Coming from an interracial family, with members who get followed around a store the minute the enter (because they are black men and assumed to be criminals), and having been held at gunpoint myself in 1979, at a mere twelve years old, by a cop who mistakenly thought I'd robbed a liquor store at (if that guy'd had an itchy finger then I AM Trayvon Martin today, and very long gone), I've tried to be clear that all my prejudices as a result have played into my reading of this case (and I did read everything, paid no attention to MSM talking heads or anything but what I could read of the factual record).

Anyway, this is why I give money. So this kind of site can exist. I may not like the POV on every chosen case, but freedom requires I support it.

Here is the President:

"The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy.  Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America.  I know this case has elicited strong passions.  And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher.  But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.  I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.  And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.

This case is a setback for advancing the causes of reducing prejudice and bringing fairness to people of all colors. Very unfortunate.

It became fairly clear early on, from reading TL, that what was being portrayed in the media was not accurate, and sometimes not even remotely accurate. It also became clear that Zimmerman should be acquitted, at least in my view.

As for comments that say that what Zimmerman did, should not be legal. I truly don't understand why. No matter what caused the altercation, one has, and should have, the right to defend oneself. If you nose is out of joint, your head is being banged against the sidewalk, and you can't get away from the guy banging your head against the sidewalk, you should have the right to take action to defend yourself (and save yourself from further harm or death), in my view. And, my view is that the altercation probably started when Smith came Zimmerman.

I spend a lot of time on the Volokh Conspiracy and the betting there was the time line was the key to this case.  O'Mara's closing where he said this is how long Martin had to get away and then waited four minutes in complete silence was a real goodie from where I was watching.

Moving along I am wondering about some of the comments that Rick Scott and Pam Bondi should get bashed for their role in this mess.  I was sorta under the impression that Scott was a rather inexperienced pol who just wanted the whole mess out of his hair (or what little is left of it) and Bondi was basically on the side line.  Not to say Corey did not make things much worse, especially with not having a GJ.  But Scott and Bondi are on one side of the political fence and Corey the other.  I sorta viewed it as Scott saying the dems can deal with this and I wash my hands of it.

Of course I could be wrong about this, as I am often wrong about lots of stuff.

Still I see little hope that pols will not try and make hay out of this and doubt there will be any real effort to make things better in terms of changing stuff.

My last point for now is about HOAs.  Florida law is that HOA rules have the same force as local or state law as long as there is no conflict.  The owner of the unit signed a document agreeing they and their guests (including Martin) would abide by the HOA rules.  Those rules include boiler plate stuff about not doing anything harmful to the HOA.  In a sense this would include Martin not acting like a jerk when confronted by Zimmerman.  It would also include an affirmative obligation on Zimmerman's part to observe and report (and possibly more) suspicious activity.  It is very common for HOA members to approach strangers and ask what they are doing in private property.  Especially in a gated community.

Maybe Jeralyn can post this CNN appearance and any others she's done with this case.

I hear some folks talking about how the prosecution engaged in prosecutorial misconduct related to not releasing everything during discovery.  The Director of IT for the DA's office was fired for caused because of his whistleblowing/leaking of information.

Rape has nothing to do with it.  Your bringing it up as an excuse for your tendentious conclusions; that says a lot about the worth of your conclusions.  I have to expect it is also felt to be terribly demeaning to many people who are actually raped.

I know, I know...it wasn't a SYG case in and of itself, but otoh nothing is in and of itself.  

almost all firearms are NOT "designed specifically for killing."  They are designed to reliably, safely, and accurately place a bullet on target. Don't confuse talking points with reality.

And no, we are all not African Americans now. And no, we are all not white now. And no, we all aren't anything now other than humans.

"This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about" and "looking at all the houses".

On another note - regarding information about Z and Trayvon that would come out in a civil trial... I believe Florida has contributory negligence.  So Trayvon's past and his actions that night would come in to play because if a jury found Z liable they would then have to determine Trayvon's part in what happened.  So maybe Z is liable, but Trayvon's actions contributed 30% to what happened, so X amount of damages minus the 30% attributed to Trayvon.

Have to agree with the layers and layers of grey in this sad situation.  The neighborhood and the crimes, the two people's pasts and view of the world... and two people who made really foolish choices that night - which led to a very tragic death.