Why is George Zimmerman allowed to roam free tonight?

Tanglebones wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

You'd think he'd go out of his way to not cause any trouble after the trial.

I'd call this an extreme case of doubling down on one's own sense of badassery. He must think he's untouchable now.

Well.. after he got away with molesting his cousin for 10 years, assaulting his previous fiancee, *AND* Trayvon? Understandable that he'd feel untouchable.

It's like he's trying to beat his personal high score.

What can I get away with?

Molestation? Check
Hitting my ex-fiancée? Check
Killing a kid? Check
Punching my father in law & threatening my wife with a gun? TBD

This dude should've been locked away. Instead, he's on the streets and still has his flippin gun.

Nevin73 wrote:

This is warped thinking, but I almost wonder if Zimmerman is a target of local Florida cops now for making them look bad. After all, if he hadn't shot the unarmed kid, the police wouldn't have looked inept for not investigating because the kid was black.

I don't doubt that they're watching him very closely after everything, but I'm fairly sure they didn't somehow trick him into threatening his estranged wife and her father.

http://news.yahoo.com/fla-police-cal...

Since his acquittal, Zimmerman has gotten a speeding ticket in Florida and was pulled over was stopped for speeding on a highway near Dallas.

Forney police stopped Zimmerman on Sunday as he drove west on U.S. 80, about 20 miles east of Dallas. A police dashcam video released July 31 shows an officer interacting with Zimmerman and letting him go with a warning.

The officer can be heard saying, "Just take it easy. Go ahead and shut your glove compartment. Don't play with your firearm."

Well I see no way that all this could end badly.

Zimmerman wrote:

Those assholes, they always get away with it.

Perhaps he was speaking of perpetrators of domestic violence?

It's a cheap shot and not that funny, but the schadenfreude did warm my dismal Monday.

Demosthenes wrote:

My question being... does THIS stop him from being able to own a gun in the future?

If he is eventually convicted "in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence", then yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law...

Edit: Of course, without actual enforcement of the law, Zimmerman may continue to have firearms in his possession (albeit unlawfully).

Mystic Violet wrote:

He must think he's untouchable now.

His wife did said that Zimmerman felt "invincible" after the trial in a recent interview about their divorce.

OG_slinger wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

He must think he's untouchable now.

His wife did said that Zimmerman felt "invincible" after the trial in a recent interview about their divorce.

if you were falsely accused and found innocent you wouldn't feel invincible. You would feel, at best, normal and more likely fragile as your whole life was just on the line for something you didn't even do.

It's possible that an estranged wife looking for leverage in a pending divorce case might not be the most credible of sources.

Trophy Husband wrote:

It's possible that an estranged wife looking for leverage in a pending divorce case might not be the most credible of sources.

I'd say he has less credibility than she does, at this point, but point taken.

SixteenBlue wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

He must think he's untouchable now.

His wife did said that Zimmerman felt "invincible" after the trial in a recent interview about their divorce.

if you were falsely accused and found innocent you wouldn't feel invincible. You would feel, at best, normal and more likely fragile as your whole life was just on the line for something you didn't even do.

Seriously. This might be the truest thing ever. Holy crap.

edit -- my zeal may accidentally be reading as sarcasm. Not intended. I was thinking about how I would feel if I were falsely accused and dragged through the mud and barely scraped by with my freedom. "invincible" is the LAST descriptive term I would pick.

Trophy Husband wrote:

It's possible that an estranged wife looking for leverage in a pending divorce case might not be the most credible of sources.

And when you factor in the institutional racism against minorities inherent in our justice system...

Idle snark aside, it's important to remember that Mrs. Zimmerman was complicit in lying to the judge about how much money they had.

George may or may not have instigated this conflict, though I found the line in kazooka's post where an officer is having to tell Zimmerman not to play with his gun during a traffic stop more than a little alarming. If that's accurate, it definitely would lead credence to the notion that George Zimmerman is far too casual about firearms, even after having been charged with murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

DevilStick wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

My question being... does THIS stop him from being able to own a gun in the future?

If he is eventually convicted "in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence", then yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law...

Edit: Of course, without actual enforcement of the law, Zimmerman may continue to have firearms in his possession (albeit unlawfully).

We'll see.
From another Yahoo article.

He was later released without charges when his wife and father-in-law refused to press charges or give police a sworn statement.

I can't understand that mentality. I once called the cops on a fiancee (not Missy) who started swinging on me and had her arrested, and that was without the concern that she was armed and would be a threat to anyone's life. Nice going there Shellie and Dad.

Dr_Awkward wrote:
DevilStick wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

My question being... does THIS stop him from being able to own a gun in the future?

If he is eventually convicted "in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence", then yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law...

Edit: Of course, without actual enforcement of the law, Zimmerman may continue to have firearms in his possession (albeit unlawfully).

We'll see.
From another Yahoo article.

He was later released without charges when his wife and father-in-law refused to press charges or give police a sworn statement.

I can't understand that mentality. I once called the cops on a fiancee (not Missy) who started swinging on me and had her arrested, and that was without the concern that she was armed and would be a threat to anyone's life. Nice going there Shellie and Dad.

Possibility of concern of retaliation from him later... possibly his, to my mind, even scarier brother? I dunno... I would say they still should have pressed charges... but she might also be worried about another aspect of her life becoming a national TV fiasco.

Fair points, but if she's terrified while he's under the same roof or terrified while he's under a restraining order I sure know which I'd pick.

SixteenBlue wrote:

if you were falsely accused and found innocent you wouldn't feel invincible. You would feel, at best, normal and more likely fragile as your whole life was just on the line for something you didn't even do.

That certainly is one interpretation.

Another would be that the entire world was out to get me--the police, the courts, the public, and especially the media--and I beat them all at their own game. Snatching a victory like that out of the jaws of certain defeat could make someone feel that there wasn't a power in the 'verse that could stop them.

Dr_Awkward wrote:
DevilStick wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

My question being... does THIS stop him from being able to own a gun in the future?

If he is eventually convicted "in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence", then yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_law...

Edit: Of course, without actual enforcement of the law, Zimmerman may continue to have firearms in his possession (albeit unlawfully).

We'll see.
From another Yahoo article.

He was later released without charges when his wife and father-in-law refused to press charges or give police a sworn statement.

I can't understand that mentality. I once called the cops on a fiancee (not Missy) who started swinging on me and had her arrested, and that was without the concern that she was armed and would be a threat to anyone's life. Nice going there Shellie and Dad.

Right - whether he is actually convicted is a big "if".

Dr_Awkward wrote:

From another Yahoo article.

He was later released without charges when his wife and father-in-law refused to press charges or give police a sworn statement.

I can't understand that mentality. I once called the cops on a fiancee (not Missy) who started swinging on me and had her arrested, and that was without the concern that she was armed and would be a threat to anyone's life. Nice going there Shellie and Dad.

It's really not the victim's decision whether or not charges are pressed. It's the DA's. As for refusing to give a sworn statement either she's terrified, or she's concerned about the repercussions of giving false testimony.

I take it that common assault laws are different in the US to the UK, because what the wife described is assault and battery.

Maq wrote:

I take it that common assault laws are different in the US to the UK, because what the wife described is assault and battery.

Apparently Zimmerman is giving the cops the tape, so we'll see, but naturally, outside of "there may have been some touching and pushing" from his lawyer... we don't really know enough yet.

Don't forget, it's *extremely* common for women in abusive relationships to refuse to press charges, give statements, or generally do anything that might create problems for their abuser. Heck, it's a truism among cops that if you're in a domestic situation and try to restrain the attacker, the one being attacked is just as likely to go after *you* for putting hands on the offender.

So I don't view this as any subtle indicator that one or the other is lying or prepping a case for court. It ties back into the bigger issue of the upcoming divorce, certainly, but I view it as more of a "he's become even more of an asshole than he was, so I'm leaving" than some other unstated reason for which his wife might have to lie.

No gun involved, wife is apparently a huge liar

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...

Lake Mary Police are now questioning the validity of several statements Shellie Zimmerman made when she told 911 dispatchers her estranged husband, George Zimmerman, threatened her and her father at gunpoint Monday afternoon.

"We did not find a gun, did not locate a weapon," said Zach Hudson, public information officer with the Lake Mary Police Department. "Nobody ever saw a gun. A gun is not part of this story."

NormanTheIntern wrote:

No gun involved, wife is apparently a huge liar

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...

Lake Mary Police are now questioning the validity of several statements Shellie Zimmerman made when she told 911 dispatchers her estranged husband, George Zimmerman, threatened her and her father at gunpoint Monday afternoon.

"We did not find a gun, did not locate a weapon," said Zach Hudson, public information officer with the Lake Mary Police Department. "Nobody ever saw a gun. A gun is not part of this story."

Did they check his glove box? They didn't find a gun at all when he apparently still had one? Now I'm confused.

Hudson told ABC Action News Shellie provided a written statement Monday night saying she never saw a gun and only assumed her estranged husband was carrying a weapon because he touched his stomach.

I feel like this may be irony.

He was just hungry.

In his pocket was a bag o- nvm

Well, with his history, I think she had plenty of grounds to shoot him, just in case. There was obviously something wrong with him.

Yup, she could have easily made a case for feeling her life was threatened and then shot him in self-defense.

Farscry wrote:

Yup, she could have easily made a case for feeling her life was threatened and then shot him in self-defense.

A white woman standing her ground against a brown man would be a fun court case.

UN asks US to review Trayvon Martin case

"We have asked the US government to guarantee that its laws correspond with international legal obligations," emphasized the specialists of this world body.

They also recalled that United States is a signatory to the international conventions on civil and political rights as well as the elimination of racial discrimination and other related agreements.

That kind of makes me happy. The US should be answerable to such things. Does this not happen very often (where such questions are raised by the UN against the US about internal matters) or am I simply ignorant of it?