2)In any other place where a person “has a right to be,” that person has “no duty to retreat” if attacked and may “meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”
If he felt he needed deadly force to prevent death or serious harm from someone half his size, than he probably shouldn't follow them around thinking he is Batman.
i only just now read the story and skipped to the last couple pages to catch up. i actually applaud joe horn for taking out the two thieves - as far as im concerned he did a public service. those piece of crap thieves got what they deserved...they are dead and i say good riddance. this but this is way, way, way different - this poor kid was not stealing from anyone. he wasnt breaking into anyones house. he was murdered by some wanna-be cop who apparently thought a black kid in his neighborhood was suspicious. sounds like it could have been river oaks. as far as im concerned this idiot self-appointed "block captain" should be in jail awaiting sentencing for murder. and again, im someone who applauds what joe horn did. but this is cold-blooded murder...whatever happened, the "block captain" instigated the whole thing by "trailing" him, even after the cops told him to back off and the results are that the kid w/ skittles ended up dead right infront of his dads house. poor kid. there was an incident here in austin last month where a young guy crashed his car on the main road of avery ranch (large masterplanned community). so he wanders into the neighborhood and was found underneath someones car in their driveway...the homeowner even admits he was not trying to break into the car...i would guess he was drunk. anyway, the owner of the house shot him in the back 3 times as he was walking or running away from the house. he murdered him and is not currently in jail.
Yes there has to be a reasonable belief. Pretty much most self-defense statutes are based on a reasonable person standard. For it be self-defense even under the stand your ground law you have to be able to show that your belief was reasonable. In this particular case barring other evidence to the contrary, which neither you or other posters have shown, there isn't evidence that Martin was a reasonable threat. He was unarmed and much smaller than Zimmerman. Just because Zimmerman felt threatened didn't mean he could shoot him unless that feeling was based on something reasonable. Now as I said earlier I am not willing to rule out that Martin actually was able to be a reasonable threat but no one has been able to provide evidence that he was.
I brought this up several times in the Joe Horn debate but one issue that people overlook is the danger of laws like the protect your neighbor's property and the stand your ground doctrine represents to the do gooders. Joe Horn and Zimmerman are very lucky that the people they shot weren't armed also. What people need to remember is that self-defense laws that mandate retreat are not meant to protect criminals but to protect innocent people from getting killed or hurt in a confrontation with a criminal.
The only threat was a trigger happy white dude with some sense of moral entitlement that murdered a 17 kid in cold blood. Period. You see it any other way then you're pretty much telling on yourself. The kid was armed with skittles and an ice tea!!!! What was he doing wrong but walking home and being black at the wrong time in the presence of this prick coward? That prick was told NOT to confront him and he did anyway! This kid didn’t know who this stranger was and why was he bothering him...at 17 years old you can defend yourself, but not against a 9mm. What a racist coward!! It pisses me off to no end that this piece of **** was not arrested and charged....How is that possible?? It's a total cover up....a messy cover up and the DA "doesn't" want the mess going on now while elections are right around the corner. As for people on this board that believe and defends Zimmerman; be real with yourselves and say how you really feel. People will respect you more if you just come out and say it!! Another thug aka N!gg@r off the street right? if he wasn't doing something then, pretty sure he WOULD have later right? Don’t beat around your bigotry; own it.
Actually you sound like the real racist here -- making judgments without having all the facts. Own it
I corrected my statement....The DA "doesn't" of course he should have been arrested and still in a cell for what he did. It's a real sad case....I feel terrible for his parents
You are as typical as the coward that pulled the trigger. Just own your bias and embrace your racist thoughts. It must be hard to hold all that in all the time....I'm sure you're around minorities a lot and it eats you up inside knowing that you share the same air and earth they do. They are obviously beneath you; just let it go and say what you really feel Texx. I won't judge you....I would respect you more in fact. lol You're gona have an aneurism holding on to all those thoughts in that massive dome of yours. I didn't mention your name in my first comments but you knew you were the elephant in the room huh? Typical
All of you who are arguing with bigtexxx and gwayneco are really missing the phenomenal thing that has happened here. I admire their new commitment to suspending judgment until the facts are in. It's a good step towards honest debate. I'm sure they intend to do this from now on, in all cases.
Pretty sure the DOJ stats would show blacks committing more violent crimes overall, which would means we at least commit more per capita than whites or hispanics.
I'm tired of reading people sparring with the trolls. I'd like to hear from the second amendment folks (if for no other reason because they can hold a more honest debate). What do you think this case says about conceal carry laws? The second amendment threads are usually chock full of claims of how people with licenses to carry train with their weapon, commit fewer crimes, etc, and that them carrying guns deters crime. In this case, the criminal was the guy with the license to carry, and his having a weapon served to escalate a misunderstanding to murder. If he didn't have a pistol, the worst that could happen is a couple bloody noses. Heck, Zimmerman probably wouldn't have gotten out of his car. Do you think the benefits of concealed carry can justify this sort of abuse?
