Having been raised in FLA and understanding the change in demographics of the past 40 years, I am not at all surprised by the verdict.
Gated communities and neighborhood watch programs have led to a culture of fear and paranoia in what once was a nice place to live.
The distrust of anyone not from this neighborhood attitude is what drove this case from the start and the media hype (local and national) made it a circus. I spent a number of years in broadcast journalism and watched several former collegues fall on their swords covering the killing and the trial.
The media hysteria surrounding the trial is another reason why the US needs to follow Canada in blocking all media coverage of a trial in progress.