RE: ZIMMERMAN -- Let The Boycotting Begin

I've said it before: The "duty to retreat" is great in theory, and probably mostly useless in practice. Most people are, in the moment, going to choose the means to protect themselves that will have the best chance for success. If they meet force with force, it is almost always going to be because they did not feel like they could safely retreat.

 

Given that SYG law really didn't come into play in this case, I would assume that Mr. Wonder is against the principle underpinning SYG. Therefore, I am certain he'll also be announcing very shortly his intention to boycott:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• California
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• New Hampshire
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

 

Yeah, I felt odd remarking how civil it was just before it went off the rails.

 

I'm boycotting Chick-Fil-A.

 

Stand Your Ground did come into play, in a big way, in the trial and especially in the verdict. It is such an integral part of Florida self-defense law that it cannot be separated from this case, even if it wasn't explicitly argued by the defense. You can separate it from this case and its outcome as easily as you can separate water from wet.

But that truth is never going to catch up to the misconception that says otherwise, largely because too many people don't want to hear it.

 

The investigation was very much colored by the Stand Your Ground law. From the city of Sanford at the time:

"Zimmerman provided a statement claiming he acted in self defense, which at the time was supported by physical evidence and testimony. By Florida Statute, law enforcement was PROHIBITED from making an arrest based on the facts and circumstances they had at the time."

Whether Zimmerman walked up to the officers and actually said the words "Stand Your Ground" matters none. The fact is the police went into mode of treating this as a SYG case. And the investigation went from there.

 

That, and from the instructions to the jury:

If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in anyplace where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

Before Stand Your Ground, Zimmerman would have had to use “every reasonable means within his power and consistent with his own safety to avoid the danger before resorting to that force."

 

It's already started for Marlins games.

 

I-880, the major freeway through Oakland, last night during rush hour:



In Los Angeles, 14 arrests after protests turn violent and windows are broken.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-zimmerman-protests-arrests-20130716,0,412940.story

Can't really understand the relevance of these, especially the Oakland one. You always figure some dirtbags are going to take advantage of the situation and start breaking shit as they did in LA, but I don't get what the whole group stopping traffic 3,000 miles away from the case does.

 

You call that a rush hour?? I see concrete not occupied by cars and trucks!

 

If Stevie is serious about this then he should boycott every state that has a stand-your-ground law.

Of course, the stand-your-ground law had nothing to do with the ultimate decision in the case so the boycott doesn't make any sense to begin with.

 

I agree that it's reasonable to conclude that SYG colored to some degree the initial investigation. How impactful that coloring was, I don't know. I'm skeptical, but I can't rule out there was some smoking gun piece of evidence that evaporated in those days/weeks.

As DW has pointed out, however, Zimmerman was already in the midst of a total ass-whipping by the time he resorted to the deadly force. The only evidence entered into trial suggests strongly that there were at hand no reasonable means of avoiding the danger by the time the danger presented itself. Now I have seen some arguing that Zimmerman should have simply taken the beat-down; I'm sure a part of him wishes he had. But I still contend that the same evidence would have resulted in a "Not Guilty" verdict in any state -- SYG or non- -- of this union.