Trayvon Martin: Part One

For those who know my Facebook posts, it is no secret that I firmly believe that, short of a confession, Zimmerman will be acquitted on all charges related to the killing of Trayvon Martin. Martin should not have died, but Zimmerman did not commit a crime, nor did he act immorally in the killing of Martin.

Let me explain. This is going to be a long post and there will be another one tomorrow. There is just too much info on this to address right now. Tomorrow, if I have time, then I will be posting all the sources that I have for all the info that I can find.

In Florida, if you are under attack and reasonably believe that you are in danger of death or great bodily harm, then you have the right, provided that you are in a place you are allowed to be, to use force and even deadly force in stopping the attack. That is almost verbatim language from Florida law. Yeah, I spent some time yesterday combing through the Florida code.

Somethings in the Florida code jumped out at me. By now, many people know that George Zimmerman has been charged with murder in the second degree. Murder in the second degree means that while he had no intent to kill Trayvon Martin, the state is accusing Zimmerman of killing Martin when there was no really good reason to do so. In other words, they will argue that Zimmerman shot Martin not in self defense, but in anger and in a depraved state of mind.

They will seek to prove this by claiming that Zimmerman directly disobeyed a police order to cease and desist a pursuit of Trayvon Martin and that because Zimmerman did not cease his pursuit, he is therefore guilty of allowing his state of mind to become unhinged, thus causing him to act in an unlawful manner.

The Police have already received a statement from Martin's mother stating that a 911 call from a witness contains the screams of her son.

However, there are also witnesses that saw Martin on top of Zimmerman, beating him. Video tapes of Zimmerman hours after the shooting show a gash on the back of his head. The police report includes mentions of grass stains on GZ's back. This is therefore consistent with the testimony of the witness.

But of course, a mother knows her son's voice so what is going on here?

I honestly have no idea. It seems unlikely that the person beating the trash MMA style out of a the guy beneath him would be yelling Help like his life depended on it. For this reason, forensic tests need to be performed to determine what is the likely truth of the matter here. Because of course, the mother is biased just like any relative would be. If you think GZ's father or brother are reliable then you need to have your head checked. A confounding variable here is that GZ does not have a low voice.

A totally fake issue in the case is the question of racist profiling. Zimmerman did not identify Martin's race until he was asked directly by the dispatcher during the 911 call. He then goes on to vent his frustration about criminals saying how they always get away. He also could have said "f***ing cold" or "punks". What he could not have said was coons, which is an archaic racial slur for blacks. Remember GZ is 28, not 60.

Martin had a history of drug use, definitely marijuana. In fact, he was in the process of serving a suspension from school for carrying a bag that had contained weed. His Twitter feed was filled with references to his drug use. His Facebook contains a comment from one of is friends that suggests that Martin MAY (though there is no kind of certainty) suggest that Martin was a small time weed dealer. The media and the Martin cheerleaders like AL Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have said this is an irrelevant factor. However, Zimmerman also said that Martin looked "high".

The fact is this. If you look at correlative studies, you will see that drug use and crime are highly correlated and that those who are on drugs are also more likely to commit crimes. This is not to say that Martin should have been shot, but if it was true that he was high upon entering the complex, then perhaps Zimmerman was being intelligent: people are drugs are much more likely to be crooks than ordinary folks. So it is very relevant that Martin had a history of drug abuse since it would seem to vindicate Zimmerman's determination that Martin looked suspicious.

Golly, It has been years since I have been here.

Well, it is not like anyone reads this blog, but I guess it is a nice outlet for my writing when I absolutely need it. I will try to post more often from now on. Maybe every 3 or 4 days or so.

Dani