Thread: Trayvon Martin (pardon me if this subject is verboten.)

Originally Posted by mhailey

Interesting. I've never considered the stand your ground law as justifying the Treyvon's beat down on Zimmerman. However, if Zimmerman had shown his gun to Treyvon, I highly doubt that Treyvon would have countered the threat with fists. I know for darn sure that I wouldn't. You don't bring fists to a gun fight.

Not if you think it is avoidable.
But if you feel that an assault will happen (with or without a gun) you might take your chance.
What Zimmerman did was stupid and not illegal (probably, based on the current picutre).
And if Trayvon felt threatened then under SYG what he did was probably stupid, and not illegal either.
Even if he didn't see the gun, if he had reason to feel threatened, he was perfectly justified in attacking Zimmerman in what would otherwise be called assault.

That is the travesty of the SYG law.
2 people meet, one of them dies, noone did anything illegal under the current laws.

It is interesting. As a society we seem to be o.k. with predetermining guilt in certain cases(Casey Anthony comes to mind as its recent), but in cases like this it is a travesty.

Originally Posted by mhailey

Why is no one calling his media coverage and public demonstrations what they are? A lynching party. They need to let the legal system work, and stop trying to lynch Zimmerman.

Originally Posted by mhailey

What is interesting here is that, from what I can tell, Zimmerman was doing nothing illegal. Stupid maybe, but not illegal.

Insanity is a good defence against commiting a criminal act, stupidity isn't. Let's just hope the legal justice system in Florida is up to the job and gets to the bottom of exactly what happened. Whatever your views, a man is dead and the police owe it to him to carry out a thorough investigation. In the UK, every death, even a sudden death in the home or fatal traffic accident, is treated as murder by the first officer at the scene, until evidence comes to light to prove otherwise.

The main problem I have with this case is that I can't yet tell which side to rant from.

"In the UK, every death, even a sudden death in the home or fatal traffic accident, is treated as murder by the first officer at the scene, until evidence comes to light to prove otherwise.[/QUOTE]"

In the US, you are supposed to be innocent until PROVEN guilty. No one has mentioned that GZ was detained for 5 hours that day for questioning. The media is tying to portray this tragedy as if the cops just said " oh it's just a black kid, your free to go". That isn't what happened. It will be interesting to see/hear the rest of the facts that have not been released.

I will let you know.

Originally Posted by northpaw

The main problem I have with this case is that I can't yet tell which side to rant from.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Not quite. At that point, Trayvon could be entirely justified in starting the fight, especially if zimmerman had shown his weapon and trayvon felt threatened (which is a real option). I think that if you do no wrong and someone hassles you, follows you, and threatens you with a gun, you'd be justified in using force. Whether zimmerman has wounds because of that really does not have any bearing on whether trayvon was justified in starting the fight.

Common sense would dictate this to be the case, and the syg law does so explicitly.

Picture the opposite: I threaten you with a gun. You jump me and beat me in the head. I shoot you. Can I claim self defense?

Sorry, I can't picture this. If someone threatens me with a gun the last thing I am going to do is jump him. This is too much of a stretch.

Originally Posted by mhailey

If the "New White Panthers" had put out a bounty on the black man's head, and said "wanted, dead or alive" it would be a lynching party. (CITE) Why is no one calling his media coverage and public demonstrations what they are? A lynching party. They need to let the legal system work, and stop trying to lynch Zimmerman.

If Eric Holder was doing his job the Black Panther that offered the bounty would be in jail. I don't have to wonder why not. This is the same Holder that refused to prosecute the Panthers for intimidating voters in the last election.

Originally Posted by mhailey

The first "illegal" action that I can see is the assault and battery initiated by Treyvon. However I will wait and see what the evidence shows.

I'm sorry, was there something I missed? Was there something other than Zimmerman's assertion to show that Martin initiated the fight? Based on what some witnesses have stated, it appears the Martin was winning the fight (which means that he went from "self defense" to "assault"), but I've not heard of anyone saying that he initiated a fight.

Based on what I've seen, this was a case of two people who were in the wrong and one is dead as a result.

Based on what you have seen?^ mhailey and Joesixpack. No one knows what happened that night. And because of that fact, we are in the dark. The law has stepped in and Due Process will work it's(our American) way towards the solution. If Zimmerman was in the wrong, then the law will sentence him accordingly, or let him walk. No offence to any posters. We're here to weigh in nothing more than our opinions, but the facts are in only the hands of the law counsel. God help them on a just decision. My last chime on this thread/matter. Gentlemen, keep it civil. All the best-John