Good on Zimmerman for defending his community. Should be more of it
Yes, Trayvon still had a right to defend himself.
However I don't think Trayvon attacked Zimmerman.
And for the other comments:
* Trayvon was heading to his father's house located in the gated community. He had every right to be walking down the street there.
* Zimmerman may not have broken any laws following Trayvon or confronting him. However, Trayvon was under no requirement to answer any questions from Zimmerman. Remember, Zimmerman is not a cop, or even a security guard. Neighborhood Watch carries zero authority. It is a volunteer group of private citizens.
* By initiating the confrontation, in my opinion, Zimmerman can not claim self defense, or even Stand Your Ground, which Zimmerman's lawyer already says does not apply here.
Zimmerman broke no law when pursuing treyvon. It is not illeagle to walk up to somebody and inquire what they are doing. Furthermore the 911 dispatcher did not command Zimmerman not to follow, but instead said "we don't need you to do that."
The issue at hand here is what happened. If Zimmerman was the aggressor, then trayvon had every right to defend himself, and Zimmerman should be found guilty. If treyvon was the aggressor, then zimmerman had every right to defend himself by any means nessicary.
The current evidence points to a justified self defense shoot under floridas "stand your ground" policy, in which all civilians do not have an obligation to retreat. The only stipulation here is that force has to be met with equal force, eg if you punch me, and I light you on fire, I'm going to jail. However case law has proved on many occasions that if an armed subject is in reasonable fear of incapacitation that the assumption of the other party obtaining your weapon can be assumed.
This case is an unfortunate one for all involved. Trayvon, Zimmerman, their families, and the police.
Every American citizen has the right.
Zimmerman pulled out a gun, remember?
The only things Martin was armed with was Skittles and a can of iced tea.
It's all perfectly clear, except to the right-wing nutcases.
Yes Zimmerman followed him so if he felt threatened he.had every right to give Zimmerman a broken nose and banged his head on the ground. America is racist period. If Zimmerman was black and Treyvon was white, he would have being sitting his *** in jail now. Lord have mercy on us
so i guess your question is does someone have a right to attack and try to kill someone that is following them... no you don't...
following someone is not an attack... in an attack you have the right to use REASONABLE force to defend your self trying to kill someone for following you isn't a reasonable response.
In this case Zimmermann was the aggressor, He was told not to persue and he did and when Trevon ran he continue to track him down. Did Trevon have a right to defend himself under Florida Law? Zimmermann was told by 911 not to follow him and in the call there was no mention of him doing anything wrong, other than walking through the complex.....
