George Zimmerman Not Guilty Verdict: Florida Manslaughter Laws Explained

“Manslaughter in Florida” is a hot search about the George Zimmerman verdict of not guilty.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the jury’s verdict found George Zimmerman not guilty on all counts of the killing of Trayvon Martin, including the last minute charge of manslaughter. Unfortunately, Trayvon riots have sprung up in Miami and Oakland.

But the George Zimmerman verdict does not mean he is truly “free” since Zimmerman “will be looking around his shoulder for the rest of his life.” Also, before the trial even began George Zimmerman was reportedly completely broke and didn’t have money to pay his defense.

In the George Zimmerman trial the jury was tasked with deliberating each charge in turn. It was a warning yesterday that we’d see George Zimmerman not guilty on at least second degree murder because the George Zimmerman jury had asked for clarification on manslaughter in Florida.

The jury finding George Zimmerman not guilty on the second degree murder meant the jury decided George Zimmerman did not show a “depraved mind, hatred, malice, evil intent or ill will” toward Trayvon Martin before the two fatally met that night. The prosecution failed to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that George Zimmerman did not believe self defense was the only way to protect himself from “imminent death or great bodily harm.”

George Zimmerman: Manslaughter In Florida Explained

But what does the law say about manslaughter in Florida? The legal definition for manslaughter is “the unjustifiable, inexcusable, and intentional killing of a human being without deliberation, premeditation, and malice.” Some states allow for an “imperfect self-defense,” where someone kills in self defense and overreacted, but in Florida the George Zimmerman jury only had the options of saying George Zimmerman either had a right to act in self-defense or was a murderer.

If the judge had allowed the middle ground option of aggravated assault the George Zimmerman jury could have had more options to fit the details of this case. But if since they apparently leaned toward self defense their only option was to let George Zimmerman go based upon Florida law since the jury is only allowed to consider in turn the charges presented to them as options.

Do you think manslaughter Florida laws were fairly applied in the George Zimmerman jury’s not guilty verdict?