Regardless of where one comes down on the Trayvon Martin shooting, it is a tragic scenario that has exhibited the best and worst of America.
The best is reflected in the power of social media, transforming a local issue into a national news story that swept the nation.
The worst was evident by both sides of the divide, demonstrating little patients for the facts to unfold before not only rendering their decision prematurely, but engaging in the most reprehensible behavior.
Filmmaker Spike Lee took matters into his own hand by publishing on Twitter what he believed was the address of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed Martin on February 26 in Sanford FL. The address was not Zimmerman's but a septuagenarian couple who feared for their lives as they received needless threats.
Assuming it was Zimmerman's address, what was Lee thinking?
Not to be outdone, some supporting Zimmerman have also participated in the worst behavior. After the shooting, gun range targets meant to resemble Martin went on sale in Florida and reportedly sold out within two days.
What's striking is the moral gap that exists between what we think we know and how jurisprudence is actually practiced in Florida.
Under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, the section most applicable to Zimmerman's second degree murder trial states:
"A person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony."
How the aforementioned statement is understood may very well determine whether Zimmerman is exonerated without a jury trial. Zimmerman's attorney could seek a "Stand your Ground" hearing.
In a "Stand your Ground" hearing one's fate does not rest with a jury of one's peers but only with a judge. If the judge rules stand your ground law applies, case closed, and Zimmerman is a free man.
Assuming there is a "Stand your Ground" hearing, the judge's decision could rest on how widely the facts apply. If stand your ground is limited to the immediacy of the shooting, the gashes on Zimmerman's head, and that he is the only surviving member of this tragedy who knows exactly what occurred, could bode well for his release.
But what if a wider range of circumstances are included? What if Zimmerman's stand your ground defense began on September 11 2011, when he hosted a neighborhood watch meeting?
According to NBC, a PowerPoint presentation conducted by a Sanford police officer at the neighborhood watch meeting, expressly stated do not pursue or attempt to capture subjects, do not carry arms, and no vigilante justice. Does stand your ground exempt one from the neighborhood watch PowerPoint presentation?
Or what about the simple fact that after Zimmerman placed his 911 call alerting them to Martin's "suspicious" behavior, confirms he is following Martin and is told by police dispatch, "We don't need you to do that," he gets out of his car?
In this light is Zimmerman still justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat because he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death?
Zimmerman getting out of the car after being told by law enforcement essentially to "cease and desist" seems problematic for his defense. Under Florida's stand your ground law, can one leave the safety of one's vehicle, ignore police instructions, and still be exonerated without a jury?
If so, the "Sunshine State" will harbor dark clouds for the foreseeable future.
Follow Byron Williams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/byronspeaks
No one has a legal duty to follow the suggestions of a neighborhood watch PowerPoint presentation. Citizens do not give up their rights, (like Zimmerman's legal right to carry a gun), because they volunteer for a neighborhood watch. Citizens do not need the permission of the police to form a neighborhood watch, and they don't have to follow anyone's suggestions on how to do it. Zimmerman had no legal duty to not carry a gun, to not leave his car, or to not follow Martin. Citizens do not magically lose their legal rights by joining a neighborhood watch.
This is without a doubt one of the dumbest arguments in the debate on this issue.
Zimmerman was already out of his car and following Martin on foot, when the dispatcher said that. You can clearly hear him exit his vehicle on the 911 tape, at the 2:00 minute mark, and then his heavier breathing as he follows. Even the Prosecutor agrees with this. Zimmerman DID stop following Martin when told he didn't need to. You can hear the difference on the tape in his breathing. When Zimmerman hung up, he walked further to check a street sign name, and Martin jumped him.
Most important of all, the first 911 call reporting a fight occurred 60 SECONDS after Zimmerman hung up his call to the dispatcher. Only a fool would think Zimmerman could track down a fleeing Martin, in a dark neighborhood, when Martin had a two minute head start, and start a fight within less than 60 seconds. The 60 second time lapse only makes sense if Martin hid, and then attacked Zimmerman after he hung up.
Finally, note the absurd irony of people claiming Zimmerman should not have been walking in his own neighborhood. That privilege is allegedly reserved for visitors from Miami, who are walking while black.
The deceased caused his own death. Period.
LOL
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patience
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"AMEN"
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He should be fired like the audio editors at NBC were fired that mislead the public about facts in this case. Zimmerman didn't leave his car after dispatchers told him not to. He was out of his car long before that. Then when the dispatcher told him to stop, he said, "Okay".
Making the public believe, as you do in this article, that Zimmerman received orders to stop and then proceeded to jump out of his can and rush Martin is a complete falsehood. Even the prosecution isn't alleging that.
So how do you stand, Reverand Williams?
Not very straight in my book...
That means Zimmerman pursued Martin.
The neighborhood watchman broke protocol.
Zimmerman did receive orders to stop.
What basis do you use to say that Zimmerman kept following Martin?
Why would you believe the habitual liars testimony?
It doesn't fit the evidence, nor is it logical.
Witness 2 states an arrest event turned into a struggle. For what? The gun maybe? You don't think that Trayvon was arresting Zimmerman, I am sure, right?
You don't really think that cracking high pitch voice screaming for help was really the matured 28 year old voice of Zimmerman do you?
You don't really think Trayvon called Zimmerman his "homie" or said after he was shot dead, "You got me", do you?
Why would you chose to defend the child killer, but not the dead kid? What in your personality drives that?
Back to my original question, "What basis do you use to say that Zimmerman kept following Martin?”
Do you believe he couldn't remember?
The judge has shown himself to be on the prosecution's side with the ridiculous conclusion that Zimmerman would have fled had he not been given an ankle monitor.
Someone who plans to flee does not pay off $24K in debt or just shuffle money among accounts. They take out the money in cash in preparation.
If Zimmerman wanted to flee, he could have done that before he was arrested. He has little motive to flee because he has a strong case of self defense. Fleeing would give the prosecution evidence of guilt, something which they lack.
He thought he lost the stranger when he got near his home. Then the danger stranger reappeared, while the kid was on the phone. Then the phone is knocked away and witness 2's statement kicks in, that an arrest event turned into a struggle. A minute later he is dead.
At what point of Trayvon's stranger danger situation do you think he had the opportunity or would have perceived the need to dial 911?
Are you just trying to defend the child killer by blaiming the dead kid for his own death?
What about the dead kid's point of view that night? Any empathy for the victim of stranger danger at all?
How do you know what TM thought?
Not the same as walking out of Walmart at all. Use your logic, not your emotional projections.