1) George Zimmerman likely acted in self-defense when he shot Trayvon Martin
2) If George Zimmerman had stayed away from Trayvon Martin as he was advised by the 9/11 dispatcher on the night of the shooting, the shooting would have never occured.
So, Zimmerman was the aggressor, but Martin likely attacked him as a result, thereby possibly justifying self-defense.
Seems contradictory, no?
That is why it is a complex case. And that is why we have courts to sort it out.
No matter what happens in this case, some people will not be satisifed. Personally, I am hoping the judge rejects the self-defense claim given that even the person who wrote the law in Florida said the law was not meant for cases like this (where the shooter followed and harassed the shooting victim); it was meant for people who are being followed and harassed and threatened by a dangerous criminal.
But the law is the law, and the law may very well be on Zimmerman's side in this case.
Notice how, even after all this time, the media are still on the case.
http://news.yahoo.com/documents-shed-light-trayvon-martin-killing-235341368.html
What I want to know is why the "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law does not also apply to Trayvon Martin. If someone you don't know approaches you aggressively and possesses a gun, and you do not, isn't it also self-defense to attack this person and try to keep him from hurting or killing you? Why would it be expected that he should back down from someone he believes is a threat to his own life but Geroge Zimmerman need not? I was not there and I don't know exactly what happened, but based on what I have seen and read so far, this seems like a scenario that's at least plausible.
ReplyDeleteThe saddest part of this whole case, to me, is people's reaction to it. Instead of being an issue we all come together to try to fix, it has become divisive and hotly debated. Instead of being a tragedy that we all sympathize with it has become an incident to be taken advantage of financially (think paper shooting targets with hoodies printed on them). The media has transformed a very sad incident that everyone should want the truth in (regardless of how it comes out for George Zimmerman) into media figureheads yelling at each other on national television for profit.
ReplyDelete