Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman
No discussion here about the recent Zimmerman decision in Florida?
Or comparison with the Alexander decision?
I'd be very interested in what Americans think about these verdicts, bearing in mind that the rest of the world appears to think they're both travesties of justice.
This case had nothing to do with Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law
Greetings everyone,
You guys are so misinformed that you are embarrassing yourselves.
First, Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law simply says that a threatened individual does not have a statutory requirement to "run away" from a threat, thus removing a common prosecutorial ploy against self defense claims, i.e. "[i]the defendant's claim of self defense in shooting the aggressor who was breaking down his bedroom door should be denied because instead the defendant could have jumped out the window and run away[/i]".
The statute seems reasonable to me and apparently also to the legislators and governors of the 20 states that have enacted such statutes.
Second, and more relevant in this case, George Zimmerman's defense team [u]DID NOT INVOKE[/u] any claims under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law.
Did I make that plain enough for you pinheads out there?
Perhaps I need to say it again: George Zimmerman's defense team [u]DID NOT INVOKE[/u] any claims under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. They did not request a "Stand Your Ground" hearing, and they did not assert a "Stand Your Ground" defense during the trial.
Just as noteworthy, the fanatical state prosecutors, who tried every other trick in the book, never attempted to claim that GZ could have avoided shooting TM by instead running away during TM's attack.
The reason is simple: As the physical evidence, the audio evidence, and the eyewitness testimony showed, TM attacked GZ, punching him in the face, breaking his nose and subsequently knocking him to the ground, whereupon he jumped on GZ, repeatedly smashing his head against a concrete sidewalk and was subsequently wailing on him with his fists before GZ, while still on his back with TM on top of him, pulled out his legally licensed pistol and shot TM one time in the chest. In this scenario, with TM sitting on his chest, GZ clearly did not have an option to "run away".
This was a classic case of self defense, and that's it. If you want to argue against the principal of self defense or against the self defense laws that are on the books in EVERY ONE of the country's 50 states, then go right ahead, but this case had nothing to do with Florida's "Stand Your Ground" statute.
Thanks,
Jackson