Open Thread on Zimmerman Trial

  • Thread starter Thread starter Seamus_L
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
St_Francis said:
Wow–I thought you meant that in the future tense. You beat Google news!
Click to expand...
Maybe they could hire me; I could work from home typing in news. 🙂
It seems as though at this early hour in the morning there has been no major rioting unless I have not heard yet. That is good news indeed!
 
Raskolnikov said:
I actually saw statistics on criminal sentencing with respect to the race of the victim and perpetrator (specifically black and white), which is a pretty good indicator of the perceived severity. Highest sentences went to black perpetrators against white victims; second highest was white perpetrators against black victim.

So the numbers do seem confirm that overall inter-racial crime is more severely punished than the intra-racial kind. It may be likely that the same bias is present in arrest and prosecution rates.
Click to expand...
The same statistics show that black-on-black crime is also the majority of crime where blacks are the perpetrators, meaning black-on-white crime is a relative rarity, which might be something relevant.

In fact most black-on-black crime is gang-related, relatively “routine” stuff insofar as this kind of stuff can ever be routine. Shootings over turf wars, etc. Relatively rarer black-on-white crime tends to be more gruesome: kidnappings/rapes and killings, muggings gone worse, the occasional week-long torture fest, etc. In other words, they are not typically crimes committed against/between hardened criminals, but against ordinary and innocent people.

Final fun fact: race/crime stats are one of the go-to classes of examples stats professors use for how stats data can be manipulated improperly to paint one picture. In fact death sentence by race of victim and perpetrator is a classic example of what’s called Simpson’s paradox, by which conditional probabilities paint a picture not only different but completely the opposite of marginal probabilities. Put another way, when looking specifically at the race of the victims, black criminals are more likely to be executed than white criminals for both black victims and for white victims; but when you erase the distinction between victims, white murderers are more likely to be executed. Why? Because the murderers of white victims are more likely to be executed than the murderers of black victims, and white victims are more likely to have been murdered by white murderers, and this association is obscured when looking at conditional probabilities.

Full disclosure, I’m a statistician by trade.
Robert_Sock said:
I fear that with this ruling that our society may soon become infested with gunslinging punks who only need to say that their killing someone was in self defense to become exonerated. For example, “but I saw him reach into his waistband.”
Click to expand...
You get that you can die from having your slammed repeatedly into concrete, right?
 
Robert_Sock said:
I fear that with this ruling that our society may soon become infested with gunslinging punks who only need to say that their killing someone was in self defense to become exonerated. For example, “but I saw him reach into his waistband.”
Click to expand...
Do you realize that our society is infested with gunslinging punks that will kill you because you have something they want? And a very large percentage of them will never face a trial ?.
 
I’m a criminal defense lawyer, but I did not follow the trial very closely. I heard from my colleagues in the defense bar that the government’s case didn’t go very well. I specifically heard the prosecutor was terrible and the government’s witnesses were shaky, at best. Nonetheless, I hope the jury decided the case on the evidence alone. I will avoid news media reports - I’m not interested in hearing racial spin. My opinion and Al Sharpton’s opinion together will not buy us a single cup of coffee at Starbucks. Time to move on.
 
sw85 said:
You get that you can die from having your slammed repeatedly into concrete, right?
Click to expand...
What I would like to ask these people is what choice did the guy getting his head caved in have? Either be beaten to death or defend himself and go to jail.
 
I’m just waiting to see this scary horde of looters folks seemed so concerned about.

I’m not seeing them though. . . . .
 
sw85 said:
Prosecution had almost everything going for it… lifelong Dem judge who ruled consistently in prosecution’s favor (refusing to allow Martin’s text messages to be entered as evidence, allowing consideration of lesser charges, etc.), big-shot prosecuting attorneys, widespread media misrepresentation of basic details, etc.

And still they lost. Of course they would. They had no case. Because at no point did Zimmerman do anything legally wrong.
Click to expand...
Many of us live in a political climate where logic does not seem to matter.
I was really sweating out the verdict.
 
7_Sorrows said:
l…i have to say that although i am happy that George Zimmerman is a free man i am very sad for Trayvon Martin’s parents. i think the were made to feel the State actually had a case. i think their son’s death was exploited to turn this into a civil rights case and it is really sad.
Click to expand...
Yes. The Martins need prayer. Since the shooting on February 26, 2012, they have been mislead and have likely put hope in the criminal justice system, hoping for their idea of justice. Though the system worked, the facts supported Zimmerman, the evidence just was not there against Zimmerman, there was no case, the Martin’s still must be in despair right now.

I’m not sure how free Zimmerman will be, though. I think he will never be safe again and his life will never be the same again. I also wonder about his family, how their lives will be changed. I don’t think he can stay in America.
 
SamH said:
Do you realize that our society is infested with gunslinging punks that will kill you because you have something they want? And a very large percentage of them will never face a trial ?.
Click to expand...
Yes, and now all they need to do is to claim that they acted in perceived self defense to get exonerated. Moreover, we will now likely have vigilantes who are out for blood and taking the law into their own hands. I fear that violence will only grow. How do we weed out these types of people from within the justice system in states that have the stand your ground laws?
 
MaryT777 said:
Maybe they could hire me; I could work from home typing in news. 🙂
It seems as though at this early hour in the morning there has been no major rioting unless I have not heard yet. That is good news indeed!
Click to expand...
:lol: That was my thought–you could be a reporter!

There seems to be a bit of rock-throwing and fire-setting in CA, but I haven’t heard anything else. Nothing from FL.

And imo, if it did 't start on Saturday night, I think things might remain calm! (Of course, my husband thinks I’m an incurable optimist.)
 
ringil said:
I’m just waiting to see this scary horde of looters folks seemed so concerned about.

I’m not seeing them though. . . . .
Click to expand...
The reason everybody was worried about it was that some people have already been attacked in the name of “justice for Trayvon.”

Do you think it was unreasonable for that man to have been attacked on his own front porch such that he ended up in intensive care?

What about all the tweets calling for violence? Do you think we should at least be aware that this is going on? Kind of like the Tsarnov brothers.
 
ringil said:
I’m just waiting to see this scary horde of looters folks seemed so concerned about.

I’m not seeing them though. . . . .
Click to expand...
The reason folks were concerned was because of the many claims being made on social media, example linked below. If people say they are going to do something, why doubt them?

Trayvon Martin shooting: Teen threatens ‘mass homicide’ on Twitter if George Zimmerman is acquitted
Link: nydailynews.com/news/crime/tensions-run-high-awaiting-zimmerman-verdict-article-1.1398008
 
Robert_Sock said:
Yes, and now all they need to do is to claim that they acted in perceived self defense to get exonerated. …
Click to expand...
Sigh. Evidence would have to support their claims, as evidence supported Zimmerman. The system worked and justice prevailed. Why can’t you understand and accept that?
 
Robert_Sock said:
I fear that with this ruling that our society may soon become infested with gunslinging punks who only need to say that their killing someone was in self defense to become exonerated. For example, “but I saw him reach into his waistband.”
SamH;10978691:
Do you realize that our society is infested with gunslinging punks that will kill you because you have something they want? And a very large percentage of them will never face a trial ?.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
And, there are folks among us who quietly carry legally every day and who may be the only safety to put a stop to violence when those who carry illegally decide to threaten or hurt innocent people. The police are great, but they can’t be everywhere and when they are five minutes enroute, someone who carries legally may save the life of someone threatened by a criminal.

I am much more comfortable with the idea that there are folks around me who carry legally than I am with the idea that I am surrounded by criminals who carry illegally.
 
"Ex-Sanford police chief tells Local 6 why he didn’t arrest George Zimmerman

Former police chief Bill Lee says he may have saved his job but would not violate his oath

SANFORD, Fla. - The police chief at the center of a firestorm over the decision not to arrest George Zimmerman tells Local 6 in an exclusive interview that he may have saved his job had he given into pressure, but he believes that would have violated his oath to uphold the Constitution.

[FULL VIDEO: Tony Pipitone’s exclusive interview with Bill Lee]

Former Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee Jr. said he got the call about shooting of Trayvon Martin on a rainy Sunday evening --Feb. 26, 2012 – and headed to the scene at the Retreat at Twin Lakes."…

Blue excerpt from source link here:
Ex-Sanford police chief tells Local 6 why he didn’t arrest George Zimmerman
clickorlando.com/news/exsanford-police-chief-tells-local-6-why-he-didnt-arrest-george-zimmerman/-/1637132/20923726/-/f0eymsz/-/index.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top