I have to disagree with him being afraid. Following a potential 'criminal', after being told not to do so from the dispatcher, leads me to think otherwise. Just guessing, but I think his weapon and 'Watch Captain' status emboldened him to act the way he did.

After all, "They always get away," pretty much tells us his state of mind. And fear, at that time, didn't seem to come into play.

 

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He was emboldened before the confrontation, but clearly afraid during and after. Getting your ass whupped tends to have that effect.... or so I've heard.

 

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So you go on vacation and leave your kids home, or brother, wife, niece, or friend in your place to take care of it. They see someone outside and go out to check, like they think you'd want them to do. Being scared, or bold, or pissed, they grab a gun. They get jumped. Are they murderers if they fire on the guy while they get beat on? Being dumb and getting to close to a perp isn't criminal on your land.

Zimmerman was authorized to follow people by everyone living in that community, including Martin's father, by proxy when they elected that HOA. Doesn't matter that they gave the job to an idiot except in a Civil suit I'd think.

 

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The problem is he put himself into that situation when advised not to do it by someone directly or indirectly in law enforcement. While I see your point, it's moot given that his own actions precipitated the entire scenario that ended with Martin's death.

News updates are saying they now struggled over the gun.

Let's be honest about this. Zimmerman wanted to be a Billy-Bad-Ass who stopped a criminal in his neighborhood. And it all went south from there.

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The problem with your hypothetical is that you don't have those people in your example call the police, be told not to follow the the suspect outside, those people do it anyway, question the suspect, and then end up shooting him on a sidewalk. Also, did they get beat up on because they did something unbelievably foolish or ignorant to provoke said suspect. Not saying the suspect is justified in attacking those people, but throwing gas on a proverbial fire doesn't make you an innocent victim either if you seek it out.

 

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No it isn't. What matters for purposes of self-defense is who instigated the violence, not who started the problem in some broader sense.

Again, we only have one side of the story because that side killed the other side. Martin was on the phone to his girl friend. At the time, we know Zimmerman had told dispatch that he'd lost the kid.

So, my hypothesis. Martin was hiding, or in a dark corner, talking to his girlfriend about the guy following him. He is a half block from his house. Zimmerman is wandering around looking for him. Zimmerman finds him. Martin asks why he was following him. So, Zimmerman was obviously pretty close to him. A scuffle ensues.

We have no way of knowing who initiated that scuffle because one side killed the other side.

But, we do know Zimmerman had been following Martin and that Martin was nervous and was going to walk home real fast. Zimmerman was a 250 adult with a gun. Martin was a skinny 17 year old with Skittles.

Zimmerman's story is that, after disregarding the dispatcher's advice, he decides he WILL walk back to his SUV and that Martin came out of nowhere and knocked him over with one punch, then straddled him and started beating him.

Seeing as one of the main participants was shot dead by the other, we will probably never know what actually happened and there might well not be enough evidence for a conviction.

But, Martin was owed more of a police investigation than the police gave him and he is owed a fair trial of Zimmerman.

 

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That's the question. We have no idea if Zimmerman provoked Martin, but it seems apparent. Why else, if true, would Martin attack Zimmerman? We know from Martin's phone call that he states some man (a stranger) is following him. A kid who is getting Arizona Ice Tea and Skittles for himself and his little brother isn't looking to attack anyone. In fact, we know he was trying to get back in time to his father's house before the halftime break ended.

Zimmerman killed the only witness who could testify in opposition to the events. That doesn't give him a pass.

 

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http://www.trayvon.tk/

This site apparently isn't in favor of Travon but it does have quite a bit compiled news stories & reports to look at.

Martin didn't jump any fence to gain entrance to the gated community . . . he was there, at the time living, with his father who lives in that community. . . .

 

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Ardenoobe - why are you still here? Thought you were leaving?

 

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