I'm not quite sure why you continue to argue in favor of a guilty verdict against Zimmerman?

Based upon FL law, all Zimmerman has to show is that he is in fear of his life. That's it. Once that is established, he can use the weapon and not be criminally charged for it.

All of the anecdotal stories about Zimmerman being a racist and Zimmerman going after TM and Zimmerman starting the altercation with TM are irrelevant, unfortunately. Once the two are in a serious physical altercation, and one of them feels that he might be killed, he can use the gun. Period.

Now, all of your anecdotal stories would really work well here in NY. I can assure you that Zimmerman is now in a cell doing 15 years for Manslaughter.

But arguing your points based on FL law is a non-starter and makes you look ignorant of the law.

Yep, the first punch makes a HUGE difference.

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I did not watch any of the trial. Was there a witness to the conflict that lead up to the shooting?

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My state's SYG law is identical to Florida's, having been written by the same legal scholars at ALEC, who work tirelessly on behalf of gun owners and misogynists nationwide.
That means that I can now go follow people i deem to look "suspicious" around. When they feel threatened by me and decide they've had enough of being followed around by some un-uniformed creepy character and decide to fight back, I can then decide that I feel threatened and pull my piece and shoot them and get off scott free.

COOL!!

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About the size of it. Apparently, you had better be absolutely sure that your opponent is not armed prior to engaging him physically (which is never a good idea anyway).

Clearly shows the unintended consequences of such a law.

Not always. See the case of Marissa Alexander. FL is a screwed up place.

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- With out god, life is everything.
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- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

I took a very quick look at it and, it appears that she was not in fear of her life at the very moment that she utilized the weapon.

Hence, she gets no protection under the SYG law.

But, 20 years............for attempted murder?? WTF?? She wouldn't get five years here in NY!! They could not easily prove attempted murder.

Only trouble here is it wasn't a SYG case.

He was an abusive husband who threaten to kill her. She believed her life was in danger from him. I do not believe the fact that she went back in to get her keys in order to flee negates the fear she had for her life.

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- With out god, life is everything.
- God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller as time moves on..." Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- You can pray for me, I'll think for you.
- When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

I believe the word you are looking for is "imminent".

I don't believe that the word applies in her case.

She might have been under the belief that her life was in danger for the past two months due to his past misdeeds. That, in and of itself, doesn't give her carte-blanche to shoot him, even in FL.

I am strictly guessing here, but if she was in fear for her life, got out of the dwelling THEN went back in, the prosecution painted a scenario where she was not that fearful and was going to exact retribution, not escape. Argument can be made that she was away from the danger, could have fled on foot and had a gun to protect herself.

just thinking based on the few things I have heard. Sort of like the druggist here in OKC who shot a guy robbing him, dropped one, went outside to pursue the other and then upon coming back capped the guy lying wounded on the floor and killed him. Court ruled that was murder.

While defense counsel didn't invoke the law, Juror B37 tells a somewhat different story.

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Here is an excerpt from the jury instructions in the Zimmerman case:

"A person is justified in using deadly force if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself.

In deciding whether George Zimmerman was justified in the use of deadly force, you must judge him by the circumstances by which he was surrounded at the time the force was used. The danger facing George Zimmerman need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force. Based upon appearances, George Zimmerman must have actually believed that the danger was real.

If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."

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'Fearing for ones life' works in a self defense case too, which is all this was.

Many people have used that argument and it's a good one to make you feel better about this if you are predisposed to favor TM.

GZ did not break any laws by getting out of his car; and GZ did not get out of his car to confront TM.

Even if he did, he is still within his rights to do so. Breaking someone's nose who is following you is not within your rights. However as someone said earlier TM's world was more rough and tumble and physical confrontations were more normal to TM; therefore TM was more likely to fight than run or perceive GZ as a nice buy looking out for his neighbors. So he fought. He lost.