Like you, I am quite surprised by those attorneys' actions. However, they provided Zimmerman with limited legal advice that may have not addressed any potential legal claims against him; he did not retain them. As far as we know, they made no representations to any court as his legal representatives. Thus, any lawyer-client relationship did not exist.

This is rather far afield from "crime and justice" but the people who are most fervently in support of gay marriage or abortion rights aren't in favor because some religions are opposed. They have non-religious reasons for supporting.

If all some person can point to as reason for their opposition to gay marriage or abortion rights is because their God said so, then no that's no longer sufficient post-Enlightenment.

What makes you think Trayvon was a thug? I don't know a whole lot about his life. I know that he had been suspended for a week from high school for having a baggie with marijuana traces in it. Other than that, I don't know of any trouble he was in. Ivy, can you provide more information??

Trayvon - not exactly a pillar of the community. No big loss.

No big loss? Tell that to his mother.

I was asking what proof you have that he was not a pillar of the community. He was visiting his dad at his new home, so he was walking home with candy and iced tea at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood and an older guy was following him. Even if he DID attack him (and videos of Zimmerman shortly afterwards show no sign of blood or injury), wouldn't you?

He was a young man with an entire life ahead of him. Who knows what life may have held in store for him.

That said, when you're neighborhood watch, you're basically a glorified security guard. You observe and report. It seems Zimmerman went beyond that and confronted Trayvon in the first place, which set him off. In other words, Zimmerman overstepped his bounds.

Okay Board barristers, do your thing.

When I took my Carry Concealed Weapon (CCW) course, the instructor emphasized responsibilities as well as rights, and when not to shoot vs. when to shoot. He said that 80% of all shooting situations are ambiguous at best. He also said that having a CCW isn't a license to become a vigilante or a self-proclaimed security guard without serious law enforcement training.

Because I wouldn't be up to anything bad, I don't have anything to hide, and I wouldn't respond in thug-like fashion.

What was he doing that was bad? Walking to his father's home? He was a young kid, with nothing in his pockets but a bag of Skittles. He was being followed - at night - by an older armed man. I would imagine he was terrified. I would have been.

As for what proof I would expect to back up your statements, did he have an arrest record? Was he in a gang? Did he have drugs in his pocket? A knife? Those are things that I would classify as "thuggish". Walking home at night isn't.

I don't know how else I can explain my position. Trayvon may have not been doing anything except walking home. Which is why Zimmerman should have, at most, observed from a distance and not confronted him.

But, again, I highly doubt Zimmerman just walked up and shot him. I don't think Zimmerman was just sitting around waiting the the next black guy to walk by so he could shoot him. What has come out so far, plus common sense, suggests Zimmerman confronted him, there was some type of argument, and it escalated into a physical altercation. Enough to where Zimmerman felt he had to shoot. That seems the most probable situation to me. Trayvon didn't need an arrest record, or a weapon, or to be on drugs to react in a thuggish way.

If Zimmerman initiated a confrontation, even if Trayvon did react violently, I wouldn't consider him a thug. If Zimmerman caught him spraying graffiti, or breaking car windows, to me, that's thug-like behavior, although even that doesn't constitute shooting.

We do agree that Zimmerman acted foolishly. He's a young man, too, and his life is ruined over this as well. However, if he had heeded the advice of the police and just hung back and waited for them to arrive, what a difference a few minuted would have made!

This is tragic on so many levels.

Ok, so why do you think Zimmerman confronted him?

What business did he have doing so?

And if there was some type of argument and it escalated into a physical altercation...so...??? What would make Zimmerman have to shoot? Cause they may have gotten into a brawl of some sort? So?
If you come up to me, in some kind of offensive way, asking me questions that don't concern you, minding my business and following me when all I'm doing is walking, you're damn straight I'm going to have some sort of words/argument with you. I'm probably going to start mouthing off at you and acting "thuggish". And? It may escalate into some sort of fight, probably a bad one. I'm still trying to find the reasoning behind Zimmerman shooting this kid. Zimmerman felt he had to shoot to protect himself from a fight he put himself into according to what you're saying, is that right?

Trayvon Martin did nothing wrong. He was walking home from the store. He was walking on a public street. He wasn't bothering anyone. He wasn't talking loudly, playing music. He wasn't doing anything suspicious, unless you consider being black in a mostly white neighborhood questionable behavior.

Words can quickly escalate into the physical. Instead of simple fists, it became a shooting that resulted in the death of a young boy.

You're assuming that Trayvon confronted Zimmerman. I don't see it playing out that way. Granted all the facts are not out and we don't know everything. If we were on the jury we couldn't speculate but here we can.

As I understand it Trayvon was talking to a girlfriend on his cellphone just minutes before he was attacked. According to the girl (who I am sure police have/will talk to)Trayvon told her that someone was following him. She said she told him to run and he told her that he would just walk fast. She said she heard what sounded like a struggle and the cell phone dropping and the call was lost.

Another tidbit that will likely come to surface. They had the funeral home person who cared for the body. He said he saw NO signs/marks of a struggle on Trayvon's body. I am sure a medical examiner would be the person to make that judgement and we'll see if that is the case.

Also, they do have the voice recording of someone screaming. I do know that two voice experts determined the screaming was NOT Zimmerman but they have no recording of Trayvon's to see if the screamer was him. I'm thinking in this day and age, there likely may be some recording somewhere either from school,phone, computer or whatever and voice experts can make that determination.

Zimmerman had the gun, Trayvon had the skittles & ice tea.

TIS

Holy heck. Am I speaking in tongues here? Is this a woman thing?

A woman thing????? Some need to practice what they preach.




TIS

My point was that he didn't do anything worthy of a confrontation in the first place,

Before things get out of hand and we have the admins step in and give you all a vacation, I highly suggest we all calm down and just wait till more facts come out in the case...

Oh, my goodness, that must be it! It's our breasts that make what you're saying incomprehensible! Not the fact that what you're saying is utter and complete crap!