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Review begins of Florida's "stand your ground" self-defense law prompted by Trayvon Martin case
Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman / CBS/AP
Updated at 11:55 a.m. ET
(CBS/AP) LONGWOOD, Fla. - A Florida task force held its first public meeting just miles from where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed to examine a state self-defense law being used by the man who shot him.
Gov. Rick Scott's task force on Citizen Safety and Protection held the first of several meetings on the "stand your ground" law at a church Tuesday. The review was prompted by Martin's shooting, which came after an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and is in jail awaiting trial. He claims he shot the unarmed Martin in self-defense.
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Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who chairs the task force, said the meeting isn't about Martin's specific case. She also said there are no plans to meet privately with Martin's parents.
A previous task force organized by Democratic state Sen. Chris Smith also has looked at the law.
Florida isn't the only state with a "stand your ground" law, but it was the first. A study from Texas A&M University found that in Florida and 22 other states the passage of "stand your ground" laws resulted in an increase in murder and manslaughter cases, the Reuters news agency reported.
Martin's parents planned to lead a rally outside the meeting of the Citizen Safety and Protection task force. Later they will present a petition with more than 300,000 signatures asking for the reform or repeal of the law.
Carroll said Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton will be able to share their views during public testimony in the afternoon.
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"So you know for sure that Martin was a thug or a thug in the making? You sound like a racist and not one in the making a full blown one."
Mystic, I don't know; I merely suspect. Please not the word "Probably" in my post. I don't even KNOW Zimmerman is a thug. He may well have panic'd when faced with a situation suddenly out of his control. Too bad he did because if convicted his cr@ppy judgement will cost him his freedom for a long time. But you and my other detractors have missed my point:
It does not matter who or what Treyvon was. Thug or not, Zimmerman was the agressor. It could have been Carlos the Jackal out there and under the same circumstances Mr. Z would have been just as wrong.
Once again, let me emphasize, the kind of stuff Zimmerman did is NOT for amateurs. Let the cops - and due process, if necessary - do the job.
"A jury by peer's" that have little to no knowledge of this case ???
The appeal's process will be long, as who besides a homeless person doesn't know of this case?
Just food for thought.
The murder and manslaughter cases may have increased even without passage of SYG laws.
Was that murders per capita to take into account population changes?
You see, that's the whole point...
Zimmerman did exactly right when he phoned in his report of a suspicious person. It was his obligation to do that much. I don't think anyone argues with Z. up to this point.
It was what followed next that things started to go horribly wrong. Zimmerman was ordered to remain in his vehicle. The fact that it was a dispatcher makes it no less of an order. As much as Mr. Z had an obligation to report any activity he thought suspicious, he had a similar obligation - according to the protocol code issued by teh police and his own watch group - to stand aside and let the pros do their work. Zimmerman was not trained; the cops are. At some point we need to let the police do the job they were hired (indirectly) by the taxpayers to do. It was THEY, not Zimmerman who should have confronted Martin and asked, "Wha's up, dawg?"
Zimmerman did not do that. His choice to follow Martin after he phoned in all the details was the real tragedy. He took on a job he was ill prepared to do and the consequence was one man dead and another in jail.
You DO have the right to defend yourself after being followed by someone who wasn't in unifor and failed to identify himself when asked. Zimmerman was the agressor. BTW Trayvon had no arrests for violence - no arressts at all - but Zimmerman now has THREE
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Well, what entails defending yourself? And from what? Physically assaulting someone who hasn't touched you? Z didn't tackle him. He followed him. If Martin had a problem with it, then hang up on your girlfriend and call 911. Don't hang up on your girlfriend, turn and assault the person. Martin made the wrong call. Now he's dead.
I still think Zimmerman is culpable - he was instructed to drop the pursuit. He didn't. but that's what this law actually encourages - suddenly you have someone who thinks they're a bada$$ and they'll be protected by the law for inciting a situation that leaves them threatened. It's a bad law and it'll be changed soon. Count on it.
Zimmerman had every right to be there he was doing a job that he was allowed and encouraged to do, he followed a suspicious person and he was keeping him in site, only after Martin doubled back confronted Zimmerman and Then choose to place his hands on him did he forfeit his rights and all hope of justification he may have had. DON'T START VIOLENCE should be the cry in this case not Stand your ground.
"The law works, Zimmerman had the same rights to walk down the same block as this thug, He had the right to follow. Martin had no rights what so ever to attack... The proof points that zimmerman was attacked from behind as he was walking back to his car. martin got what was coming, AKA MARTIN THE FINGER, a gang banger and he was also high at the time of the crime"
The proof points to no such dam'd thing! During the initial interview investigators made no mention of injuries. I saw the same videos as everyone else when Zimmerman was first remanded to custody neither I nor anyone else saw a mark on him. Nothing from the EMT's who took a look at him right after the incident either. No mention of injuries from the initial interviewer, either.
Remember, Z. refused treatment and refused an offer of emergency services. No one insisted he go simply because there wasn't enough evidence of trauma to require it. If there was any sign of injuries to the extent he LATER claimed, he would have gone to the emergency room even if he had to be dragged there kicking and screaming.
I saw some of the photos, allegedly taken immediately after the shooting that do show evidence that Mr. Zimmerman seriously p!ssed someone off but they do NOT correlate with what an entire nation saw on the videos. My personal opinion is that someone (probably from the SPD) swatted G.Z. a few times while in initial custody and away from prying eyes to lend credibility to the self defence claim he and his family were hurriedly trying to cobble together.
Note I did not say Mr. Martin didn't assault Georgie and I am pretty sure Martin was a thug - or at least a thug in training if not yet fully certified. If he did assault our fearless warrior, he did so in his own LEGITIMATE self defense. SYG works both ways. But however it all eventually washes out, there is a lot of stuff that stinks about this case and gangsta though he may have been, Martin ain't the source of the stench.
Again I remind folks Martin may have put a few marks on Zimmerman, too. Never said he did not assault Mr. Zimmerman. He could have. I am certainly not one of Martin's friends and I would no more trust him with, say, babysitting my kids than I would trust Rush Limbaugh to tell the truth. Martin very probably was a wrong 'un.
But the truth is, what George Zimmerman said happened during those unfortunate seconds before he shot Mr. Martin and what actually did happen do not match. And the injuries that showed up after he was originally hauled in, however real they may have been are, in no way entirely the result of Treyvon's probable not-so-tender-mercies but were cooked up for the reasons I presented above.