He threw the punch when, according to GZ, Zimmerman reached down to his waist area ("to grab my phone")...perhaps TM thought the weirdo following him was now reaching for a weapon.
Good point... I would also suspect that GZ was especially paranoid that night as well, because he had a gun (and perhaps was out looking for someone to shoot...could that explain why he followed a kid in the rain....or perhaps just because he's a racist and TM was black).
...and there it is folks! The race card! How intellectually lazy is it to just toss out the race card when you're out of logic and reason? Very. I get so sick of people just lazily leaning on the race card trying to explain everything away with that. Give me a break.
There has been no evidence thus far that supports that TM had reasonable imminent fear for the loss of his life or for suffering serious bodily injury.
So......in defending himself from this weapon he thought GZ was about to pull, TM said "you got a problem now".... before he took action to disarm GZ. That's just dumb.
Nope... I wasn't pulling the race card. Was just making silly fallacious inferences simular to the ones you made in your post that I quoted.
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Because the person who best could describe what went down when he was out buying Skittles and iced tea was shot dead. The very fact that there was a confrontation is proof that the deceased thought he was in danger.
If i was being followed by a stranger at night & when confronted, he reaches his hand towards his waist/pant pocket area, i'd be anxious for my safety. No time to assume he's "reaching for his cellphone".
Where's the evidence that TM was confronted? And being anxious doesn't give you the right to assault someone.
Except for the fact that he was being followed by a stranger, who as we now know was armed, and even according to the Zimmerman Martin witnessed him reaching into his pocket which he may have interpreted as reaching for a weapon.
First off it isn't proven that Martin assaulted Zimmerman. The only basis is Zimmerman's own word which is inherently biased. Second, this is where the vagaries of self-defense laws come in. Let's say that Martin survives the incident. Presuming that he also agrees that he threw the first punch no doubt he would argue that he was acting in self-defense and reasonably feared that Zimmerman was drawing a gun to shoot him. As it turns out Zimmerman actually is armed so that would add credence to such an account. The problem with Stand Your Ground is that both parties in a situation like this can claim to act in self-defense since neither have a duty to retreat. Martin has the same right to confront Zimmerman as Zimmerman does Martin.
How is that proof that he thought he was in danger and not just some hot head? George Zimmerman described what happened and passed a lie detector test afterward. Bringing up the Skittles and Ice Tea is a stupid tactic to distract from the fact that TM was not some innocent 12 year old kid.
Which again doesn't mean he was in imminent fear of losing his life or sustaining bodily injury. GZ's version of the events that transpired that night passed a lie detector test and GZ did state that TM stated "Well you have a problem now" before he struck GZ.
I don't agree that just because you have mar1juana in your system it makes you paranoid. the toxicology report only found trace amounts of THC. it is impossible to determine or assume whether Trayvon was actually under the influence. ie blazed, that night. the assumption of a hypothetical drug deal is pure conjecture as well, so without facts you cannot assume this either. he had no drugs on his person at the time and was blocks away from the home he was staying at. I'll give TM the athletic edge, and was three inches taller, but Zimmerman outweighed him by nearly 30 pounds. Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee was fired this week.
There is a witness to TM on top of GZ beating him (the same witness that GZ mentioned during the reenactment), no marks on TM indicating he had been been beaten, Zimmerman passed a lie detector, Zimmerman had injuries consistent with his statements. I'd call that a pretty good indication that GZ was assaulted by TM.
If there weren't other witnesses contradicting that witness and GZ's statement. Better to wait for the trial to see which witnesses are the most reliable.
