Martin Shooting in Florida

We don't enough of the relevant facts yet and some of them are circumstantially contradictory. (Gunshot on 911 tape that followed closely after Zimmerman contacted 911 said he saw the kid who was walking away and he was following him.) If that truly was a gunshot how does that fit into a fight some distance and time away?

There was one witness. Zimmerman's neighbor who upon hearing cries for help looked out his window and saw the kid on top of Zimmerman punching or fighting with him. Zimmerman was on his back. However, the witness didn't see the start of the altercation or when they first came together.

When they first came together--that's the key point. What happened from that point on. Then after establishing that based upon all available evidence at the scene you work backward on the timeline and to a certain context also in investigating further too.

I'm surprised by your stance. Maybe I misunderstand your beyond a reasonable doubt position. You making definitive judgments based upon a dramatically incomplete story and lack of what will be available evidence. You assume facts not in evidence.

I don't have a position. As I said earlier this is the most screwed up reported "crime" I've heard at this stage ever. Remember this happen over a month ago. If this was a breaking story of something that just happen it would make sense of the confusion, but given the amount of time elapsed...amazing.

I believe what I suggest is absolutely correct and both the professional investigative, as well as legal way to go.

This whole case comes down to the interaction between the two men. What was the interaction and the sequence of whatever events transpired when they actually came to a confrontation. So far, even though it is certainly possible that Zimmerman is blameless legally one thing that I'm glad to see die out is that given on the facts as reported so far the Florida Stand Your Ground Law is not part of the mix here and is not applicable. That is true regardless of who was the bad guy or if there was an element of mutual combat.

Well, of course, what would you expect. The "victim" was black and the numerous attackers were not only white but rich and white!

However, eventually, the truth did come out, justice was done, a DA was disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct and other wrong doing so all worked out in the end. The "happy" ending was a result of all the facts coming out and that took time as it will in this case.

At least there is no rush to judgment here at GA on this case. Zimmerman does have in theory at this point given what has been released, which is minimum some questions for which he is going to have the right answers to walk away clean, and he may truly in fact have the right answers. We just don't know so far. Eventually we likely will.

One thing that seems relatively solid at this point is the two men fought. Who started it is unknown. The witness who saw the fight after it started said he saw Zimmerman on his back with the kid on top of him winning while Zimmerman called for help.

What follows is uncontested as far as I know so far. I'm certainly open to more information. The kid was completely unarmed or had no weapon of any kind other than his body. Zimmerman shot the kid. Zimmerman had very minor injuries. In the scenario just described in most states Zimmerman would be charged with involuntary manslaughter at the least. Maybe Florida law is a bit different--but in most states that would be the case. The only legal basis for a Zimmerman not being guilty is if the kid initiated the contact that started the fight and that Zimmerman had a reasonable reason to fear for his life. Absent that, in most states involuntary manslaughter.

Simply disgusting. Spike ought to reach into his pocket and help them out in some way financially or other meaningful way. He sure owes them and others an apology.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/28/elderly-couple-forced-out-home-after-tweet-claims-killer-trayvon-miller-lives/?intcmp=trending

For those choosing not to click on and look at videos provided they do not show any blood on Zimmerman. His face and head appears normal.

If in fact he had blood on him at the scene as indicated whose blood was it? If, big if, it was the dead boy's blood then would he or the police officer have cleaned Zimmerman's face?

Hopefully the detectives/investigators will be a bit more thorough in determining what happen than the officer who responded to the scene.

This case really is legally so simple. What brought the two together? What started the fight? Why did Zimmerman shoot the victim?

Within those questions is the legal resolution or at least the legal charges and case if any to be taken to trial.

I expect Zimmerman lives in the same "gated community" as Martin's dad. That would explain his being on the neighborhood watch.
On the satellite view of the address, I don't see any gates at all, just what would be called Luxury Apartments or Luxury Condos by virtue of a swimming pool in the center of the thing that seems to be community property. I count 6 driveways per building and 37 buildings, so there's about 222 families if nobody shares a driveway. That's close to the same as the gated community where I live, minus the swimming pool but we have rent-a-cops and actual gates. Believe me we don't all know each others names & family stories.
I went for a walk and "Security" came out of his shack and asked me if I had any business being here. Yeah, I've been living here since before you graduated high school. So he went back in his shack. It really pissed me off because they have no right to challenge pedestrians. By nature of our contract to own or otherwise possess our residences, we have a right of way to enter or leave whenever we choose. "Security" does not decide who has property rights in our community. There is an assertion that motor vehicles using the common ground can be denied access if they have not paid their share of maintenance for the roads they drive on, but there is no such assertion for pedestrians.
I recall us having some sort of curfew for teens after certain hours but the legality of that has not been explained to me, and as an astronomy buff and former volunteer at an educational institute, it is obvious that there are problems with ideas such as curfews.
I haven't seen one single bit of print on the issue of right of ways or curfews or even a mention of bylaws or whatever may govern the allegedly gated community, and I can only guess it may be privately owned and perhaps even "55 and over" like some communities around here (but not mine).

The video of the guy with no blood on him, the guy looks like Ethics maybe, but the picture of Zimmerman they've been showing on our TV news looks kinda like Brad Pitt. Makes me wonder if any of the pics are unretouched. Besides the guy has a red jacket, I thought I heard the witness say red T-shirt. Maybe it was something with some orange-color security lighting.