While everything that happend once Martin and Zimmerman engaged one another is up for debate, the bottom line is the moment before that occurred Martin was doing nothing wrong and it was fully appropriate for him to be where he was. For the person who took his life, I think these facts would weigh heavy even on the hardest souls.
That cuts both ways. Zimmerman was, in his own mind, protecting his neighborhood. Zimmerman wasn't "doing anything wrong" either.
The crux in my mind is and has always been who struck first. I've been pretty soundly convinced that Martin struck first based on what I've followed of the trial. However, even if I say I don't know who struck first that means an acquittal. If Zimmerman had died that night and I couldn't say for certain that Martin struck first (and I can't) it would mean that Martin would have to be found not-guilty.
Now, I feel like there is a certain perspective that it doesn't really matter if Martin struck first, that because Zimmerman is a gung-ho wanna-be cop who racially targeted martin and "stalked" him he had forfeited his right to self defense as soon as the operator told him that they didn't need him to follow Zimmerman. I very strongly reject that take, but it's out there and people are sticking to it. I don't know what to say to them other than I suspect they're going to be very disappointed in the verdict because the law does not reflect that view.
I just want to say I had a mostly negative view of Zimmerman before the trial and I figured he was completely unreasonable in pretty much everything he did, although technically not convictable of 2nd degree murder. After following the trial and watching a few extra videos I have a more or less neutral view of Zimmerman. I'm not a fan of nosey do-gooders harassing people, but I've never felt that it made a person evil the way people seem to think Zimmerman is evil. His desire to "fight crime" has been very harshly ridiculed. Is it the ultimate result of his attitude or the attitude itself that is bad? Real cops are often (mostly in my experience) just as big of jackasses as it sounds like Zimmerman the wanna-be cop was. Are police officers evil. They often initiate confrontations with people based on assumptions and the police shoot and kill people on occasion. Part of what I don't like is the attitude that a "regular" person shouldn't take an active role in preventing crime and that having an interest in doing so is in and of itself proof that the person has ill-will and malice. I don't make that connection.
I'm going on and on I know, but finally I think this case serves as a very valuable example of a few things. One, it tells me we need to rethink out concealed carry, stand your ground, castle doctrine and neighborhood watch situation. We need some rules of engagement if you will. I had them printed on a little slip of paper in my pocket anytime I was armed on foreign soil or pier-side in a foreign port.
The next is an example to the pro-gun crowd (of which I am a member). I've read a bit on gun related websites. I always found it highly distasteful to hear people excitedly talking about what they'd do if they were in a situation in which, in their eyes, lethal force was justified. One common notion was that if you do deploy your firearm in "self-defense" you should absolutely shoot the person until they're dead because otherwise they could testify against you and possibly take you to civil court for damages. That's plain disgusting. Another popular phrase was "two in the chest, one in the head" which is basically saying the same thing as shoot them 'till they're dead. Well, take a look at Zimmerman. He's living the lethal force/self-defense dream and it doesn't look very appealing to me. Deploying and using our privately owned firearms is not something any of us should be looking for opportunities to do. If there are other options we should do everything we can to make those other options work. If someone is about to make it out your window with your blu-ray player...let them go. The real life consequences of taking a life are not fun and will not be easy and will follow you for the rest of your life.
If you read all that all I can say is thanks for allowing me to waste a little bit of your time with my random mostly uneducated views. Have a nice day.
