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I feel bad for the family but the media needs to back off and not dramatize things. I think the watch captain will face his day in court and he better have a good lawyer.
This is one of the few instances where the media should remain engaged until this guy is convicted. This POS committed murder and is still free. There was no justification for him to get out of his car after explicitly being told not to. Just another punk @ss grown man with a gun permit. Bet he wouldn't have dared get out of that car if wasn't carrying. He would've done excatly what the police told him to do and a 17 year would still be breathing.
Getting out of your car to confront someone when you have no more right to be somewhere than they do makes YOU the aggressor and if YOU shoot the person YOU chose to confront and they die, then YOU should be locked for the rest of YOUR life.
Absolutely! This is premeditated murder, and this vicious killer should be behind bars. How anyone can even attempt to try to justify his behavior is beyond me. He had no reason to chase that boy. He certainly had no reason to kill him.
I predict Zimmerman will be arrested and charged with murder as soon as the US Attorneys Office receives the case. His claim of self-defense will not work simply because the kid was found unarmed and only had Skittles and iced tea on him. When it comes to self-defense, it has to be proportional to the threat. For example, one can shoot another if they were threatened with a gun or knife, but if one unarmed person pushes another down, and the person who was pushed down shoots the other person in the chest, that's not a proportional self-defense. Therefore, in order for Zimmerman to use self-defense in court, he'd have to prove that the Skittles and iced tea somehow presented an imminent threat which resulted in a life or death situation (which is virtually impossible).
I predict Zimmerman will be arrested and charged with murder as soon as the US Attorneys Office receives the case. His claim of self-defense will not work simply because the kid was found unarmed and only had Skittles and iced tea on him. When it comes to self-defense, it has to be proportional to the threat. For example, one can shoot another if they were threatened with a gun or knife, but if one unarmed person pushes another down, and the person who was pushed down shoots the other person in the chest, that's not a proportional self-defense. Therefore, in order for Zimmerman to use self-defense in court, he'd have to prove that the Skittles and iced tea somehow presented an imminent threat which resulted in a life or death situation (which is virtually impossible).
This is actually not true. Zimmerman should be charged because he instigated whatever confrontation occured. You can't claim self defense after you picked a fight. As to what you stated, if a 220 lb male cage fighter pushes down a 100 lb woman, her only means of defending herself may be shooting the guy. Her only porpotional response may be a firearm. These circumstances are very subjective. If an unarmed man is beating another unarmed man, the guy losing doesn't have to be beaten nearly to death before taking whatever action deemed necessary at that moment.
In the beginning of this issue I urged others not to rush to judgement simply based upon the initial reports, I sill maintain that position but less so every say. In fact I'm becoming pretty pissed off especially over the comments of the Police Chief that there isn't any "testimony" to contradict Zimmerman's story, BS!
A homicide has been committed it is not the for the police to determine the truth or falsity of the facts of this case. The fact that Zimmerman claims that he was in fear of his life, or serious bodily harm doesn't establish the REASONABLENESS of that claim!
Here is what the Florida Division of Licensing advices concealed weapons licensee:
Q. When can I use my handgun to protect myself?
A. Florida law justifies use of deadly force when you are:
Trying to protect yourself or another person from death or serious bodily harm;
Trying to prevent a forcible felony, such as rape, robbery, burglary or kidnapping.
Using or displaying a handgun in any other circumstances could result in your conviction for crimes such as improper exhibition of a firearm, manslaughter, or worse.
Example of the kind of attack that will not justify defending yourself with deadly force: Two neighbors got into a fight, and one of them tried to hit the other by swinging a garden hose. The neighbor who was being attacked with the hose shot the other in the chest. The court upheld his conviction for aggravated battery with a firearm, because an attack with a garden hose is not the kind of violent assault that justifies responding with deadly force.
Again, Florida statute 776.012
776.012 Use of force in defense of person.—A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other's imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:
(1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony; or
(2) Under those circumstances permitted pursuant to s. 776.013.
So, let me ask another question, does a 17 year old boy have the right to stand his ground and defend himself with his fist if he is being followed by a larger and hostile acting male?
Who actually had the right to stand his ground, a gun toting vigilante or a 17 year old kid? The police have absolute and in controvertible "testimony" on that score!
This is actually not true. Zimmerman should be charged because he instigated whatever confrontation occured. You can't claim self defense after you picked a fight. As to what you stated, if a 220 lb male cage fighter pushes down a 100 lb woman, her only means of defending herself may be shooting the guy. Her only porpotional response may be a firearm. These circumstances are very subjective. If an unarmed man is beating another unarmed man, the guy losing doesn't have to be beaten nearly to death before taking whatever action deemed necessary at that moment.
In case you didn't know, Trayvon was 140 pounds; Zimmerman is 240 pounds. That said, your example is completely irrelevant to this case and my examples were just that....examples (there's no need to look at it from 100 different angles).
Zimmerman can't use self-defense under any circumstances.
I believe the race of the shooter is irrelevant in this case.
No, it's relevant because this entire case is about race. No one in their right mind believes that if Trayvon were white or Asian that Zimmerman would have responded in the manner that he did. Zimmerman just saw an unknown black kid in a hoodie style sweatshirt, got scared, and deemed him "suspicious", not because of something he did, but because of his race.
If Zimmerman were a black guy, then we could totally drop the racial element of this case, but he's not.
Well I don't have any evidence of that, but I got a feeling in my gut that the police department is working on the premise.
Sure there's evidence that Trayvon's race is what prompted the 911 "suspicious person" call; it's inferred. If you recall, Zimmerman said something to the affect of "these ********, they always get away." Now who do you think he was referring to? Anyone walking back from the store? Anyone who is walking in the neighborhood? Anyone who has on a hoodie style sweatshirt (would he reference a white woman wearing a hoodie sweatshirt by saying 'these ********, they always get away')? People that have candy and iced tea in their pockets? Hmmm...or maybe he's referencing, I dunno.....black males he deems as an automatic threat?
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure all of this out. All the evidence is there to get this guy on at least 2nd degree murder.
Last edited by midatlantic12; 03-17-2012 at 03:48 PM..
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