Through The Looking Glass, Darkly

                                
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From the The 2010 Florida Statutes (including Special Session A)                       Chapter 776.012, also known as the Stand Your Ground law:  

776.012  Use of force in defense of person. - A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:

(1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony;

So far, most of the national conversation has focused on George Zimmerman's (and his defenders') invocation of the Stand Your Ground law as a defense for his having shot and killed Trayvon Martin during an altercation in which the allegation is that Martin was the aggressor. Trayvon started it. He was skulking around in a neighborhood where he didn't belong, probably planning some kind of mischief. He jumped on top of Zimmerman, slammed his head into the ground, broke his nose, and caused Zimmerman to fear for his life. Therefore, the logic follows, Zimmerman had the legal right to pull his gun, aim it at the assailant, and shoot him dead. A person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if ... He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony... It says so right there in the law. George Zimmerman had every justification for using deadly force against an attacker who was viciously beating him.

                                                   

But there's an overlooked element in this chain of events. We know that Zimmerman was in his car tailing Martin, who was walking in Zimmerman's neighborhood, talking to his girlfriend on a cell phone. We know this from the 911 tapes that have been released and dissected ad infinitum in the search to find, depending upon which "side" one takes in the discussion, either signs of racism in Zimmerman's comments or indications of the kind of aggression from Martin that would justify the use of deadly force against him.

The thing is, Zimmerman got out of his car. He got out of his car with a loaded gun. Trayvon hadn't pulled a weapon at that point; according to Zimmerman's own words to the 911 operator, "This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about." Then he tells the operator that Martin is "staring at me... he's got his hand in his waistband... something's wrong with him... yeah, he's gonna check me out... he's got something in his hands, I don't know what his deal is." Zimmerman never at any time says that he sees a gun or any other weapon, merely that the person he's following has his hand in his waistband and "looks like he's up to no good." Zimmerman was in his car while he was saying all this. Then we hear a car door slam and the unmistakeable sound of wind whistling past a cell phone as Zimmerman says rather enigmatically, "They always get away." At this point the operator asks him if he's following the suspect and Zimmerman replies, "Yes." "We don't need you to do that," the operator tells him. But it's clear from the sounds of the wind blowing past the phone that Zimmerman ignores that instruction and continues to follow Martin on foot.

It's here that I ask myself: if I were walking down the street and saw a car tailing me with a driver who looked somewhat menacing, and then the driver got out and started to approach me, how would I feel? How would I react? How did Trayvon feel as he saw Zimmerman get out of his car? He'd been on the phone with his girlfriend and expressed some concern about a vehicle he said was following him. So we can reasonably infer that he was probably a little scared, at least a little nervous. I don't care if I'm six foot nine and three hundred pounds, if a car tailed me down the street in an unfamiliar neighborhood and the driver got out and approached me, I'd be a bit panicky. I'm not sure how I would respond physically, but I think my heart would be racing. Was Trayvon's heart racing as Zimmerman got out of his car? Was he wondering what Zimmerman wanted? Was he worried that Zimmerman was "up to no good"? We may never know.

What we do know is this: Zimmerman got out of his car. If he truly, reasonably believed that Martin had a gun or a knife on him, as he implies when he says, "...he's got his hand in his waistband," does it make any sense at all that he would then get out of his car? If I were in a car and saw a person who I thought might have a weapon on him, do I get out of my car and confront that person - even if I too have a weapon? Or do I step on the gas and get as far away as possible, as fast as I can, from the person whom I regard as an imminent threat?

                                                                                       

                                                                   

At the moment George Zimmerman got out of his car, he became the aggressor. It was Trayvon who was in fear of some sort of bodily harm from the stranger approaching him, not the other way around. Zimmerman knew he had his loaded gun to "protect" him; Trayvon knew his only "weapons" were a bag of skittles and an iced tea he had just bought at a nearby convenience store. Who was the aggressor, and who was the person who actually believe[d] that such conduct [was] necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force? Since it was Zimmerman who exited his vehicle, which he could have used instead to remove himself from the danger he insists he thought Trayvon represented; since it was Zimmerman who was packing a loaded weapon, the logical inference is that it was he, not Martin, who was the agressor, and that therefore Martin, not Zimmerman, was the one who by law had the right to use force in defense of his person.

                                     

So even if it turns out to be true that Zimmerman suffered wounds and lacerations from the severe beating he alleges he took at Trayvon's hands - evidence of which is detectable in the form of superficial wounds to his scalp seen in the enhanced police video of Zimmerman being processed after the shooting - it's still much more reasonable, and certainly more logical according to the laws of human nature, to conclude that Trayvon Martin feared for his safety as soon as he saw Zimmerman exit his vehicle, regardless of whether or not he saw a gun pointed at him, and thus by Florida statute it was Martin who had the legal right to use any and all means at his disposal, including deadly force - which would encompass slamming his attacker's head against the pavement - to defend himself from the imminent use of unlawful force against him.

George Zimmerman has his detractors as well as his defenders, like sort-of friend Joe Oliver and occasional no-show lawyer Craig Sonner,** who have been all over the 24-hour television news cycles speaking in defense of the shooter. Zimmerman himself may soon enough be speaking on his own behalf once he's either charged with a crime or exonerated of any legal culpability for what he did. Trayvon Martin, the young man who was shot and killed, is dead and cannot speak for himself, but he is not voiceless.

                                               

** UPDATE: Several days after this posting, George Zimmerman fired attorney Craig Sonner and hired well-known Orlando-area former assistant state attorney general Hal Uhrig. Uhrig has already begun characterizing his client as a "victim" on multiple cable news outlets and programs while invoking such disparate elements as O.J. Simpson and a "rush to judgment" as well as Shaken Baby Syndrome in his comments about Zimmerman's state of mind during the altercation that led to Trayvon Martin's death.

                                        

Comments

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All I know is that the police dispatch advised Zimmerman (not a Jew) to not follow the Martin kid. To add insult to injury, the police conducted the investigation like a bunch of amateurs, sending narcotics investigators, instead of homicide detectives, to the scene of the murder. I think a better investigation might have been conducted in Aruba, maybe... speaking of maybe, maybe Zimmerman had a cut on his head as a result of fighting with Martin. However if Zimmerman didn't follow Martin, as he was instructed not to do, then Martin wouldn't have had a reason to feel threatened and fight with him in the first place, if in fact he even did. In my opinion, the ones to blame most of all are the police, who should have arrested Zimmerman right away, because he followed Martin, and they knew he did based on the 911 call Zimmerman made to announce he was pursuing Martin, and then shot him to death; and if you disagree with me sir, then you are a nazi, socialist, racist, homophobic, anti-semite, fascist and possibly a God hating atheist!

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George Zimmerman had every justified reason for using dangerous power against an enemy who was viciously defeating him.