Category: Current Events

The AP is reporting that Martin was suspended from school for having a baggie that contained pot residue in his backpack. That in itself is not interesting, but if the kid went out to the store to catch a toke on the way, it could explain Zimmerman’s suspicion, and provide us with objective grounds for suspicion. This would point towards Zimmerman’s suspicion being reasonable, depending on what the toxicology report has to say. I guess the only thing that I wouldn’t understand is, don’t most people who get high off pot get really mellow? I don’t think it’s generally regarded as a drug that makes people violent, and I’d tend to think someone high on pot would only be dangerous to you if you were a bag of Doritos.

But police are now reporting that Martin decked Zimmerman with a single blow:

With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk several times, leaving him bloody and battered, authorities have revealed to the Orlando Sentinel.

That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say.

The big ??? still out there, to borrow a term from Tam, is what prompted Martin to deck Zimmerman. Was there a witness to that? The entire question of whether this is self-defense or not hinges on the answer to that question.

UPDATE: It would seem the narrative of the kid being a star student and untroubled is falling apart as we speak. This still does not answer ???, but I don’t excuse people, even people grieving, for manipulating the media and attempting to drive a narrative that is untrue.

One of the inner, intellectual conflicts I think the Zimmerman case has brought to light for me is the fact that I believe people do need to take more responsibility for the safety of their communities, but I also believe that, quite often, the type of people who are willing to step up to do this are not the types you’d really want involved. It is a dichotomy.

Regardless of whether Zimmerman is ultimately no billed or acquitted, for me it will still go back to the fact that he made the circumstances for an unnecessary confrontation, which lead to an unnecessary shooting. Had Zimmerman witnessed Martin breaking into cars, or assaulting people, and was in the process of tracking him so he could help the police find him, I think most people would look favorably on that kind of engagement, even if the police had advised against it. I certainly would look favorably on someone who helped police catch a a criminal after witnessing the crime.

I think the real problem in this case, and which makes it such a power keg, is the fact that Zimmerman had no objective reason to believe Treyvon was suspicious, and even if he did, confronting suspicious people is something that’s really best left to people who wear a badge and a uniform. The perception of suspicion is the racial element of the case. That’s why everyone is becoming unhinged.

Zimmerman’s friend, who is black, has defended him against charges of being a racist, saying “I’m a black male and all that I know is that George has never given me any reason whatsoever to believe he has anything against people of color.” I can believe that Zimmerman is not blatantly or outwardly racist, but it’s very difficult for me to see what else could have driven his suspicion. This townhouse complex doesn’t appear isolated or small enough that you can expect to have previously seen everyone who could be legitimately walking through the neighborhood. There seems to be many black families living in the neighborhood. It’s reasonable to expect black families have relatives who are also black, that may be seen walking through the neighborhood. So what was driving the suspicion? The hoodie? Even in the rain? One thought about why Martin could have been walking slowly and wandering around is that he was on the phone with his girlfriend, and Zimmerman couldn’t see the phone. I would tend to pace around slowly and act strangely if speaking to someone who couldn’t see the fact that I was on the phone. Perhaps that is objective grounds for suspicion, but for me it keeps coming back to suspicions being a good reason to wait for the cops. There’s a world of difference between suspicion and witnessing crime.

I’ve been busy with other things this weekend, and haven’t been following developments in the case. But the City of Sanford has released some information they have regarding the case. Much of it you’ve probably already seen.

See the video at Breitbart, where an NAACP spokesperson shifts the blame off gun laws and self-defense laws and back onto the racial issues. If I had to wager, I’d bet the NAACP isn’t too keen with the focus being taken off of race, and the unfair treatment blacks often get from our justice system, and put onto gun laws. This makes sense to me.

White elites are very uncomfortable talking about racial issues. Gun control and self-defense laws are a more comfortable topics. I think this became doubly true when it became known that Zimmerman is actually Latino, which is when the media pretty much dropped the racial aspect of this tragedy entirely. Minority on minority racism and violence is a particularly uncomfortable topic for white elites.

It goes go to show how far we still have to go in order to have a truly color blind society. In a better world, African Americans would be able to count on the legal system for justice, and white Americans would be OK saying all racism is equally bad, even when it’s perpetrated by minorities on other minorities, and not feel uncomfortable in discussing that.

Kudos to Weer’d for uncovering the police report of the arrest in the Zimmerman case. I had not previously come across this. The offense description in this case was Homicide, Negligent Manslaughter, Unnecessary Killing to Prevent Unlawful Act. The statue in question is here. But that crime is still subject to the qualifications here. In other words, if you don’t fall into the exceptions in the latter section, you’re guilty of the crime in the previous section.

The LA Times laments the shoot first mentality. The New York Times also predictably keep piling on for changing the self-defense laws in Florida, even though they are roughly the same in New York. Robb has a pretty good response on the Florida law from an actual lawyer who isn’t a stooge of the media that can be expected to parrot what fits the media narrative.

Apparently the pressure is getting to be too much because the sponsor of the 2005 self-defense law is having second thoughts, and suggesting maybe the law needs some tweaking.

I want to echo something Robb mentioned in the comments:

I’ve already seen in on my fellow Floridian message boards – This spells the end of Stand Your Ground. Oh Whoa is Us. Bullshit. If you’re truly worried about politicians using this event to pass restrictive laws, then damn it, STOP WHINING ON THE INTERNET AND CALL YOUR REPS. Let them know that you will not stand for them to use a ONE TIME tragedy to violate rights. Put 1/10th of the effort into calling and writing them that you do bitching on message boards and blogs, and they’ll get the message.

One thing gun owners are very good at is wallowing in victimhood. We’re as bad as any other community that hasn’t always good a fair shake in that respect. But if you want to counteract the horror that the media is about to unleash on the progress we’ve made, then you need to step up and let representatives know how you feel. The sponsor of the Florida law thinks it is misapplied here. There’s a very good argument that is, in fact, the case. Probable cause is not that remarkably high a standard.

As I have mentioned previously, given the evidence I have seen so far, I am not at all supportive of Zimmerman’s actions that night, and I believe a 17 year old teenager died needlessly. But I am equally unsupportive of trying and convicting people in the media. I’ve been disgusted by the flagrant disrespect paid to due process of law that’s been occurring over the past several days in both the media and in public forums. The authorities are convening a Grand Jury to examine the facts independently. The DOJ will be looking over their shoulder. The State of Florida has taken over from the local yokels. The system is working. It is time for patience, and breathing room for investigators and prosecutors to do their work.

I figured it would go at least this far. Even if the evidence they thought they have is scant, the political firestorm surrounding this case almost guaranteed that it would go to a grand jury. I should note that were I in either side’s shoes, I’d want this outcome. For Martin, it’s a chance to have the evidence publicly aired. For Zimmerman, if he really is an innocent man as he says, here’s his chance to be exonerated by an impartial jury. This is an interesting detail we haven’t seen previously:

Zimmerman said he had stepped out of his truck to check the name of the street he was on when Trayvon attacked him from behind as he walked back to his truck, police said. He said he feared for his life and fired the semiautomatic handgun he was licensed to carry because he feared for his life.

If that statement is true, then Martin is the aggressor and Zimmerman would be legally faultless, which we discussed in the previous post. The question would then be whether he reasonably believed he was in fear of great bodily injury or death, justifying his use of deadly force in self-defense. If he was indeed walking back to his truck, he was already retreating, and a duty to do so would not have factored into this case, unless he was close enough to his truck to make an escape in complete safety (a difficult standard).

Another common mistake people are making in this case is believing that the attacker has to be armed to be able to use deadly force. This is not the case. The law allows for deadly force to be used on an unarmed attacker in some circumstances. That one party is armed and the other not doesn’t really matter. Only the circumstances under which deadly force were used matters.

H/T to Miguel, who has more.

I have made it pretty clear on this blog that I am not at all supportive of how George Zimmerman handled himself in circumstances that lead to the shooting of Treyvon Martin, and believe the authorities should take his case to a Grand Jury so that the evidence and witness statements can be scrutinized. But I am absolutely not a fan of trying men, and I don’t care what color they are or where they are from, in a court of public opinion. I am not a fan of mob justice. I don’t care if 20 million people sign a petition to incarcerate George Zimmerman, that’s not how the system works in this country. We arrest people when we have probable cause to arrest them, and you don’t get probable cause until an investigation turns up evidence that disproves or casts doubt on the self-defense claim. We also don’t deprive people of life or liberty without due process of law in this country.

The FBI’s civil rights division is getting itself involved in the case now. This is to be expected, and may even be welcomed by the local authorities since it takes some of the heat off them and brings in a third set of eyes to examine the evidence and witness statements. Police have released more calls in the past from Zimmerman, which show a pattern of mall ninjary and playing cop that seems to have developed over time. A new witness has also come forward, who was on the phone with Treyvon Martin when the altercation began (WARNING: Link will play an obnoxious advertisement automatically). I’ll be honest, I’m skeptical how much detail of a situation someone can get over a cell phone, particularly who threw the first punch. But assuming the witness is credible, I would argue that Treyvon has a good faith belief he was defending himself.

But on matters of self-defense, one disappointing aspect in regard to the coverage of this case, is how poorly people seem to understand self-defense law. The media could step in and presents the legal facts, but they are happy to fan flames and throw gasoline on the fire, rather than try to educate people. I think it would be very unlikely, whether there was a duty to retreat or not under Florida law, it would play into this case. Retreat has always required the ability to do it in complete safety in order for it to be required; if you’ve met the standard of a reasonable belief that grave bodily injury or death is imminent, you’re not expected to run from your attacker unless you could have done so in complete safety. The law has never required you to make a judgement about whether you could outrun your attacker, or disengage from an affray without getting stabbed, etc.

What the Zimmerman/Martin case is likely to hinge on is whether Zimmerman was faultless. Generally, in order to claim self-defense, you have to have no fault in the circumstances. In other words, who threw the first punch is relevant here. If it was Zimmerman who used unlawful force on Martin, by trying to restrain him, etc, then Zimmerman’s self-defense claim can’t stand. In fact, Martin would have the valid self-defense claim in using force to defeat Zimmerman’s use of unlawful force. The fact that Zimmerman disregarded advice from 911 is not material. What 911 tells you are not lawful orders that must be obeyed. That doesn’t play into fault here as far as the law is concerned. Word are also generally considered insufficient to surrender faultlessness. In other words, if Zimmerman asked Martin “What are you doing here?” or even if he verbally antagonized Martin, and Martin attacked, Zimmerman is still faultless legally. Even if Zimmerman unwisely pursued Martin, that still does not create fault in the eyes of the law. The validity of the self-defense claim hinges almost entirely on who started the affray. If there was not a witness to those circumstances, it hinges on Zimmerman’s statement, and whether it comports with the evidence and statements from witnesses, and whether any of it casts doubt on the self-defense claim.

One consequence of our legal system, which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt, is that sometimes murderers will go free. We can’t incarcerate someone because we just know he’s guilty. We can’t incarcerate someone for being a racist asshole, and disregarding all sound advice about not engaging in cop-wannabeism or mall ninjary. Incarcerating someone takes evidence, witness statements, an indictment, and a trial by a fair and impartial jury. Justice is not meted out by the mob in this country, and that is how I sincerely hope it remains. I do want to see the Martin family get a day in court before a grand jury, who can examine the evidence, and decide whether there’s grounds to indict Zimmerman. But that is a formal process, which takes time, and mob justice in the mean time isn’t going to solve anything.

Zimerman’s Call.

Listening to his call, he had no reason to view Martin as suspicious. He said he was walking down the street looking at houses. You know, kind of like what I do when I walk around my neighborhood. What else is there to look at? You’re either looking at houses, looking up or down the street, or looking at the sky.

As soon as he noticed Zimmerman is following him, the kid took off running. If some strange guy was stalking you, who wouldn’t? Zimmerman got out of his car and pursued. 911 told him they didn’t need him to pursue the kid. Sounds like after he hung up, he did anyway.

Calls 1-3.

None of these calls, save one, reveal any more detail than someone was screaming, then there was a gunshot, then no screaming, and a dead black male. In one call, you can hear the screaming. The final caller revealed she saw someone in a white t-shirt on top of someone, but could not identify the race of the individual because it was dark.

Calls 4-6.

Nothing useful here. It almost got useful on the 4th call, but the dispatcher didn’t press for any further information.

Call 7.

Totally useless. I’ll do you a favor and tell you not to even listen to this one.

The 911 tapes don’t really clear up anything. In cases like this, it’s going to be a matter of whether Zimmerman’s statement to police is contradicted by any witness statements. I’d really like to add I’m glad I don’t live in this neighborhood. If I hear someone outside my home screaming for help, I’m going outside to see what’s going on. If it’s dark, I grab a flashlight. At the least I’m going to be a witness, and be able to give police useful information. This is an example of the complete extinction of civic virtue in our society. Because no one was willing to even look when someone was screaming for help, if Zimmerman is a murderer, he’s likely going to get away with it.

UPDATE Here’s a Google Earth view of the neighborhood this took place in. I’m guessing, based on descriptions given to 911, the scuffle and eventual shooting happened on along that lake. You can see the path between the townhouses that Zimmerman likely used to pursue Martin.