lovmuffin
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ORIGINAL: Milesnmiles
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ORIGINAL: lovmuffin
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ORIGINAL: Milesnmiles
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ORIGINAL: lovmuffin
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ORIGINAL: Milesnmiles
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ORIGINAL: lovmuffin
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the Zimmerman thing
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Personally, I believe that Zimmerman should be behind bars.
The stand your ground law is for those who are minding their own business and are attacked.
Zimmerman was not out on a casual evening walk, he loaded up a gun and took it with him to "patrol the neighborhood", basically looking for trouble. When he called it in, instead of doing what he was told to do and let the police handle it, instead of walking away he decided to confront the young man. Thus He precipitated the whole confrontation and when it escalated, he shot and killed the young man. Zimmerman had any number of ways to avert the situation but took none of them and so this was in no way a case of self-defense.
I think you need to go back and review the facts.
First off it wasn't a stand your ground case. He didn't load up a gun looking for trouble, he has a permit and always kept it with him. He didn't go out on patrol, he was on his way back from the store when he noticed Martin. He wasn't told to let the police handle it, he was told he didn't need to follow Martin. He didn't confront the young man, the young man confronted him. He may have precipitated the confrontation by being obvious, following Martin, but Martin would not have been shot had he not pummeled Zimmerman. I will agree that Zimmerman is a dumb ass for being less than stealthy while trying to follow but I can't find any laws against that. IMO the incident was an unfortunate freak of nature.
Okay, this is what I found;
The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman took place on the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States. Martin was a 17-year-old African American high school student. George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old mixed-race Hispanic, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was temporarily staying and where the shooting took place. According to Zimmerman's subsequent testimony, Zimmerman shot Martin, who was unarmed, during an altercation between the two. Responding to an earlier call from Zimmerman, police arrived on the scene within two minutes of the shooting. Zimmerman was taken into custody, treated for head injuries, then questioned for five hours. The police chief said that Zimmerman was released because there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's claim of having acted in self-defense, and that under Florida's Stand Your Ground statute, the police were prohibited by law from making an arrest. The police chief also said that Zimmerman had had a right to defend himself with lethal force. As news of the case spread, thousands of protestors across the country called for Zimmerman's arrest and a full investigation. Six weeks after the shooting, amid widespread, intense, and in some cases misleading media coverage, Zimmerman was charged with murder by a special prosecutor appointed by Governor Rick Scott.
Zimmerman's trial began on June 10, 2013, in Sanford. On July 13, 2013, a jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and of manslaughter charges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin
On the night of February 26, 2012, Zimmerman was patrolling the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a town-house development in Sanford, Florida. At 7:09 P.M., Zimmerman called the non-emergency police-response line. (He did not call 911.)
The call begins with Zimmerman reporting a suspicious person walking around in the rain. Zimmerman says, “We’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy.” He describes an unknown male “just walking around looking about” in the rain and says, “This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something.” Almost immediately, the dispatcher asks (Zimmerman does not volunteer the information) the subject’s race, and Zimmerman answers, “Black.” In a later observation during the call, Zimmerman confirms that the person is black. Zimmerman reports that the person has his hand in his waistband and is walking around looking at homes. Zimmerman says, further, “These assholes, they always get away.”
The dispatcher appears at first to be asking Zimmerman to keep an eye on the person. “Just let me know if this guy does anything else,” he says. A little later, Zimmerman says, “He’s running.” (Does the fact that Martin was running suggest that he was up to no good, or does it suggest that the young man was running away from Zimmerman?) The dispatcher asks, “He’s running? Which way is he running?” Again, this is an important point. It’s the dispatcher asking (for a second time) Zimmerman to watch the person.
At this point, Zimmerman follows Martin, eventually losing sight of him. The dispatcher asks, “Are you following him?” When Zimmerman answers, “Yeah,” the dispatcher says, “We don’t need you to do that.” Zimmerman responds, “O.K.” This is probably the best-known part of the exchange. The dispatcher says don’t follow him, one theory goes, Zimmerman does anyway, and that causes the fatal confrontation. But this view of the facts obscures the earlier part of the call—when the dispatcher appears to be asking Zimmerman to follow and report the person’s movements. The call ends when Zimmerman gives the dispatcher information about how the police should find him (Zimmerman, that is) in the complex. Zimmerman asks that the police call him upon their arrival so he can provide his location. Zimmerman ends the call at 7:13 P.M. The first police officer arrived on the scene at 7:17 P.M., by which time Trayvon Martin was already dead.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/07/the-facts-in-the-george-zimmerman-trial.html
That really doesn't confirm most of the things I corrected from your earlier post to me. As for the part about "patrolling", I recall that he was on the way to or maybe it was from the store and not on his regular patrol. Also the dispatcher said, "we don't need you to do that" in response to Zimmermans affirmative response to the question, "are you following him".
That's the problem you are going on what you "recall", while I posted two sources with reasonable reliability.
As for your "corrections" you continue to say Zimmerman was returning from the store but the "New Yorker" article say he "was patrolling."
You corrected me saying; "it wasn't a stand your ground case", whereas wikipedia says it was a "stand your ground case."
As for this; "Also the dispatcher said, "we don't need you to do that" in response to Zimmermans affirmative response to the question, "are you following him", at that point it was indicated to Zimmerman, there was no need to follow and if he had stopped at that point and gone home no one would have died.
So I reiterate what I said earlier; "Zimmerman had any number of ways to avert the situation but took none of them and so this was in no way a case of self-defense."
My bad, I recall was a poor choice of words. The fact is, Zimmerman was on the way to the freakin store when he spotted Martin. I don't care what the New Yorker said. They're not the only ones who didn't get their facts straight.
It doesn't matter who or how many call it a stand your ground case, it simply wasn't but if you can show me where in all the motions or in the actual trial SYG came up then I'll believe you. Just because some in the media and others were ballyhooing SYG doesn't make it so.
As for ceasing to follow, Zimmerman did stop following and started on his way back to his truck. It was on his way back to his truck that he was assaulted by Martin.
Certainly if Zimmerman wouldn't have exited his truck the whole thing might never have happened but nothing Zimmerman did was illegal.
_____________________________
"Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob the world." Unknown
"Long hair, short hair—what's the difference once the head's blowed off." - Farmer Yassir
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RE: N C home invasion shows that NC is civilized state - 
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