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George Zimmerman

Jury: George Zimmerman Not Guilty

A verdict has been reached in the murder trial of George Zimmerman: Not guilty on all charges.

Judge Debra Nelson reconvened the jurors inside the Sanford, Florida, courtroom, late Saturday evening and asked the them to read their verdict.

The six-person jury — all women — basically had three choices: to find Zimmerman guilty of second-degree murder; to find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter; or to find him not guilty. They chose the latter.

The jurors have been deliberating for 16½ hours total, including 13 on Saturday alone.

Earlier in the day, they asked the court for clarification on its instructions regarding manslaughter. The jury couldn’t have even posed such a query a few days ago: Judge Nelson ruled Thursday, over the defense’s vehement objection, to include manslaughter as an option for jurors, in addition to a second-degree murder charge.

The open-ended question — the jurors’ first since late Friday afternoon, when they requested an inventory of evidence — was read out in court shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday. After a brief discussion between lawyers and the judge, the court recessed for about 40 minutes.

When it reconvened, shortly before the judge announced the jury had ordered dinner, prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed to a response to the jury’s question — basically asking for more detail. “The court cannot engage in general discussions but may be able to address a specific question regarding clarification of the instructions regarding manslaughter,” their response to the jury says. “If you have a specific question, please submit it.”

Manslaughter, under Florida law, is “the killing of a human being by the act … of another, without lawful justification … and in cases in which such killing shall not be excusable homicide or murder.” It is a second-degree felony.

According to the jury instructions, Zimmerman could be convicted of manslaughter if jurors believe he “intentionally committed an act or acts that caused the death of Trayvon Martin.”

“George Zimmerman cannot be guilty of manslaughter by committing a merely negligent act or if the killing was either justifiable or excusable homicide,” the instructions add. “Each of us has a duty to act reasonably toward others. If there is a violation of that duty, without any conscious intention to harm, that violation is negligence.”

If convicted of manslaughter, Zimmerman could face up to 30 years in prison. The jury, however, hasn’t been told of possible sentence lengths for any charge.

To convict Zimmerman of second-degree murder, the jury would have to believe that “there was an unlawful killing of Trayvon Martin by an act imminently dangerous to another and demonstrating a depraved mind without regard for human life.”

Such a killing would have to be “done from ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent” and would be “of such a nature that the act itself indicates an indifference to human life.”

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71 Comments

    • Because

      Because this site is run by a Shomrim affiliate and they empathize with Zimmerman.

  • Milhouse

    Boruch Hashem, there is at least some justice in the world. The only reason he was ever charged with anything is that Ben Crump and Al Sharpton saw “Zimmerman” and “Florida” and thought “Jew”. If they’d realised that he’s not white and not Jewish, they’d never have gone after him in the first place.

    As it is, it’s good for him that he was acquitted, but his life is still ruined. He will have to live in hiding, lest the black haters kill him. He has run up huge bills, he has suffered a terrible ordeal, and he may well still face a civil suit from the greedy family and the race hustlers.

    • awacs

      And you forgot the possibility of federal civil rights charges – a violation of double jeopardy, to be sure, but that what’s passes for justice in 21st century.

      (Ok, I wasn’t too upset when Lemerick Nelson was brought up on civil rights charges. But, it was still wrong on some level.)

      And, I don’t think Shapton/Crump thought/cared whether or not GZ was Jewish. Being white was enough. Being Jewish would just be icing on the cake.

    • Milhouse

      I don’t think there’s any possibility of federal charges. For one thing, the FBI has already concluded race wasn’t a factor.

      But for another and stronger thing, this didn’t take place on a public street, but in a gated community, which is private property. The civil rights prosecution of Lemrick Nelson rested on the ridiculous fiction that he only attacked Yankel HYD because he was outraged that a Jew would have the chutzpah to use the public streets as if he were a human being, and if only Yankel had been standing on private property he would have been left alone. We all know that’s ridiculous, that the outcome would have been exactly the same, but that’s what the US Attorney had to allege in order to bring the charges, and that’s what the jury had to pretend to believe in order to convict Nelson. In this case there was no public property involved, so there’s nothing to pretend.

  • Shomrim Six

    Thank G-d almighty.

    Like our very own arrest and prosecution this was a political trial, a blood libel.

    I am happy for GZ.

  • Hey Mil no need to hide him

    Bring Zimmerman to CH and let him clean up the streets here.

    • To #5

      Why don’t you take you’re racist rhetoric somewhere else? You’re no better than the race baiters in the media that turned the Zimmerman case into a race issue.

    • To #6

      No you cant just shoot anyone and get away with it. But if you are being attacked and you are in fear of your life, you can respond with the use of deadly force. It is called self defense and it is not a crime.

    • really

      ur very ignorant, you obviously don’t know much or talk with out knowing the facts!

    • Milhouse

      You can shoot anyone who attacks you and puts you in reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm. And you can get away with it, because you would have done nothing wrong.

    • Lawyer

      Yes, you can shoot and kill anyone who threatens your life and get away with it. It would be scarier if you couldn’t.

    • awacs

      Yes, you can shoot anyone who has you down on the ground and is pounding the life out of you. You can get away with it.

      Don’t try it NYC, though – you’ll be sitting a while on weapons charges, for starters.

  • Justice has been done

    Wonderful News!
    I was praying he would be acquitted. Our streets are too dangerous. If the police don’t get involved, or worse, as happened recently, when they apprehend 16-yr olds who beat up a Jewish child and let them return to the custody of their mother (sic) because of their tender age (double SIC), then the scum will get braver and bolder.
    Now they see that they can get shot if they attack someone on neighborhood watch, and if they were the aggressor, then even if they get killed, there WILL BE JUSTICE, and there WILL be PEACE, and the innocent man protecting his family and friends WILL BE JUDGED NOT GUILTY.
    Now the justice has to continue with the release of Sholom Mordechai halevy ben Rivka .

  • Yosy

    Wait until our ‘brilliant’ president weighs in. Let’s hope the ‘chaleryas’ don’t riot in our neighborhood.

  • The Right To Defend Ourselves

    We’re not sure if this exists in Crown Heights yet but we’re glad to see it prevail for once in the USA.

  • good news

    well after all there is some sort of justice in US. Had he got convicted. It would have been really sad. Thanx for posting

  • Andrea Schonberger

    I honestly don’t know understand how the jury can justify this verdict. Doesn’t the jury realize that they have, in effect, given the OK for private individuals to bypass the police and shoot a person for any reason whatsoever and without provocation? Zimmerman was told to stay in his car by the authorities. However he got out of his car and confronted Trayvon Martin on his own totally disregarding authorities. What was Zimmerman thinking of? Obviously he wasn’t thinking and now someone’s son is dead. Zimmerman is free to carry a concealed weapon again. Will he pull off another murder on an unarmed person minding their own business? G-d help us!

    • To #12

      You’re obviously not familiar with the case. Zimmerman acted in self defense. It does not matter what happened before Martin confronted Zimmerman; it is no crime to follow someone, and definitely not a crime to get out of your car after being told to stay in your car. The moment that Zimmerman feared great bodily harm or death, he had a right (according to florida law) to defend himself with the use of force. There’s was no case against Zimmerman to begin with. The Sanford chief of police did not want to charge him. The only reason he was charged and put on trial is because Obama, Al Sharpton, and the rest of the race baiters in the media got involved and started calling this racism, when it was actually not. It was classic self defense and it happens all the time. The only reason this case received national attention is because there are some people in America who love turning people against each other by playing the race card. Thank God Zimmerman was aquited! He should not have been put through this ordeal to begin with.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      You obviously didn’t follow the actual trial. Had you done so,you would not have written the comment you wrote.

      What you are doing is just regurgitating lame stream liberal media talking points.

      Had you followed the trial (day to day) you would know the FACTS.

      FACT: It is not illegal to get out of your car. Getting out of your car is not a crime and GZ didn’t stand on trial for getting out of his car.

      Your comment is what I call a Mikvah News comment.

      Bottom line: There was a full fledged trial and all the FACTS and EVIDENCE was put on the table (everyone had their day in court), the jury came to the conclusion that GZ is NOT GUILTY.

    • Milhouse

      You are lying through your teeth, as usual. Zimmerman was looking out for his neighbours, like any decent person would. He saw someone behaving very suspicoiusly, so he called the police. When the dispatcher asked which way the person had gone, he got out of his car to check. Nobody ever told him to stay in his car. That is a complete lie. After he got out of the car, the dispatcher told him he didn’t have to follow the suspect if he didn’t want to; it was up to him.

      Police dispatchers have no authority to order people around, so even if the dispatcher had given him an order he would have been free to disregard it. But there was no such order given. All the dispatcher did was inform Zimmerman that if he didn’t want to follow the suspect, he didn’t have to. He could have ignored that suggestion, but instead he took it and stopped following Martin. Martin, instead of going straight home like any normal person would have done in the rain, turned around and went looking for Zimmerman, and when he found him he jumped him and started beating him savagely, breaking his nose, and pounding his head into the pavement. Still, Zim did not draw his gun. Only when Martin saw the gun and reached for it, did Zim finally have no choice but to draw it and shoot in self-defense.

    • To Andrea

      Andrea, are you deaf, dumb or blind?

      “Without provocation”?

      Have you read the facts?

      Trayvon was on TOP of Zimmerman when Zimmerman shot him. It was self-defense.

      The jury has spoken, and justice has been served.

    • shonberger

      Imagine, you are carrying a weapon and you see someone about to break in/murder/rape/shoot (you fill the gap) AND you called 911, knowing how long it takes for cops to respond, world you stay in your car and watch a merger
      Murder scene unfold? Or would you step in?

    • awacs

      Andrea, his life was in danger.

      What should he have done, just lay down to die quietly?

      A lot of blacks would like that, but it just isn’t right.

    • Milhouse

      A lot of you other commenters are forgetting one thing. All that you say is true, but the fact is that on the tape he can clearly be heard leaving the car BEFORE the police dispatcher informed him that he didn’t have to follow Martin. So to say that he was told/instructed/advised/suggested to stay in the car is a lie. On the contrary, he got out of the car when the dispatcher asked him which way Martin had gone. He got out to answer that question, so he was following the dispatcher’s advice/suggestion/whatever.

      Also, when the dispatcher told him he didn’t have to follow Martin around, he can be heard saying “OK”. He claims he took the suggestion and stopped following Martin, and there’s no reason not to believe him. It would have been brave of him to keep following him anyway, to make sure he didn’t get away. That would have made him a hero. But he says he didn’t, and he’s probably telling the truth. He stopped following, just as the dispatcher suggested, and Martin turned around, sneaked up on him, and jumped him.

  • declasse' intelelctual

    If there was a text book case on how not to prosecute a case-this was it; many of the experts agreed that the prosecution experts aided the defense more then their side. The prosecution’s case and actions were so bad that Dersheoitz stated that they should be disbarred. Never the less the verdict is what counts and go from there.
    A consensus amongst many is that if Zimmernan was black, there never would have been a trial.

    • Milhouse

      If he didn’t have a Jewish-sounding name there would not have been a trial. The police who investigated the shooting all concluded that there was no reason to charge him with anything. Only after Sharpton got involved and there were protests and threats of riots did the politicians override the police, and the Arab prosecutor Khouri perjured herself to get him indicted.

  • Justice for some

    I am very happy this man was acquitted but we mustn’t forget SMR. A real travesty if ever there was one, just like Dreyfus trial. there is never justice for Jews.

  • City worker

    I implore you to be sensitive in your comments on this blog as they can and are seen by the public. The sentiment in the African American community is very strongly against this verdict and whether you agree or not, these are our neighbors. If this was a trial re: one of our community members, people would be angry as well.
    As people who were given the torah as our guidelight it behooves us to at least be sensitive regardless of it you agree with the verdict and NOT throw salt on the wound.
    Remember we do not live in a vacuum and all can view this blog. As one who went through the turmoil of the 1991 unrest, I implore you to keep your comments tempered and be sensitive as if this was one of your/our own

    • Milhouse

      If any of our neighbors are upset at this verdict then it proves that those neighbors are animals. No decent person can have wanted Zim to be convicted. No decent person can be sorry that the thug Martin is no longer breaking into houses and beating people up on the street.

    • @Milhouse

      Silly Milhouse, who started this whole situation. You want to act like a policeman go right ahead.

    • Milhouse

      Who started the situation was Martin, by attacking Zimmerman. Until then it wasn’t a situation. Or, if you like, Martin started the situation by behaving suspiciously in the first place.

      There is nothing special about a policeman. Policemen are not a military caste, they’re civilians just like anyone else. The responsibility of keeping a safe neighborhood belongs to every good neighbor, not to the police. That’s what Shomrim are about — do you have a problem with them too? Everybody has the right and duty to “act like a policeman” when they see something wrong, because who else will?

      What you’re advocating is the Kitty Genovese theory of public order. “Ani es nafshi hitzalti.” Until, of course, you are the victim, and nobody lifts a finger to help you because that’s the policemen’s job.

    • To Milhouse

      You have a lot of time on your hands. “Who started the situation was Martin.” Sorry, I had to laugh. I couldn’t take your comment seriously.

    • Milhouse

      What is there to laugh about? It’s the simple truth. Martin is the one who started the situation by attacking Zimmerman. Or, if you want to go back, he is the one who created the whole situation in the first place by behaving suspiciously instead of going straight home from the store.

  • Fed Up

    I am sure that good for nothing Obama and his good for nothing Attorney General, Eric Holder are upset. They got involved, since they thought Zimmerman was a white Jew. As it turns out, Zimmerman is actually Hispanic and merely having the name Zimmerman does not make him Jewish. As many, who read this blog site know, you are only Jewish if at least your mother is Jewish, not what your father is. As for our “wonderful president” and “wonderful” Attorney General, where are they when you have black on black killings? The answer no where to be found! For any of the other bloggers, who are quick to call what I wrote racist, just think about the statement that I wrote and understand that it is not racism, but the truth!

    • Milhouse

      His father is not Jewish either. There are no Jews in his family tree.

  • John

    To #12 –

    It was up to the prosecution to prove that Martin was murdered. Since you appear to know all the details of this story, you are no doubt aware that the prosecution didn’t come close to proving anything.

    Like it or not, when there is no case, the defendant gets to walk.

    • Lesson Learned

      And that’s the lesson of this saga. If you’re going to shoot, make sure you shoot to kill, so there is no witness left to testify against you.

  • rdz

    People need to remember that this verdict does not mean that Zimmerman did not do anything wrong. All it means is that the charges against him could not be proven. The facts are that he followed another person when he was told by 911 not to do so. The person was then shot and died. we do not know the context of the direct altercation (martin could have grabbed Zimmerman’s gun, etc.) between zimmerman and martin, that is why he got off. how would we react if martin was jewish?

    • Milhouse

      He did absolutely nothing wrong. There’s nothing wrong with following people, and neighborhood watch should follow suspicious people so they can tell the police where they’ve gone. And not only did the 911 dispatcher not “tell” him not follow Martin, he had no authority to tell him anything at all. All the dispatcher did was inform him that he didn’t have to follow Martin any more. it was up to Zim to decide whether he wanted to anyway. He says he didn’t, and there’s no reason not to believe him, but supposing he did continue to follow him that would make him a hero, bravely endangering himself for the sake of making his neighborhood safer.

      We do know the context of the direct altercation. All the evidence shows that Martin was beating Zimmerman. Zimmerman says Martin reached for his gun, but even if that weren’t true he would still have had every right to draw his gun and shoot just to defend himself from the beating.

      If a Jewish thug would have jumped some innocent person just for looking at him funny, and tried to beat him to death, that person would have every right to shoot him.

    • Anon

      Even the prosecution had to admit that Trayvon was on top beating up Zimmerman and the only injury Trayvon had besides the bullet wound was on his knuckles so Zimmerman obviously wasn’t fighting back while the violent thug viciously assaulted him. The prosecution’s whole case was based on trying to make the jury hate Zimmerman since they couldn’t put up a single piece of evidence.

      Everyone complaining about the verdict should realize that Trayvon chose the path of violence. So don’t turn this nasty thug who was on drugs at the time, kicked out from school, and was trying to buy guns, into some kind of Ghandi.

    • Milhouse

      No, what you really mean is that you think it’s OK to beat someone up because he looks at you funny. That people who see a suspicious person in their neighborhood should mind their own business and not care whose house gets broken into or who gets hurt. That Shomrim and neighborhood watch should be disbanded. “If you see something keep your mouth shut.” The Kitty Genovese theory of civic duty.

  • Anonymous

    How cool would it be to live in a world where George Zimmerman offered Trayvon Martin a ride home to get him out of the rain that night?

    • Milhouse

      A ride?! He was less than a minute’s walk from home but instead of heading straight there as any normal person would in the rain, he was ducking in and around buildings where he had no business being. What do you think he was doing? I think he was either casing the joint for later burglaries (remember he broke into several homes around his mother’s house, before she sent him away to stay with his father); or else he was looking for the address of the local drug dealer in his new neighborhood (his blood test showed that he had a history of drug use, but that he wasn’t on anything at the time, which may indicate that he had run out).

    • Anon

      @Milhouse

      Actually he was on drugs at the time. And he enough drugs in his system to cause him to act the way that he did.

      The 7-11 store he went to buy his skittles was only 1/2 a mile away from his home. And yet it took him 45 minutes to get only part of the way to his house… in the rain! Obviously he was up to no good.

    • Milhouse

      No, the blood test showed that he had used drugs in the past, but was not on them at the time. Which suggests that maybe his supply had run out, and since he had moved he was looking for a dealer in his new location.

  • Andrea Schonberger

    To all my detractors I would like to point out that only 2 people know exactly what happened–one is dead and the other was trying to save himself from a possible prison sentence. Now, put yourselves in Zimmerman’s shoes: wouldn’t you lie and make yourself out to be a weak sister to save yourself from a prison sentence? Sure you would! And how do I know that? Because I’d do the same–lie through my teeth until they fell out…LOL! Remember, Zimmerman was in no danger; Martin did not pull him out of the car nor did he have a gun. Zimmerman got out of his car on his own initiative against what the authorities told him to do. I guess he had delusions of himself as a wannabe hero cop who was going to save the world from a 17 year old kid. I am bound and determined to be fair and just even if it leaves a bad taste in my mouth because of a personal dislike I might have towards someone–and I have been in situations like that so it’s not easy but my conscience is at peace if nothing else. I try to put myself in the other person’s shoes and not be so quick to judge; sometimes all I have to do is to take a look back at past historical events and it’s enough. Blessings to all and may Moshiach come soon.

    • Milhouse

      Andrea, you have no basis on which to call Zimmerman a liar, and thus no right to do so. Just because you think he would lie doesn’t mean he did. There is only one living witness to the whole story, and there is no reason to suspect him of lying, so you have no choice but to believe him.

      But there are plenty of witnesses to parts of the story. For instance, your claim that “Zimmerman was in no danger” is a lie. There is a witness who saw Martin leaning over him, holding him down, and beating him “MMA style”, “ground and pound”. And of course there is the physical evidence of his injuries, together with the contusions on Martin’s knuckles, to confirm this. And the recording of his screams for help.

      You are lying when you wrote that he “got out of his car on his own initiative against what the authorities told him to do”. That is a lie. Nobody told him not to get out of the car. And had someone told him that, he would have had no duty to obey. It was his car, and he had the right to stay in it or get out of it exactly as he liked. As it happened, he got out of the car when the police dispatcher asked him which way the suspect had gone. The dispatcher didn’t tell him not to, didn’t ask him not to, didn’t suggest that he shouldn’t. Afterwards, when he was following Martin to see which way he was going, so the police would know where to find him, the dispatcher informed him that he didn’t have to do that if he didn’t feel like it. So he could have continued to follow him, and he’d have been 100% in the right, but he says he chose to stop, and there is no reason not to believe him. None of the witnesses saw him continue to follow Martin, so the only reason you would not believe him is if you hate him for some reason.

      The bottom line is that if a person behaves suspiciously in a residential neighborhood they should expect the neighbors to be suspicious and to look at them, follow them, and call the police. And if you think anybody has the right to beat someone up and try to kill them just for looking at them or following them, then you’re an animal just like Martin.

    • Anon

      That’s completely factually incorrect. John Good who was the main witness backed up Zimmerman’s account that Zimmerman was beaten viciously assaulted, wasn’t fighting back and was calling for help. Not only that, but all of the evidence presented supported Zimmerman’s claims too. For example Trayvon had no injuries besides from those on his knuckles (obviously because Zimmerman was smashing his nose into poor Trayvon’s knuckles).

      Zimmerman was definitely in danger. Thousands of people die every year from just a single punch and Martin had thrown many of them.

      Not only that, the police weren’t able to find any facts that Zimmerman said that contradicted the evidence. And according to Zimmerman, Trayvon reached for his gun and said he was going to kill him.

      If you can’t see how the jury reached their verdict I suggest you watch the trial, it’s all on Youtube. There was no way any unbiased jury would have convicted Zimmerman for killing a violent thug who was trying to kill him.

    • silly

      Better to close your mouth and appear uninformed, then to open it and remove all doubt

  • Milhouse

    Do you think Shomrim should offer rides to any sheigetz they see sneaking around houses at night?

  • chleaks.com

    The following comments are trolls who have copied and pasted from other commentators/web-sites/twitter:

    Anon wrote:

    So I kill can anybody because they look suspicious. Now I understand.

    Anonymous wrote:

    How cool would it be to live in a world where George Zimmerman offered Trayvon Martin a ride home to get him out of the rain that night?

    • Ari

      So what. People do that all the time. So, what’s your point?

      Please provide sources of these copy and paste comments.

  • @Milhouse

    Would we be talking about this case if one person stayed in his car and not pretend he was a police for a day?

    • Milhouse

      Why should he have stayed in his car? It’s a free country and he had just as much right to get out of his car as Martin had to be walking around. We would not be talking about this case if Martin had not attacked him for looking at him funny.

      And there’s no such thing as “pretend he was a police”. Policemen are not special, it is everyone’s responsibility to keep their neighborhood safe. When Z saw a suspicious person he did the right thing; he called the police, and tried to keep an eye on the suspect so the police would know where to find him, until the dispatcher told him he didn’t have to, and then he stopped.

    • Milhouse

      Actually, you know what you sound like? You sound like those who say “if that woman had stayed home and not gone out she wouldn’t have been raped”. Or “if that Jew had not been walking the streets as if he were a normal human being with the right to do so, he wouldn’t have been killed”.

  • SEREL MANESS

    IT SAYS IN THE TORAH IF SOMEONE COMES TO KILL YOU,YOU KILL THEM FIRST,THAT’S IT IN A NUTSHELL,IMM GEULA! TODAY!

  • MEDIA LIES

    This whole case makes me sick. Yes, it is sad that a 17 year old died. However the media portrayed George Zimmerman as a monster and Trayvon Martin as a little innocent boy. Only using pictures of when he was a little kid. If you search his most recent images you would find that he is not such a little boy anymore. Some pictures show him giving the finger, others him smoking. He was suspended from school, used drugs ect. Yes it is sad that he died, just like it is sad anyone dies, but he was not some little innocent boy. It drives me crazy how media turns everything around

  • Bob

    Zimmerman didn’t kill Trayvon because the boy was black; it’s because Zimmerman was a hyped-up macho shithead who wanted to be the boss of the street.

    Lemrick Nelson wasn’t out hunting Jews; he was an angry, fatherless macho looking to play tough guy. And the Hasids weren’t targeted because they were Jewish; they were targeted because they were AVAILABLE! If you replaced the Hasids with Koreans or Albanians, then the papers would call it “anti Albanian” violence.

    But just try robbing an Albanian in the Bronx. You’ll regret it (if they let you live.)