There is no excuse for this jury

[radiclib]

Instructions be damned, incompetent prosecution be damned, "reasonable doubt" be damned, this case should have been a fucking no-brainer.
Some asshole hothead with no official capacity stalks and confronts an unarmed innocent kid, provokes him into a fight, and shoots him dead. These are the undisputed facts.
I've been ashamed to be an American for many years, and now I'm ashamed to be a human being.

[Travis_0004]

1. So just throw caution to the wind?

Our nation is made up of laws, and the jury had a duty to follow the guidelines. If they came back in 30 minutes, I would say they just threw caution to the wind, but they took the time to consider their choice.

You don't have to like it, but we shouldn't blame the jury.

[arthritisR_US]

3. C'mon, you know those gals were sitting in

that room playing bridge, biding their time...

[FBaggins]

2. Reasonable doubt be damned?

No thank you.

[Skittles]

4. there is no doubt Zimmerman's reckless actions led to the death of an innocent person

NO DOUBT

[ceonupe]

7. jury disagrees with you

we assume they followed the law.

The jury must reach certain conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt the state failed to prove the case to that level.

it doe not mean the dont believe zimmerman was wrong or responsible for travon's death but that the state did not prove Manslaughter or 2nd degree murder to the standard of the law.

Our system is based on law not emotion and if we dont agree with the law we have a way to attempt to change it.

[Skittles]

9. no, they simply believed a bullshit story

there is NO DOUBT Trayvon would be alive were it not for the actions of a gun humping vigilante cop-wanabe

[ceonupe]

11. but that is not what he was charged with

he was charged with Murder 2 and manslaughter not for being responsible for the death of Travon martin as you put it.

the state did not prove their case. we all know GZ was responsible for the death the question was the law and how it applied to that death and what the state could prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

our system is not perfect.

[Skittles]

13. Trayvon fought for and LOST HIS LIFE

that bastard Zimmerman can ROT IN HELL - he got away with MURDER

[NaturalHigh]

8. The jury didn't agree.

You don't know what went on in that room.

[radiclib]

17. Quotation marks for a reason.

[Honeycombe8]

5. I'm surprised by the verdict, but it was never a no brainer or a slam dunk, for either side.

It was complicated. Many posters in this forum still don't know half of the evidence, judging from their posts.

But...I am surprised. Maybe they should have included an even lesser charge, like negligent homicide or something.

[GeorgeGist]

21. Half the evidence died with Trayvon.

The jury ignored Justice!

[X_Digger]

6. Umm.. no.

This is our system of law.

You might as well say, "trials be damned"-- which is pretty damned ironic considering that's what some folks were accusing GZ of doing.

[Eddie Haskell]

10. I agree

If a black man had done this to a white kid, his conviction would be assured.

[Skittles]

12. a black man would have been arrested on the spot

[Danascot]

19. ... and likely shot dead at the scene

for "resisting arrest".

[marions ghost]

14. I have to say

that such miscarriages of justice are not uncommon. But those aren't televised. There is a lot wrong with the American justice system. Wake up to that.

That being said, this outcome is terrible, awful, tragic. Let the civil case proceed.

[arthritisR_US]

15. Gawd I hope so! n/t

[Nye Bevan]

16. I don't think you would be quite so cavalier in saying "reasonable doubt be damned"

if you were on trial, facing a possible prison sentence of decades.

Did the OJ Simpson, Robert Blake, and Casey Anthony verdicts also make you ashamed to be an American and a human being?

[lynne]

18. No, thanks -

- I'll pass. Don't want to mess with reasonable doubt, I would imagine that innocent people have been saved by it. The jury had an almost impossible job to do and they had to do it within the confines of the law. It's the law you should be upset with - not the jury and certainly not reasonable doubt.

You can always cure that being ashamed about being an American. Not so sure about how you could change the human thing, though.

[HiPointDem]

20. it's so freaking orwellian. a stalker with a gun goes after someone minding their own business,

and the dead person is 'guilty' because the gun-toting stalker got scared. so the gun-toting stalker had a right to self-defense, but the person being stalked didn't.

so fucking wrong, so orwellian, so representative of the times. everything is twisted into its opposite, everything is a lie.