon to death under the same circumstances, I still believe he would be found guilty of third-degree murder under Canadian law. Canadian law makes very few exceptions for self-defence that results in a death. I don't think his actions would qualify as one of those exceptions. Even in Canada, I don't believe they could make second degree murder charges stick because there was no mens rea, or malice aforethought - just stupidity, fear, and bad judgement on Zimmerman's part.
You are bang on on the manslaughter and conceal weapon. Our CND law will not allow that, and GZ would have been convicted under CND law.
US law are diffs. some state allow people to carry weapon with licence, some allow conceal, some have stand your ground. one of USA media sources said Florida have more conceal weapon permit than they have palm tree.
We have no proof that the young boy would have continued to beat up Zimmerman until he was dead just because he saw this guy following him or just going in the same direction.
Also it was stated in the trial that Zimmerman had extensive martial arts training, obviously MRZ chose to shoot the kid instead of fighting back..
Obviously we can speculate forever but it seems odd to me that a street wise Florida kid like Treyvon wouldnt have thought the potential for this guy to have a gun was a real possibility and just maybe Treyvon saw this guy with a gun coming after him and it was in fact Treyvon fighting for his life after getting the impression Zimmerman was going to shoot him...
Well, if any good will come out of this event, it is that there are already petitions being circulated to try to get some of these "stand your ground" and "self defense" laws repealed (particularly in Florida).
Hopefully there will be some more oversight and/or requirements for CCW, too - so not just any idiot like Zimmerman can legally carry a gun everywhere he goes.
I don't know if it will prevent another tragedy necessarily but hopefully it will prevent the shooter from escaping accountability.
If this were Canada, it would be illegal for him to be armed with a handgun in public in the first place, so any death that resulted would make him automatically guilty of unauthorized possession of a dangerous weapon, and certainly third-degree murder.
I often think Canada is a much more civilized country than the U.S.
While we respect your input Steve it would be nice if we could keep this topic as a Canadian perspective, there are dozens of American topics on the issue. thanks
Sorry misread the title thought you meant as a Canadian
And despite the fact that the prosecutors screw up in the O.J Simpson trial and he walks free, CND are more disgusted with the not guilty verdict celebration after the deliberation.
And with this GZ AND TM case in Florida, the outcome of conviction would have been Just under our law
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