Does anyone think George Zimmerman is guilty of murder?

[Beanflicker]

I think this whole case has been unfortunate. Zimmerman has been screwed by the media (namely NBC) and ignorant celebs who have pounded this idea of a guy just itching to shoot this poor innocent black teenager, but the fact that Treyvon a) (allegedly) initiated the confrontation and b) (undeniably) was beating the hell out of Zimmerman never gets brought up.

Does anyone here think he's guilty, and why? I haven't seen a good reason yet (including what I've heard from the prosecution).

[El Kabong]

I don't think he's guilty of murder. I think the situation was undeniably a tragic one but I don't think there's any intent there for a murder charge. Now in a civil case a wrongful death suit will no doubt have some legs.

I'd just assume this case vanish from my sight. People like Al Sharpton who is 100% dead set of Zimmerman's guilt and Nancy Grace who is just hysteria incarnate will attempt to boost their ratings by going over the top with the coverage from this case.

Zimmerman followed a kid who looked like he didn't belong in his neighborhood. Now for the people watching Sharpton's pathetic show they'll ready that as "he saw a black kid and followed him just because he was black", but when you think about how Trayvon was new to the area and probably didn't know his way around all that well and that he may or may not have been under the influence of a drug so yeah he really could have looked suspicious not just because he's black that IS a possibility that certain people don't want to accept. George Zimmerman seemed over zealous but having been in a neighborhood where there was a spree of break ins and seeing how impotent the Police were in doing anything to prevent it I don't blame him for keeping an eye on Trayvon.

The point of contention is how did the scuffle escalate to the point where Trayvon ended up shot...unless Zimmerman is mentally unstable or a total certified grade A asshole I don't know why he would have instigated any confrontation....Trayvon being followed most likely would have irked him and I completely understand that, I've been in neighborhoods and places where people look at me funny and I can tell they are following my movements more closely, but for whatever reason I have never once been in a fist fight because I was out of place somewhere. Zimmerman says Trayvon jumped him, if that's the case then Trayvon did something incredibly stupid that cost him his life. If Zimmerman initiated the physical altercation (of which signs point to NO) then yes I could see him being convicted, maybe of manslaughter instead of murder just because it would be extremely hard to prove his intention was to murder Trayvon.

[Master]

Is the trial on soon?

[TitoFan]

Yeah, murder's a bit harsh in this case. If there was a scuffle and the shooting resulted from it, it's a manslaughter charge at most.

[Beanflicker]

Even manslaughter would be a terrible miscarrage of justice. Classic self defense instance

[TitoFan]

Even manslaughter would be a terrible miscarrage of justice. Classic self defense instance

Gotta be careful with that, Bean.
Don't want to open the door for all scuffles from now on to be permanently settled because someone has a gun.... and for that to be ok.