he has been charged with 2nd degree murder and he will be attempting to have the case thrown out on the "stand your ground" law. If that fails he will plead self defence.
you may say the facts i stated are irrelevant but when the case goes to trial, the prosecution will use all of them to show events leading up to the killing and to show that before any contact between the two, zimmerman had already decided that trayvon was a criminal and showed ill will towards him (aholes comment etc) and he was determined he should not get away.
Who is questioning that Zimmerman thought Trayvon may have been a criminal? That isn't an issue in this case. The facts that are of utmost importance are those related to the altercation that ensued. Hence, my repeated comments regarding the elements of the statutes involved.
he has been charged with 2nd degree murder and he will be attempting to have the case thrown out on the "stand your ground" law. If that fails he will plead self defence.
his pursuit of an unarmed, innocent man late at night (against police instruction) provoked the physical confrontation that followed.
The fact that Trayvon was "unarmed" and "innocent" does not matter considering the statutes involved. Before you repeat this imbecilic news talking point, let me help you: You can legally shoot an unarmed, innocent person depending on the facts involved...just like you can legally shoot someone who is armed
depending on the facts involved.
You are assuming Zimmerman "provoked the physical confrontation" simply because he was following a suspicious person while talking to a 911 dispatcher about the suspicious person. To reiterate, you are
assuming he "provoked the physical confrontation." Zimmerman says otherwise. Moreover, if I was following you and you noticed...you may confront me. No? Illogical to you? Can you physically attack me under Florida law because I was following you for the first time while talking to a 911 dispatcher?
Again, he was speaking to a 911 dispatcher on the phone. There was no police officer on scene or on the phone giving him orders to adhere to. Additionally, the issue here is whether the killing was justifiable, NOT whether it could have been avoided. ALL killings could have been avoided. Whether the killing could have been avoided is not at issue here. Again, the issue is whether the killing was justifiable.
from what i can gather from the bits i have read from witnesses it doesn't look like there is much there to help zimmerman (could be wrong?).
if not his defence hinges solely on his own testimony...
Witness number six saw Trayvon on top of Zimmerman while on the ground before the shooting. Also, look at the medical report about Zimmerman and Trayvon's autopsy report that I discuss in my final paragraph.
there is evidence of him already changing his story in certain areas i.e, the 911 transcript he describes trayvon as being late teens(very accurate) and then in a pre trial hearing under oath he says he thought trayvon was only a little bit younger than himself. stuff like that allows the prosecution to paint him as a liar and suggest that all of his testimony should be disregarded as unreliable as he has been proven to be a liar.
Late teens = 19.
Zimmerman = 28. A little bit younger = 23-26?
You are suggesting that Zimmerman's conflicting comments as to whether Trayvon was 19 or 25ish...will deem him "unreliable" and a "proven liar" to a jury?
also his injuries looked like he had been in a minor scuffle as opposed to a fight for his life, having had his head smashed off concrete and undergoing a savage beating, as he claims. a couple nicks on the back of his head that didn't even require a single stitch and minimal if any facial marks.
According to the medical report, Zimmerman was diagnosed with a "closed fracture" of his nose, a pair of black eyes, a swollen lip and cheek, two lacerations to the back of his head, and a minor back injury. The autopsy report shows that Trayvon suffered injuries to his knuckles, his hands were bloody from the skin being broken. Moreover, there was THC in his system. THESE are the facts that matter.
