Equally as sad as those that want him to get off. The problem is that nobody knows all the facts, and everyone should wait for them to come in before making the decision.
the difference in stippling from say 3 inches to 12 inches totally depends on the gun, round, and specific type/brand/lot# of ammo. no way to tell unless you recreate the best you can. I doubt that will be a big factor though, sounds like the autopsy fits previously assumed facts so far.
Police dispatchers have no legal authority. They merely facilitate communications between the public and the police. They are not "official representatives" of anything. Besides, this dispatcher never told Zimmerman not to follow Martin. A dispatcher is not a cop. Jeez.
There are cop that also service as dispatchers too so we don't know if this was the case here so lets just wait and find out .
Wether the dispatcher was a cop or not doesn't matter. The dispatcher was in the official position of representing law enforcement procedures, and requests to the caller(GZ). You are really going to incredible lengths to try and ignore this.
Do you at least agree that it should be up to a judge and jury to decide his fate? Or do you believe that he should've just walked free without any detailed investigation by the police? If someone you loved was shot by a stranger on the street, for whatever unknown reason, wouldn't you at least want the shooter to defend himself in front of a jury? No one here wants Zimmerman to be convicted based purely on public anger. People just want to make sure that if someone's shot, at least the police will do something besides letting the shooter go free when there's so much doubt as to his innocence.
Just so you know, yeah it does. Police can give lawful orders to maintain the peace - police dispatchers - not so much. Even the police conceded that.
That's irrelevant. The dispatcher is the official in charge of relaying police requests and procedures to the caller. That is far more significant. Again it isn't about having the right to do something. As has been pointed out having the right to do something doesn't always make it a good or safe choice.
Of course. What the loved ones want is irrelevant. Of course they want him to prove he is innocent, but that is not how the law works. In this country you have to be proven guilty, you don't have to prove you're innocent. The police should do a thorough investigation regardless of the family's wishes. Then, if the prosecutor has enough evidence they should prosecute the suspect. I think there are several people here that want Zimmerman convicted, despite the lack of evidence. They are convinced he maliciously followed and attacked Martin. They are stuck on the fact that Martin was a teen and unarmed, Zimmerman would not have been able to tell if he was armed or not. Was the Zimmerman's decision poor? Yes. However, what if Martin had been a burglar like he assumed? He would be a hero. It's sad, and I think he should go to prison for manslaughter. High risk, high reward. He guessed wrong, and he should pay. However, charging him with murder and the media's initial conviction, was unfounded and unnecessary.
I think the difference between Zimmerman shooting Martin from 3" to 12" is a pretty big factor. Consider if Martin was in the process of bashing Zimmerman's head when he was shot he would've had to be pretty much on top of Zimmerman in a position from grappling referred to as the mount. That means that for Zimmerman to shoot him just given the length of Zimmerman's forearm and hand to aim the gun at Martin would almost put the gun against Martin's chest. If Zimmerman had shot Martin from a foot or more distance that would make it likely that Martin wasn't on top of Zimmerman at that moment and not likely to be bashing his head in.
could the distance be the result of the kid jerking away the second he realized a firearm was in the equation?
