You need objective evidence in this case, and one of the two involved is dead.  Therefore there is  no way the crown will prosecute a case it cannot win.  The whole society loses and suspicion and fear will increase.  In my community  neighbourhood watch people  are just that- watchers and they  only watch and report to police what they observe.  Actually the police here are less than enthusiastic about citizen patrols here because they think everything should be left to professionals ie: themselves.  I disagree because citizens need to be proactive in their own neighbourhoods and it is my own admittedly,  rather cynical personal axiom, that all governments are incipient tyrannies so they  need constant scrutiny and  so do the various control mechanisms through which they exercise their power.  I am not part of a  neighbourhood watch program by the way, but I have thought of getting involved in it.

But ...

In THIS Case, The Vigilant Vigilante Night Stalker is a well-connected WHITE Guy ...

Mar 29, 2012 -- 3:42PM, rabello wrote:

There is objective evidence that an unarmed pedestrian who was doing NOTHING WRONG was singled out, stalked, and threatened based on what he looked like. 

Ultimately, it comes down to what kind of country we want this to be: one, where the rule of the vilgilante reigns supreme or one where the rule of law reigns supreme.  Frontier justice isn't appropriate anymore.

Can we say vigilante for sure? Yep, seems so.

"The alleged action of a “self-appointed neighborhood watchman” last month in Sanford, FL significantly contradicts the principles of the Neighborhood Watch Program,” stated N[ational]S[heriffs']A[ssociation] Executive Director Aaron D. Kennard, Sheriff (ret.). “NSA has no information indicating the community where the incident occurred has ever even registered with the NSA Neighborhood Watch program.” [emphasis added]

Source

(apologies if this duplicates an earlier posting. I haven't read through all the 500+ contributions to the thread)

Yeah ...

I happen in Fact to BE one of the (fairly) well-connected White Guys ... Clergy ... Politically involved and connected ... Law Enforcement Family (one of my Nephews; one of my Brothers; I am a former Prison Chaplain) ... AND ... my Son, my ONLY Son (adopted) ... is a Person of Color ...

So, YES ... I have a personal Interest in these such Incidents ...

Mar 29, 2012 -- 11:49PM, mainecaptain wrote:

Mar 29, 2012 -- 3:42PM, rabello wrote:

There is objective evidence that an unarmed pedestrian who was doing NOTHING WRONG was singled out, stalked, and threatened based on what he looked like. 

Ultimately, it comes down to what kind of country we want this to be: one, where the rule of the vilgilante reigns supreme or one where the rule of law reigns supreme.  Frontier justice isn't appropriate anymore.

Anyone who defends the murderer, never thinks it could have been them, or their child who was murdered. But it could be, and it can be. It could be any of us. At any time.

At a MINIMUM, The City of Sanford and George Zimmerman will face a VERY expensive Civil Lawsuit for "Wrongful Death" ...

Mar 30, 2012 -- 2:11PM, Larosser wrote:

Mar 29, 2012 -- 11:56PM, mainecaptain wrote:

The thing I find so baffling, is how people are defending a murderer, who stalk a teenager walking back from the store and then killing him. a harmless, defenceless teenager, who was smaller then the gun man.

The only thing I can think of,is people are thinking maybe one day they will do this so they can not allow anyone going to prison for it. They put themselves in the position of the murderer, not the poor victim.

This could have been anyone's child. This could have been anyone, anyone of us murdered.

 

Agreed. Regardless of what rationale George Zimmerman used to decide Trayvon Martin was "suspicious" enough to make him disregard neighborhood watch protocols and disobey police direction by following Martin, the fact remains that six minutes after making the 911 call in which he admits to being the first agressor, an unarmed kid was dead. The shooter was not arrested, and if it weren't for public pressure, the whole incident would have faded away.  I can't really come up with any scenario that makes that okay.

La