Quote:
Originally Posted by Shotsie
All of that shit is irrelevant under this "stand your ground" law. All Zimmerman's lawyers have to prove is that the kid attacked Zimmerman. And since no third parties witnessed the event, and the kid is dead, that right there will provide more than enough reasonable doubt. I think, I don't know, I'm not a fucking lawyer. He'll probably walk. Look at Bernie Goetz, he shot four unarmed kids and walked away with only a charge for criminal possesion of a weapon, and that was in New York, which doesn't even have this law.
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Your claim that what I am stating is irrelevant is grossly incorrect. I'll get to that in a second. As for Bernie Goetz, he was justified in shooting those men who attempted to mug him. As they were in the process of an unprovoked crime against his person, he had every right to shoot to kill.
Back to Zimmerman though. The defense under the "stand your ground" law loses its relevance the minute that the facts that I stated are stacked up from a prosecution standpoint. Zimmerman was the person who initiated the entire scenario by pursuing Martin. That fact has been established and will ring true throughout this case.
Remember that the law follows a timeline in its entirety, not select pieces of said timeline.
If the actions of a person initiate a conflict and the situation was clearly avoidable, one cannot then use the law to defend themselves if they end up using deadly force to end the conflict. (Provocation comes into play here.) As an armed person, Zimmerman's act of leaving his vehicle at night to pursue a potential burglar when he didn't have the legal authority to do so was reckless and symptomatic of dangerous conduct. It's just that simple.
He made a serious error in judgement, set the wheels of a deadly situation in motion and now wants to lean on the "stand your ground" law to avoid jail.
That is NOT what that law is meant to protect against. Anyone who supports that law, including myself, knows full well that to even use that law in such a fashion waters down its true use.