Zim is a complete asshole , but even assholes have a right to defend themselves.
but he created the situation entirely.
He jumped out of truck and chased a minor who was running away. The kid ran two blocks and hid in some bushes. ZImmerman found him - the kid was cornered at this point - and then a fight ensued. We do NOT know who threw the first punch - only zimm's claim, and he changed story several times, his own lawyer admits it.
We don't know who threw first punch. We do know that zimm chased him 2 blocks with a gun and got him cornered.
If the prosecutor hadn't gotten greedy, and would have dropped the 8 year manslaughter charge as a possibility, zimmerman would have gotten that. I think one juror even admitted they wanted to give him SOMETHING, but it was either 25 to life in prison. or he walked. There was no decade charge for a deadly situation that he really did create.
Re-enact it. Start chasing a kid into a dark alley with a gun. Lose a fight, shoot him in the chest, and what will happen? 9 times out of 10, you're going to do some time. I could have been chased and put ten rounds into him, and I would have walked - because I could have reasonably said I was in fear for my life. Stranger jumped of car in rain with gun, he's 50 pounds and ten years bigger, and he has me cornered in some bushes. Yes, that's very good ground for a legal shoot. TRAYVON MADE EVERY EFFORT TO RETREAT - AND EVEN HIDE!!!!! Trayvon could have wasted zimmerman, and he would have walked. Using his fists as a weapon instead, if he feared for his life, was arguably justifiable at that point.
DA/prosecutor blew this case. ZImmerman's "innocence" had nothing to do with it. They wanted a home run, wouldn't settle for a double.
