The Zimmerman people are not defending Zimmerman, they are defending themselves.
That does often seem to be true, to be honest.
*sighs* Let's break it down yet again...
Such careless handling of statements that do not necessary mean only one thing. Since when does prevention of a get-away involve only detainment as opposed to stalling or following with police on the way?
And how would that work? Remember, Zimmerman supposedly lost sight of Martin completely. And yet, he somehow ends up fighting with him, around the corner from his car. How'd that happen?
And furthermore, you've accepted a quote from Rachel Jeantel, so she's now in play. And according to her, Zimmerman reappeared behind Martin, refused to identify himself or his purpose in following Martin, and did something to cause Martin to say "Get off, get off!" to anyone with any sense, this means that Zimmerman chased down and grabbed Martin.
I'm still not seeing a history of pre-meditated stupidity on GZ's part.
Who said anything about "pre-meditated"? Frankly, he seems to be unable to understand the consequences of his violent behavior, which is why, in addition to getting into trouble with so many people, he's also a remarkably poor liar.
He could have been trying to stall the "suspect" until the police arrived.
Possibly. But is only evidence of his stupidity, particularly when there's nothing for the "suspect" to be suspected of.
If the police had gotten there before anything happened, GZ would have been caught following yet another innocent person to their house - a pattern consistent with his history.
And again, Urban Rule #1.
All the hand-waving around Zimmerman's record of convicted and alleged violence does not prove he started the physical altercation.
So, he was attacked by, among other things, a frightened teen, a wife holding an iPad, an old man, a table, a mistress, and a wine bottle.
But why did he stalk some random guy to his workplace, and then just stand around in plain sight with a gun on him, when he was *supposed* to be in hiding under mass threat of death?
And we can't be sure what Martin was thinking, being followed by a "creepy ass cracker" in a gated community. Maybe he wasn't as frightened of the guy as he should have been.
No, we can be sure, by his clear statements of fear, his running away from Zimmerman, and by his refusing to lead Zimmerman home, that he was frightened. It's very easy to put myself in his shoes, and I suspect it is for most other people. Far more difficult to understand why Zimmerman was so enraged by a black kid dressed warmly in cold weather, with snacks from the store, walking home.
Then again, GZ could have attempted to detain a suspect for assumed drug possession, as opposed to having stolen anything.
Which makes the NYPD look like Officer Friendly.
In the 911 call, Zimmerman seemed to be suggesting that Martin was canvasing the neighborhood for a robbery ("he's just milling around looking at the houses" or something like that) and on drugs or something.
And again, given Zimmerman's amazingly poor judgement, I'm not sure why we should care what he thought about Martin. You don't seem to want to suggest anything less that perfectly clear video of the entire encounter, and that's unrealistic. Those of us us who concluded he was a murderer looked at Zimmerman's 311 call, Jeantel's testimony, Martin's known behavior, the location of Martin's body, and Zimmerman's idiotic stories.
I'm still not sure about what really happened and what charge the perp (Zimmerman) should have gotten.
Manslaughter, at the very least.
