The Trayvon Martin Case
April 12, 2012
SANFORD, Fla. — George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer was arrested on murder charges in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old. Read this New York Times article and let us know your thoughts and questions on diversity, neighborhood watch and the racial overtones of the case.
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CJS-360 Diversity Issues 
This case is a sad case, and I think that if someone wants to call themselves a neighborhood watch volunteer then they should understand what that means. If someone looks suspious you report them, you don’t kill them. This young kid was only 17 years old, and now his parents have to figure out what life will be like without him all because someone wanted to commit a stupid act. And I feel as though this so called neighborhood watch volunteer was acting on his own biases, but we ill never know.
This case is going to change the way we are allowed to defend ourselves
Using a gun is only meant if your life is life threatening, match force with force, fist vs gun is not self-defense
I think this case goes to show that some people want to come to conclusions before all the facts of the case are known, according to FL Statutes, the police did not arrest him right away because it would have been illegal at the time due to it saying that if it is aware that it was self defense, the police can investigate and question but not arrest. I really do not know how this will turn out, Central Florida has not had the best track record when it comes to high-profile cases, look at the Casey Anthony Trial, and how that was a media circus, and trust me it was, I lived in Orlando when all that began. It’s sad that a young man is dead, and that another man was vilified before all the evidence presented itself.
Josh-
We’re very much on the same page. What ends up happening in these high-profile case is injustice. Too much media attention/emotion skews the facts and leads to misperceptions. I personally like to wait for a few months before even reading anything because most of the time it’s false or is reported biasly. As you mentioned, it’s sad that a young man was killed and the other is villified without due process. That is not how our criminal justice system is supposed to operate and unfortunately I can see Zimmerman being ostrasized for the rest of his life.
This case is something that a lot of people only know one side of the story to. There are three sides to this story, Zimmerman’s story, Trayvon’s story, and the truth. There is evidence that could make this case go either way, i personally was on Trayvon’s side because all i did was hear it from a third party. I haven’t heard much of this story lately but it will be interesting to see what happens when Zimmerman has his hearing, i believe it is this coming summer.
You are completely right when you say there are three sides to this story. This can relate to almost any time that there is conflict and because of the conflict both sides will usually tell a story that makes them look like they did nothing wrong. Zimmerman was not arrested at first because if he is a legal gun owner and an initial investigation should self defense then there would be no need to arrest him. The sad thing is we will never know the truth of what happened because there is no way to compare to sides of this story.
[I began following this case from the beginning and at first I felt like if this was a black neighborhood patrol man that did this to a white teenager that the results would have been different. I have always been one that believed that there are 3 sides to every story and 1 of the sides can not be heard because the young man Tryvon Martin is no longer here to state his side. I am very interested to see the final outcome of this story and would like to see if there is a similar story out there where the roles are reversed.
@Ashley – I agree that there’s three sides to every story, but we will never know what really happened that night. I’m not going to side with either party, but my guess is there has to be more to the story then what we are hearing.
We don’t know whether or not George Zimmerman had a permit to carry or whether or not he’s ever had proper gun training. For someone who is a neighborhood watch organizer, they should have the proper training and mindset to use a gun in the first place. I would be interested to know how the events of this case would be different if police were involved or if the parties were a different race. It sounds like the neighborhood was a potentially low income neighborhood that required a neighborhood watch due to the lack of resources in the community. My experience with a neighborhood watch group is they are also trained by local police on how to act and react to certain situations as well.
The Trayvon Martin Case
An unarmed Black person, walking home in his neighborhood is shot by a White person it doesn’t matter if he’s part Hispanic, he looks White. White cops come, don’t arrest the White shooter, or do much of an investigation. White police chief claims the cops did nothing wrong, Zimmerman did nothing wrong, the case is closed. This took place in the South, where such lopsided double standards of “justice” were commonplace all the way up into the 60s when the Civil Rights Act was signed into law. People want to think that racism is a thing of the past, and for the most part as a society we’ve come a long ways towards equal treatment of everyone under the law. While people are far too quick to cry racism, in a few situations, unfortunately, it’s true. Is this one of those few situations? Well, based on what I’ve observed so far, I can’t say it wasn’t racially motivated. Based on Zimmerman’s call to 911, his decision to go and pursue Trayvon was at least based on some prejudice. I haven’t heard enough to determine if his motivations were racial in nature or not. Some claim the tape they heard had him referring to Trayvon with racial slurs.
And then what about the cops? They didn’t even take Zimmerman into custody for questioning which is what they’re supposed to do for all shooting cases. They didn’t do much of anything, then left, and consider the case closed. The outrage surrounding the stonewalling from the cops has caused the FBI to step in and take a look at the case. One of their goals is to determine if Zimmerman or the Cops’ behavior in this case was racially motivated.
So there were 2 crimes here: One is the shooting of Trayvon, and the second is the non-action by the police. Were either of these racial? I don’t know yet, but the fact that we can’t say “NO” should be troubling to say the least.
I am truly sad for what has happened in this incident. No parents should ever have to bury their child. But I will say I am mad at the fact that so many celebrities came out for this and the media ate this story up when the bigger picture is still at hand. There is violence all around the US and kids dying everyday and in lots of cases dying younger than trayvon. I in no way am trying to take away what happened to this young man but i do feel it is needed to address that the only reason this case went so public because we as a society only saw white on black. I just wish we could seek justice for all kids and their families that have gone through this also.
Thanks,
Don Swingler
I just don’t understand. I have 8 nephews and they all look suspicious, they wear what they want, fix their hair the way they want, and hang out with lots of friends. But one thing i can say about them is that they are very respectful no matter how their outter appearance is. So how do I protect them from getting shot for walking down the street when a neighborhood watch person thinks they look suspect? Teach them to be disrepectful to adults who follow them down the street and make sure they carry a .45? How do I keep my babies safe from harm when they are not doing any harm?
Even though this case has happen back in 2012, it is still an ongoing issue that not only this family is going through but other families as well. No one would want to hear that their son has been killed by someone or anyone because that is the worst thing parents should go through. There have been many reports on this news story that some reporting’s have different information on them about the “accident” of the Martin case. While reading the article, what I don’t understand was that, why wasn’t Mr. Zimmerman’s “original two lawyers” was not able to get a hold of Mr. Zimmerman? Why was he “acting erratic?” I am not picking any side to this case because all I want to do is to find out the truth behind this whole “accident” that had occur in 2012 and is still an ongoing case. What the new lawyer, Mark O’Mara, said about not “using words against the mother of a decease child” is a good thing because I feel that at that time, she may have been in shock and may not have been in the right mindset to think.
I have also read different articles about this story and also heard different variations of this story. I think its somewhat hard to distinguish the facts of the story because their are different sides of the story. However when I read this article and it said that Zimmermans lawyers werent able to get a hold of him and that he was “acting erratic” I thought that maybe thats the behavior of someone is who’s guilty. I could be wrong but thats my opinion of how someone would act if their guilty of something.
This is a very delicate issue at hand. There are two sides to every story. We as a society involved in this story, feel torn. Torn is the perfect description of this sad story for all parties involved. The courts were implemented by our founding fathers to guarantee everyone due process and a fair trial. There is the 2nd amendment that was implemented as well. Where was the line crossed if any? Was Martin actually walking through a neighborhood, and zimmerman who was racially motivated, shot and killed him? Or was Martin actually attacking zimmerman thus giving justification for him to shoot martin in self defense. I think we as Americans are obligated to choose sides. Its only natural. We have biases, we have views, and we have common ground. I think its important that know matter what side of the issue you are on, that you let the court system take its course. in history, it has shown favorable results to those who are not of color, but we are a society that has diversified and I am firm believer this system is true to its core. The truth will come out with evidence, testimony, and lawyers. Its a sad and tragic loss that the Martin family endured, but an urgency to let the court takes its course.
I feel that many people can agree that the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate event seem relatively fishy as best. The neighborhood watch groups which have an actively engaging presence seem to balance on the teetering edge of legality of practices and this is a perfect example. Regardless of the stand your ground law which Florida has, did Mr. Zimmerman have a reasonable means of escape? It would appear he may have and due to that factor the use of deadly force would appear to be unjustified.
With the upcoming jury selection for this trial, I wonder how the race of both the victim and the defendant are going to play a factor. We know full well that the racial backgrounds of both parties are going to be central topics in the arguments by the attorneys. It appears that attorneys tend to try to stack juries to their benefit in high profile cases such as this one. I speculate that jurors which have higher levels of crime in their community may play a more decisive factor in this case than the ethnicity of those participating.
I find this case and article interesting. I think the legality behind the Stand Your Ground law is flawed at best. I think the idea behind it was to protect those who are in a serious position of life and death. Not for a man to feel like he needs to be a vigilante and take the law into his own hands. Being that I am a security officer I understand the frustration of a “suspect” (I use that term loosely because you never officially know until you have hard core evidence or facts) gets away before the cops arrive. However, I would never feel the need to shoot them. Yes, we do confront them, but we are taught not to use any physical force unless force is used upon us and we feel we are in imminent danger. I see where he may have been frustrated that he would get away. I know the feeling when someone takes off with stolen merchandise and you are unable to stop them. That however, on the other hand does not constitute for violence. You chalk it up as a loss. This is something that the state of Florida would need to revise or the Supreme Court handle.
On another note, in this case, in above statement someone wondered how race would affect jury selection. I feel that is a very good discussion topic. I think in this case it will be a very sensitive matter. I think the peremptory challenge will come into play and be the biggest challenge of all that they have to face with jury selection. Even though this case deals with minorities on one side for sure and on the other in some respect, I think it will still cause for an under representation for minorities. I do not think the defense will be in favor of African American’s on the jury, due to the fact that they would be more likely to be swayed in favor of prosecuting the defendant. This case gives peremptory challenge a twist. It seems like this typically takes place when the prosecutor is trying a defendant that is a minority and they don’t want minorities on the jury. However, in this case it is role reversal.
In the George Zimmerman case, there are facts in question regarding Trayvon Martin’s shooting. As the finder of fact, it is important that there is a jury to weigh the facts to find whether Zimmerman is guilty of second-degree murder. It is crucial to find a jury that balances a diverse group of mind to reduce any form of prejudice against any party involved. Stacking the jury to be in favor of one side will defeat the purpose of holding a jury trial, however, equally balancing the jury will hopefully seek justice for the Martin family.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a lawyer taking a case free of charge. I know I’ve never heard of a lawyer taking a case free of charge for a person of color. That type of stuff only happens in movies from the 90’s. Considering how many defense lawyers have resigned from Zimmerman’s case there must be a common theme as to why. It would be quite easy for a person to speculate that the odds are not in Zimmerman’s favor because of the resignations. I agree with everyone who has commented on this article saying, there’s no way of knowing what happened in this case. I hope to see more postings on this case. It is concerning that Zimmerman’s current lawyer is attempting to get him released from jail. If that happens, I would say there is preferential treatment taking place for Zimmerman.
I believe that most of all of us have heard of this case. It is a nation wide case that is known for Zimmerman being part of the neighborhood watch and shooting and killing Trayvon Martin. Trayvon Martin was an unarmed teenager. Zimmerman is being held in protective custody for second degree murder. According to Zimmerman’s lawyer “In the best of circumstances, he was dealing with the reality that he cased the death of somebody, and that weighs on you”. This relates to the book the Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America, chapter eight: The color of death: race and the death penalty. This chapter talks about racial discrimination and the death penalty. Did Zimmermans ethnicity play a role in his case? Could he have be racially discriminated against?
I definitely agree with Don Swingler. He made a good point about the media making this particular crime story way bigger than needed to be. There is so much violence in the world and people get raped, stabbed and shot everyday but the media ate this story up because it was a black on white offense. What happed to Trayvon is sad and undeniably wrong but if the man who shot Trayvon was black, this story would not have been as big of a deal within the media.
Zimmerman was not white
Ok, forgive me for going a bit off topic here but I needed to find an article that relates to my Chapter 8 in the Color of Justice text. Unfortunately, I was having a difficult time finding an article that related anything to the death penalty and capital punishment but this was something I thought I would be able to somehow relate it.
This is clearly a very sensitive case with it involving a child that was shot and killed when they didn’t even have a weapon on them. Trayvon was not doing anything wrong but walking home. Zimmerman may not have had the best reasons for trailing Trayvon except that he looked suspicious. Unfortunately there is only one side of the story because Trayvon does not get to speak for himself which in turn, helps Zimmerman. So fast forward to the trial and Zimmerman is basically facing 25 years to life. This makes me wonder that with Florida being a supporter of the death penalty (here I go going off topic to make it comply with my chapter), should Zimmerman be faced with the death penalty? This may seem a bit far fetched but he already would be getting life in prison and having to live with that guilt. Personally, no I don’t believe that Zimmerman should be getting the death penalty
because it was an accidental tragedy.An interesting fact is that 70% of whites are in favor of the death penalty and a high 40% of African Americans are in favor of the death penalty. I would be fairly certain that if the death penalty was an option for Zimmerman that the Martin family would be in favor of it. The text shows Georgia’s Guided Discretion Death Penalty Statute that I found very interesting. It was basically a list of 10 things that would implement the death penalty of one of the factors were present. I wonder if Florida or the other states with the death penalty also have a type of statute similar to this.
Is anyone truly “unarmed”? We as human beings utilize quite an arsenal when it comes to the body. Fists, feet, elbows, teeth, and head can be used as a deadly weapon. Then again, I suppose the three teens who beat that 15 year old on the bus were unarmed, the Minneapolis cop who put a man into a coma by suckerpunching him was unarmed, the teen in Utah who killed the referee was unarmed, the st. cloud teen who is notorious for the 1 punch death was unarmed, and an 11 year old Californian girl killed a classmate while she was unarmed… But hey, even if you have someone on top of you and they are bashing into your skull like a coconut, I suppose you can kiss your gun goodbye and just lay there. Because we all know its not people who kill people, it has to be the guns.
In the beginning of this case, Zimmerman was described as a white male and everyone was aware that Trayvon was a young African American boy. This case was first seen as some sort of a racial attack. It was later found that Zimmerman was a very light skimmed Hispanic. The media likes to play on the unknown and sometimes feed invalid information to the public to keep us watching. I also found it interesting how the article painted Zimmerman on his first day of court, “wide-eyed and grinning” like he was happy to be there that day. Trayvon was also a MMA trained fighter and could have easy hurt Zimmerman that night if he wanted to. Although this story is very say and a young life was lost we truly do not know what happened that night between Martin and Zimmerman.
This is a painful case. Stand your ground law does not mean follow the suspicious person and attack. Zimmerman should have never followed Trayvon period. Trayvon does not have a voice to speak his side of the story because of Zimmerman’s actions. It is a disgrace that someone can kill another human being and not be held accountable for it. I feel for his parents and family.