The Blue Board

Listening to the media I would say they need to fry this guy.

I don't believe the media so I say let it play out in court.

Considering the evidence,this guy is .

Going to be discussed on CBS' Nightly News after the commercial.

Zimmerman should be tried for murder in my opinion. He pursued the boy after 911 Dispatch told him that was unnecessary. He made the call to the police, his 'responsibility' was done there. Beyond that, he tried to play vigilante and ended up killing a young man who had done no harm to anyone.

An excerpt from the "Stand Your Ground article quotes a retired Boca Raton police chief as saying:

"'My gut reaction was this was an accidental discharge,” Sweeting added. “If you put yourself in the shooter’s position and you’re wrestling with this kid and a gun goes off, what are you going to tell the cops?'"

Right.

Martin was murdered because he was black, period. Zimmerman's racist/bitch ass needs his ass beat ten times over and then tried for murder. It's really that simple. Anything less in unacceptable.

As a disclaimer, I don't practice criminal law, so my experience in the arena comes solely from law school, the bar exam, and the occasional CLE class.

With that in mind, everything about this case stinks. Self-defense requires the person claiming it to use reasonable force. In the case of deadly force (like this shooting) the individual must have reasonable fear of death or serious injury. I haven't seen anything that even suggests that Zimmerman was fearing either.

Second, Zimmerman instigated the entire confrontation. And then escalated it to the point of deadly force. You certainly can't claim self-defense when you're the individual who instigated violence, especially deadly violence.

It's complete BS that the DA hasn't charged him yet. If he wants to try and use the defense of self-defense when he's in court, so be it. But it makes no sense to actually avoid pressing charges in the beginning, especially when the evidence is so damning to begin with.

Good question. The court will look at the circumstances to determine whether a reasonable person, in the same circumstances would have a fear of death. So it's a way to try and make something inherently subjective (fear of death) be as objective as possible (reasonable person standard).

In this case, the facts (as we know them now, at least) seem stacked heavily against Zimmerman. He was the instigator, he was the only individual armed, Martin was apparently trying to flee from him, and he's much larger than Martin. So, if you pull a gun on someone who is trying to run away from you, is unarmed, and is much smaller than you, you're gonna have a hell of a time trying to prove that you reasonably feared for your life.

It kind of is, yeah. But it's backed up by previous case law that the judges can reference to at least have a sort of uniform way of proceeding.

Also, I just read the linked article above by TalHawkins regarding the "stand your ground" statute in Florida. I guess that kind of throws most of what I said out the window. It's a pretty surprising law to me, and I don't live in the most liberal of states (Nevada). I haven't heard of anything like that in any other jurisdiction, either.

Kind of ashamed to live in Florida after reading about this law. Combined with the VERY relaxed rules on concealed weapons, pretty much means you get to kill anyone if you get into any type of heated argument. Dont get into a fistfight in Florida, your ass will get capped.

agreed...story takes on a different meaning when it's a white kid

this guy should be put to death for his blatant disregard for human life in this case

racial bastard who attacked a 14 year kid then shot him...most likely had intent to kill him from the minute he started following the kid

Agreed. But my point is that the cops haven't done anything about it, and if the kid was white...it would have been a different story. I mean someone chased down a kid and shot him! My mind is blown, feel for the kid and his family. RIP