Reply to Child killed by Neighborhood Watch captain while walking home

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Actually, under the scenario presented, it would likely come out as self defense. If Z chased T and then T attacted, such that Z thought he was in danger, the self defense doctrine would apply. This is exactly why I think that a lot of the outrage is missplaced. The travesty is that the issue was not INVESTIGATED and that Z was not ARRESTED. It could theoretically turn out that he is not convicted. And if so, I would be fine with that. But he should still be put through the process. [/quote]

This is exactly right.  The lack of an investigation, combined with the (absurd, in my opinion) Stand Your Ground law could very well lead to an aquittal (or even no charged being filed).  [/quote]

To follow up, the key (well, one of them) is whether Zimmerman was acting unlawfully - if he was, the defense is unavailable.[/quote]

Whew. Thanks for correcting that ! For a minute I thought I must have been wrong my whole crim law class.

[b]That's right folks you can't chase somebody down and then claim self defense when they whoop your ass[/b]... Well you can claim it - but it probably will not fly.[/quote]  Florida's aggressor statute appears to disagree with your interpretation.  Moreover, you misunderstand my point - or rather, you assume that Z chasing T was unlawful.  That's not clear to me.  I mean, if T noticed Z watching/following him, started walking fast/running away, and Z started chasing him, exactly what law would Z have broken?  Taken a step further, T gets tired, stops, Z catches up to him, words are exchanged - at that point, have any laws been broken?  Doesn't it all turn on who struck first?  And unfortunately, the only living witness to that is Z, at least as far as I'm aware.  I personally believe Z is responsible for the whole altercation, and likely took the first swing, and I think most other people do as well, but that doesn't really matter.  The Stand Your Ground law, combined with Florida's aggressor statute and the lack of eyewitnesses at critical times in the altercation, really make this a mess (as far as establishing to the legally required level of proof what happened - apart from that it's a tragedy and a travesty).    [/quote]

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