The State of Florida vs George Zimmerman: The Trial

I understand that they don't have to. Im just wondering why they didn't. It woud have taken the "race politics " out of it IMHO. This case was rushed to the fore by pressure , not justice.
Also, my comment about the paucity of owder burns needs some clarification. Even though the powder burns were consistent with a 2 to 4" distance, there weren't nearly as many as would be suspected.

I don't envy those six jurors.

No matter what verdict they return, a lot of people will be very unhappy.

Even the jurors themselves might be unhappy with their verdict, if it turns out to be manslaughter, when they find out what a steep sentence that carries with it. A manslaughter conviction in this case would not just be a slap on the wrist, it could put Zimmerman behind bars for decades, and the jury was not given that information regarding possible sentences.

I hope the jurors will be able to avoid contact with the media, so they can resume their normal lives.

I also hope that, once the verdict is in, people will simply accept it, even if they don't like it, and that all of the re-hashing, and discussion, of this case will end.

This case deserved to go to trial because of the troubling unanswered questions surrounding this death. The trial was open and fair. And it is now up to the jury to determine the outcome. The jury's opinion is the only one that matters now.

Even though they skipped the Grand Jury, the state had to go through a preliminary hearing where they had to present to a judge on whether they had sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Also, according to the below article I just read even if they went to a grand jury and they decided not to indict, then they still could have went to trial anyway.

The Role of the Prosecutor and Grand Jury in Filing Florida Criminal Cases:

One possible reason a grand jury was skipped by the state was simply the demographics of Seminole County Florida with only 11% are black, which also explains why five of the six women were white and one of unexplained race. Moreover, it is a fairly conservative county. (what I meant by unexplained is I don't know if she was White/Hispanic or White/African American...)

so the "ham sammich" may not have been indicted?

That assumes the pressure wasn't fueled by a desire to see justice.

I think there was sufficient reason to demand that Zimmerman be arrested, so that further investigation of this death would be done, given the fact it involved the profiling, following, and shooting, of an unarmed minor, who was not committing a crime, and who was simply on his way home after a trip to the store. That minor, a middle class high school student, with no criminal record, had no apparent or logical motive to suddenly attack and want to kill Zimmerman--and that alone should have raised doubts about the credibility of Zimmerman's version of events. Had Trayvon Martin's identity been known the night of the shooting, along with the fact he was a guest in that housing complex, I really believe Zimmerman would have been arrested that night. But I think the police initially bought Zimmerman's story that this kid was a criminal type who was trespassing in that area, and that affected how they viewed the situation, why they did not do toxicology tests on Zimmerman, etc.

I think the public pressure was in the interests of justice--and it only called for Zimmerman's arrest, something that should have occurred that night, and probably would have occurred that night, had the police known more about the victim at the time. And that public pressure emanated from the victim's parents--who wanted to know why this man was allowed to kill their son, without being held accountable for his actions--and, in the interests of justice, they were entitled to demand that question be answered.

Regardless of the verdict, I think the interests of justice have now been served.

No, I am going to point out you can't tell someone's ethnicity by looking at them.
For instance, I'll bet you can't pick out the hispanics, if any, in this photo lineup just by looking at the pictures.

The jurors have been deliberating eight hours, how long do you think it is going to take, a few days or hours?

Good question.

I have been expecting a very quick verdict...and I think it will be guilty on the lesser charge.

It's my impression from the trial that there are too many issues they need to consider to arrive at a conclusion.

I think the defense did an excellent job to create "reasonable doubt."

That's a tough hurdle in this trial.

The "reasonable doubt" problem IS there.

I think the only way to arrive at a conviction is to take the prosecution's advice to heart...to look at the situation in its totality.

A person is dead...that person is Trayvon Martin.

Someone shot him dead...that person is George Zimmerman.

Someone initiated the confrontation that lead to the shooting. That is up in the air. The defense wants the jury to consider only the time from when Zimmerman says Martin jumped out at him.

The prosecution wants the jury to think about why Martin jumped out at Zimmerman (if in fact he did)...and to consider the confrontation starting with Zimmerman stalking Martin.

The jurors are mothers. My guess is that every one of them was profoundly moved by the prosecutions comment about "a mother's worst fear is a stranger stalking."

I think most walked back into that jury room already set to convict on the lesser charge.

We'll see.

From the standpoint of "the general picture" of what happened in this incident that ended in the death of a 17 year-old kid...I will be sorely disappointed by a not-guilty verdict. I cannot imagine them doing it.

There's that phony sense of morality, popping up again, that is exceedingly common to y'all, Frank. A half million Iraqi kids murdered gets a big MEH. Millions of innocents murdered simply to allow US businesses to steal their bread often gets applause.

Frank Mother Theresa Apisa thinks the Bush/Cheney band of war criminals should get a free pass because the US was/is going thru a wee bit of a tough time.

That's pretty hilarious - you two going on about justice.

Well, its been ten hours and counting. I don't watch too much trials, but I thought it would be quicker, but it gives some hope by thinking that they might actually be going through the evidence and talking among themselves. Perhaps they are not through going through the evidence, it was a lot. Or it could be they are not all agreeing.

I would presume some of both. Gotta be patient; I'm sure the jury is doing all they can to cover the issues of the trial and trying to arrive at some consensus.

I'd give it about three more days.

You also must also consider his total ethnicity - his mother is Peruvian, ie, Inca and Hispanic; father, white, but I don't know more for him.

Another thought; who can tell between all Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and/or mixed with other races?

I'm Asian, and I wouldn't know.

Your not knowing, in the wider sense, doesn't come from you being of Asian extraction, CI, it comes from your great reluctance to address the truth, the facts.

Blow the stupid prick off CI. Any answer will just make him happy.

yessir!