Trayvon Martin

[ItsTheSheppy]

And what if I decide that my life is in danger if you outweigh me by 100 lbs and I think you're starting to look mad at me? Is that grounds for justifiable homicide?

Also-

...assuming you don't try flight first.

Stand Your Ground law says I don't have to try that. I can just shoot first and worry about my story later.

[Baneblade]

You would know, there is no gray area there. Now whether your response was totally appropriate or not... that is the gray area.

[ItsTheSheppy]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

You would know, there is no gray area there. Now whether your response was totally appropriate or not... that is the gray area.

Who are you to decide if my response was appropriate? I thought my life was in danger because that guy looked big and mean and he was looking at me funny. Also I'm pretty sure he threatened to kill me. Never mind that there are no witness to corroborate or contradict that; that's my story.

Are you saying you're a better judge than me of when I feel my life is in danger?

[Malorn]

Meh.

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by Malorn

So what's the threshold weight where it becomes impossible to be successfully attacked?

It's when you get punched in the face by someone and it's not even enough to leave a bruise or anything. If someone hits you straight-on in the face and you don't even have a bruise, you're not allowed to kill them. New rule. Sounds pretty good.

[Figment]

Indeed. This also works out on playgrounds.

[ItsTheSheppy]

Originally Posted by Warborn

It's when you get punched in the face by someone and it's not even to leave a bruise or anything. If someone hits you straight-on in the face and you don't even have a bruise, you're not allowed to kill them.

Conversely, if someone hits you and you bruise you are able to immediately kill them because your life is in danger.

Just for the record, I do not agree with Warborn here. You can't draw a line that says "X is a threat deserving lethal force, and Y is not" because everyone is different.

I would suggest that the law state that if someone feels their life is in danger, that they have an obligation to flee the situation, and are only legally permitted to use lethal force if escape is impossible.

Then we wouldn't have situation like, say, when someone takes it upon themselves to instigate a situation they lose control of and resort to lethal force to rectify.

[Warborn]

I was being facetious.

[Quovatis]

Will be interesting to see what the one third-party witness to the event actually said. The person gave their statement to the police, but will not talk to anyone else. I think the whole case will ride on this witness.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Quovatis

Will be interesting to see what the one third-party witness to the event actually said. The person gave their statement to the police, but will not talk to anyone else. I think the whole case will ride on this witness.

The witness will say whatever the witness needs to say to not be targeted.

[Malorn]

Meh.

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by Malorn

Zimmerman got medical attention before being in the police station video.

Well, there are videos of people getting their nose broken on YouTube you can take a look at to get an idea of why that clearly doesn't make a difference. If there are any other people in the medical field reading this thread they can chime in, but a broken nose bleeds profusely and is associated with swelling and bruising around the area. The clots, plus the edema, makes breathing through your nose awfully tough.

Zimmerman was breathing through his nose just fine. No blood on his shirt despite having apparently had his nose broken at the start of his fight. There was no discolouration, no apparent pain, and the broken nose had apparently stopped bleeding mere minutes after Zimmerman was shown on camera. How interesting.

[Malorn]

Meh.

[Warborn]

If you've ever seen someone with a broken nose or with a severe scalp laceration/avulsion that needs stitches you'd know why the police video is pretty damning.

[Malorn]

Meh.