pumpkinpi wrote:Regardless of any current Florida law, or whether or not the charges brought against him were appropriate, do you think Zimmerman should be held accountable at all for killing Martin?
From what I have been reading probably not.
Everything I see leads to him doing what the police asked him to do.
He is a neighborhood watch person so he felt it was his responsibility to report suspicious behaviour.
Which he did.
He did so while in his car. Martin started approaching his car and he told the officer that he was approaching.
Then Martin ran, which the officer responded to keep an eye on him.
At that point Zimmerman got out of his car to follow the command.
The officer noticed he left his car to do so and asked if he was following him.
Zimmerman replied yes and the officer said "we don't need you to do that"
So he said ok and stopped.
Zimmerman was on the phone for about a minute and thirty seconds after that point talking calmly to the officer so was not running after Martin.
Martins home was not that far, he could easily had made it home had he decided to go home.
But he obviously didn't.
After that we have mainly Zimmermans account of what happened and the evidence all points to him telling the story pretty accurately.
The thing is I see no reason to dispute his claim that Martin jumped him and was on top of him beating him.
At that point its a case of self defense. He claimed he screamed for help repeatedly and no one came.
I'm not sure why people are thinking he needs to lay there with a man on top of him beating him up without defending himself.
From reading peoples views it appears that he did something so horrible that he deserved to be either severely beaten or die.
I can't agree.
Most of these views are based on incorrect reporting and speculation as to Zimmermans character being racist combined with ignorance regarding the stand your ground law in Florida.
For example, the defense did not use the stand your ground law to make their case. They made the case solely on self defense.
Much of the comments online go like this:
Zimmerman profiled a black kid and chased him to the point where there was a confrontation.
The kid threw a punch and Zimmerman shot him because he was a racist and he planned to kill him.
The problem is he didn't pursue Martin of his own accord, he was asked what Martin was up to and to answer that question he got out of his vehicle.
The officer noticed he was following and asked him to stop, so he did.
A full minute and a half went by after he stopped pursuit during which time Zimmerman was on the phone with the police.
Martin could have been easily home in that time.
But he didn't go home.
From there it seems its a case of two people suspecting the worst from the other.
Zimmerman thought Martin was a burglar, martin thought Zimmerman was a creep ass cracker or possibly a gay rapist.
We do know clearly though who was beating who. Martin was beating Zimmerman, not the other way around.
We also know it was quite a while into the beating that Martin was shot so its not like Zimmerman used the slightest excuse to shoot the man.
He called for help repeatedly before the shot was fired.
So if I put myself into Zimmermans shoes, I would have shot him as well.
Martin didn't die because he was a black kid walking back from a store.
He died because he chose to approach another man he thought was suspicious and was on top of that man beating him senseless when he could have just gone home.
Most people skip these facts which tie in with the evidence available.
If Zimmerman was guilty of profiling (thats how neighborhood watch works), he wasn't guilty of pursuing it since he backed off when asked,
then Martin was guilty of profiling (the creepy ass cracker comment) and took action that others attribute to Zimmerman, following him and starting an altercation.
My question is what could Zimmerman do differently to prevent this outcome and what could Martin.
Zimmerman could have reported a suspicious guy and left. He could have told the officer to see what the guy was doing he'd have to follow him on foot.
Note that only in the first case would have guaranteed nothing happened.
The second case that everyone says he should have done wouldn't necessarily mean the conflict would have not happened.
The reason is that martin started approaching the truck while Zimmerman was initially making the call.
He didn't go home, he stayed around. There is nothing to suggest that he would have gone home if Zimmerman stayed in his truck.
As for Martin he could have simply gone home. The end.
He also should have not confronted Zimmerman like was claimed.
So no, I don't think I could hold him accountable for the death of Martin.
I really think Martin was accountable for his own death.
Given new evidence I may change that view but with what I've seen and heard, I couldn't hold Zimmerman accountable for something that could easily have happened to anyone, including myself.
Finally, I can see myself doing what Zimmerman did. I would not see myself guilty of murder.
Likewise, when I was 17 full of testosterone, not used to it and being high on adrenalin, I can see myself having done what martin did.
Its just a sad set of circumstances, making it sadder won't help anything.