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- This whole situation is ridiculous. Zimmerman is guilty, plain and simple. He followed and chased a young boy, who had no weapon, then killed him. There are witnesses and also his friend who was on the phone with him when this happened. I would not want my family nor I to ever go to Florida again until this man is arrested and charged with a hate crime. Also, they need to get rid of this horrible law, people can shoot you if they feel threaten????? This is not a safe State for anyone. We should boycott traveling to Florida.
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- 1. The so-called "Stand Your Ground" law does not apply since Zimmerman was not approached by Martin, but instead, actively and intentionally placed himself in danger by getting out of his car to physically attack Martin.
Moreover, even if the "Stand Your Ground" law removes the requirement that one attempt to retreat before using deadly force, it does not alter the other aspects of the self-defense doctrine, one of which is that the "aggressor" cannot claim self-defense. Zimmerman cannot leave the safety of his vehicle to physically attack Martin, then claim to shoot Martin in self-defense when Martin resists.
2. The reason given by police for not arresting Zimmerman is absurd. The police chief is quoted as saying:
"In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self-defense," Lee said. "Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don't have the grounds to arrest him."
The very fact that the 911 calls establish that Zimmerman sought out the physical confrontation with Martin is sufficient basis to dispute his claim of self-defense and arrest him. Moreover, the State is not required to wholly disprove a claim of self-defense to establish probable cause for either an arrest or indictment. To establish probable cause the State need only establish that Zimmerman was armed with a deadly weapon, that Zimmerman was the initial aggressor, and that Zimmerman shot Martin.
It then becomes up to Zimmerman to establish to a judge or jury that he was properly acting in self-defense. Given that he actively sought out the confrontation and was the aggressor, while carrying a gun, its a pretty weak self-defense claim. - Reply to this comment
- No matter what ... It's called EXCESSIVE FORCE! You can only meet a perceived threat with an appropriate amount of force. In other words, you can't GUN DOWN an unarmed man. That is not the appropriate amount of force, it is EXCESSIVE. Why wasn't Zimmerman arrested for that? Why do they call it "NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH" instead of "SHOOT FIRST ASK QUESTIONS LATER"?
What is wrong with Florida? Oh, my bad, they elected Rick Scott as their Governor, a man who was forced to resign as the head of a company that pled guilty to massive amounts of systematic fraud, including 14 felonies, leading to a historic $1.7 billion fine." THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING! - Reply to this comment
- "We want to make sure if a crime victim acts to save his life they can't be penalized or prosecuted for doing so," says NRA spokesperson Andrew Arulanandam.
In the context of the Trayvon Martin killing, this statement makes my blood boil. - Reply to this comment
- Even in giving the killer the benefit of the doubt, the killer should have been arrested, and, eventually charged--manslaughter? By what stretch of the imagination is the killer's claim of self defense to be believed, when the killer of Trayvon Martin made every unreasonable effort to discover if his suspicions about this 17 year old were true--after calling the police no less. The killer, a crimewatch guy, bares the burden of understanding a situation. The killer said "They always get away." The killer was prejudiced; a police officer is trained to know the rights of an individual. The killer believed his own assumptions, was wrong, and killed someone. I would not like to die tomorrow because someone misjudged me. Trayvon did nothing wrong. His death could have been mine--anyone's. And the fall out from Trayvon's death is, oooops, sorry?
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- To all the bigots here, including the article's author: Zimmerman isn't white. He's Hispanic from a "multiracial" family, per his parents.
To all the idiots here: Zimmerman chased this kid down and killed him. He wasn't attacked; he was the attacker. The 911 tapes prove it. - Reply to this comment
- Here's a question. If your child / teen is approached by a man driving an SUV in daylight, twilight, evening or whatever, what is he "supposed" to do? I personally would never confront anyone younger than I am because in this crazy world, that could start a crap storm of trouble for reasons too deep and numerous to get into. Let the cops handle it.
Did Zimmerman fear for his life before or after he left the security of his "enough fuel flee in case the crap hit the fan" SUV? The law is not supposed to protect instigators who:
A. Purposefully bite off more than he / she could chew.
B. Kill someone when there was a crystal clear alternative.
One thing is for certain. The ball is no longer in Zimmerman's or the Sanford PD's hands anymore. The cops may have to arrest him for his own safety - which they should have done from jumpstreet. People just don't put 2 and 2 together anymore. - Reply to this comment
- You know that for sure, if the reverse would have happen, then the black guy would be in jail and have been beated by the police for resiting arrest. Why would the neighborhood even have him a the leader of the Neighborhood Watch if he as a crimial record? He must have some king of connection with the police chief, being that the chief does not think that he did anything wrong.
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- Wow this article is tripe! We've all been trained to fear black men? I guess I missed that class in high school!
I'm a CHL holder and I'm rooting for this guy to be charged with murder. He started the fight.
But the whole suggestion of CHL holders being "pistol-packing urban cowboys and paranoid people" is entirely offensive and factually incorrect. Compared to the rest of the population, CHL holders are, as a statistical group, the most law abiding people in the country. More so that even law enforcement officers! - Reply to this comment
- All of the people who are on here making this an issue about race are ridiculous. Racism does not exist because of "the white man", it exists because of all of the people who make every black american out to be a "victim". This story is cut and dry. The two got into a fight, the kid got killed, end of story. What caused the fight, who knows, but who cares. As far as I'm concerned, everyone has a reason to fear for his/her life when someone starts punching you in the face. These young punks are getting braver by the minute, and they are raised to have zero respect for the law. I live in Northern California where half of the teenagers out here go out of their way to mess with the police, and to mess with us law abiding citizens. I would feel the same for any punk who felt like they should start punching a man in the face whether he was black, white, mexican, asian, doesn't matter. If you're brave enough to pick a fight with a man, who lives in a state where it is legal to carry a gun for self defense, then you deserve what you get, moron. Here's another thing for you liberals who always want to attack the lawful gun owner and defend the punk criminal.... someone said "From what I've heard, he was a good kid. Everyone liked him". Take a look at every story where a gang banger shoots and kills someone or gets killed. Every time they interview friends and neighbors we always hear the same thing. "He was a good guy, he was trying to get his life back together" . Blah blah blah. I'm tired of hearing about it. It's time the government start letting us carry guns and using them like they can in Florida, then maybe these idiots would stop committing crimes.
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