He said OK to the dispatcher advice (not instructions) and obviously didn’t follow Trayvon any further, considering his phone was found right at the T-intersection. The NHW guidelines are irrelevant. If I were on neighborhood watch I’d carry a gun too.
“Narcissism would also explain why he can’t put himself in Martin’s shoes, and appreciate that the kid had a legitimate reason to react fearfully towards him. Which explains why he didn’t identify himself as a neighborhood watchman. In his mind, his authority should have been obvious to Martin, so the kid was inherently out of line for resisting him. All of this tragedy could have been prevented if Zimmerman had recognized from the minute he got out of his truck that his conduct was reckless and dangerous.”
Yeah, poor little Martin. He had no choice but beat up on the neighborhood watchman.
“The lack of empathy, though, is what seals it. Evidence suggests Zimmerman killed an unarmed teenager who was pleading for help. Depraved mind anyone?”
A lot more evidence suggests that Trayvon beat up on a man that was pleading for help. So, yeah, I would say that Trayvon was acting with a depraved mind.
He’s expressed remorse twice to the family and both times they decided to spin it as negatively as possible. His words are taken out of context and everything good disregarded. He can’t really win. Zimmerman doesn’t owe the Martins- or anyone else besides his supporters- a f**king thing as far as I’m concerned. If I were him I would be a hundred times more frustrated than he seems. He’s got the patience of a saint.
If Martin was fearful he had ample time to leisurely be anywhere else other than the T intersection.
Zimmerman didn’t have much time for a conversation. He was busy getting his ass kicked by Martin who had no logical reason for being there. If he was afraid he could have gone home. If he wasn’t afraid it was raining and he was done with his intended task which again would logically take him home. There is no rational explanation for hanging around the intersecting walkways other than to confront Zimmerman and the continued beating suggests the malice behind it.
It’s rather amazing that the person who absorbed the beating, caused the beating. Obviously, Zimmerman hadn’t pulled a gun out. You don’t absorb a potentially serious injury beforehand .While Zimmerman was talking on the phone to the dispatcher Martin was near the townhouse he was staying at, according to his girlfriend, than minutes later, Martin is back at the T beating up Zimmerman. Martin couldn’t still have been at the T or Zimmerman would have seen him and likely told the dispatcher, since the cops were on the way, or the dispatcher could have even heard Martin as Zimmerman approached the T.
Spoken like a dyed-in-the-wool Zimmerman apologist.
Zimmerman took the life of their son. I think it’s understandable that they are going to be incredibly upset, and if forgiveness comes, it might take a while. Of course you feel they are the problem.
Zimmerman owes the Martins more than he can ever pay for taking their son’s life. You don’t get to be butthurt about people not necessarily falling over themselves to accept your apology when you inserted yourself into a situation that ended with their loved one dead.
“I wouldn’t do anything differently” and “It was God’s will” are not statements I would make when a family had to bury their son thanks to this asshole’s inability to stay in his car and follow a simple direction from a dispatcher.
Only to protect his own life from Martin’s attack. The State of Florida allows the use of lethal force if you believe your life is in imminent danger.
Neither Martin or Zimmerman did anything illegal up until physical contact was made. Looking at someone, calling the police about a suspicious person, getting out of a vehicle, walking in your neighborhood, and asking each other what the other was doing there, was not illegal or life threatening.
It’s unfortunate that Martin died. Zimmerman has twice, publically apologized for the loss of Trayvon. The Martin can family can accept or reject that appology as they choose. These actions do not change the facts of the case. Did Zimmerman believe that his life was in imminent danger and can the prosecution prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman is guilty of 2nd degree murder. Not manslaughter but 2nd degree.
You omitted the crucial word; “Reasonably”. Zimmerman can claim his life was in imminent danger, but if the jury thinks that belief was not reasonable, they can convict.
And the juries belief would be (should be) based only on the evidence presented in court. So the big question is, does the prosecution have enough, or any, evidence that could convince a jury that Zimmerman intended to murder Martin.
The “wanted murdered or kidnapped” posters by the New Black Panther party won’t be presented in court. The deliberate audio and video distortions created by the lynch mob media won’t be presented in court. The contradictions of some of eyewitness could be presented in court. Zimmerman’s statements and interviews will probably appear in court. The pressure applied to the lead detective to push for an arrest by other Sanford police could be admitted into evidence. Martin’s GF will probably take the witness stand and I’m not sure she will stand up to cross examination. She could barely answer the SA’s questions that were being spoon fed to her.
The jury is supposed to be impartial. That will be tough to find considering the lynch mob media’s repeated attempts to sell advertisement.
Probably, along with the police reports. Probably also the doctor’s report.
You’re barking up the wrong tree with these denials that Zimmerman had a broken nose, black eyes, and lacerations to the back of his head. He did, and it can be easily proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution knows that, I would hope, and they aren’t going to make themselves look stupid by arguing a point that is so obviously wrong.
The only evidence supporting what GZ cites as the reason for killing TM is GZ’s version of events.
GZ’s SD claim rests on the jury’s willingness to believe GZ when GZ says that TM told GZ that GZ was going to die that night while reaching for GZ’s gun.
It all rests on the jury believing that GZ is telling the truth.
All the ballyhoo about GZ’s wounds is secondary at best.
GZ didn’t claim that he shot TM to stop the “savage beating.”
GZ didn’t claim that he shot TM because the beating caused GZ to fear for his life or great bodily harm.
The whole time that the beating etc is going on, what is GZ doing?
According to GZ, all he does is wriggle his head off the concrete. That was GZs response to the beating he took. He laid there and took it like a sack of meat.
GZ doesn’t go for his weapon until AFTER TM does.
So w/e GZ wounds are, they’re not the basis on which GZ is building his SD claim.
GZ’s SD claim rests on TM threatening GZ and TM reaching for a gun.
The entirety of the evidence for that threat and imminent means to carry out the threat rests on GZ’s testimony.
The audio recording evidence does not reveal the threat from TM.
There’re no witnesses who said they heard TM issue that threat or saw TM reach for GZ gun.
There are none of TM’s fingerprints on the gun.
AFAICT. there’s zero evidence to support the basis of GZ’s SD claim outside of GZ’s say-so.
In Florida, the jury cannot rely on complied inference to prove an element of the crime. But they can rely on inference to prove elements of self-defense.
Therefore, testimony from the doctor who diagnosed a broken nose could be used by the jury to find a reasonable fear of serious bodily injury, even if Zimmerman never testified.
But first, wouldn’t GZ have to show evidence that he indeed felt that fear?
My understanding is that it’s not enough for a reasonable person to have that fear, but the defendant must actually have had that reasonable fear as well.
At the moment, there’s been no indication that G had that fear. It would only take GZ saying that he had it to amount to some evidence that he such a fear.
But he has not, afaik, said that he such a fear.
So even if a jury decided that it was reasonable to feel that fear, if there’s no evidence that GZ actually had that fear.
I didn’t say they are “the problem”. I’m saying that he has already expressed his condolences and his regrets that this happened. And then people basically claim he is a sociopath, after selectively twisting his words (that were later clarified) and putting them in a context he obviously did not intend.
The problem is that people want Zimmerman to fall all over himself apologizing for defending himself from a violent attack.