Looking at what's been posted of his Twitter account and the multiple suspensions from school, this isn't some innocent kid. There's no proof, but it wouldn't be a far stretch.
Apparently the police report Trayvor at 160 pounds. Zimmerman's family say Zimmerman is 190 pounds.
I've been watching this recently, so my view is biased
Multiple suspensions can stem from many things (fighting, talking back to teachers, excessive tardiness). Whether these things matter when determining whether Zimmerman acted in self-defense... I'm not sure those things give (or could give) the defense a strong argument in favor of Zimmerman.
Any difference in weight (and to some extent, fighting ability) is rendered null in the presence of a handgun. The power dynamics change quickly.
While the video shows something that is reprehensible and ugly, I don't know how this video can affect the case, unless you think that Martin is in any way like these morons. But again, why would you think that? Because they have similar skin color?
You make a lot of assumptions. I walked into a bank once with a hoodie, hood raised because it was raining, and the security guard/off duty cop immediately stood up. When I removed my hood he sat down. I'm white, in my 30s, and wear slacks and dress shirts to work, but that day I had a hood concealing my face as I entered a bank. I was also followed by a convenient store owner when I was a teen. He followed any teen he saw, which was a lot because the store was across the street from the high school. That was ageism, but in a town with only three black families he didn't assume his shoplifting issues were from those teens.
A kid you don't recognize with a hood up in a neighborhood with recent break-ins can cause suspicion, regardless of race. I would love to see a study on the false accusations by neighborhood watch members that didn't result in a death. The fact that a neighborhood watch was implemented means that residents are likely already suspicious of anyone, including each other.
Simply put, we have no evidence to suggest Zimmerman saw a black person and became suspicious before knowing anything else. If Trayvon had his hood up (do we know if that is the case?) Zimmerman may have needed to get close, or at a good angle to determine race, depending on lighting conditions and so forth.
Too much is unknown to assume much of anything. There were supposedly break-ins recently and so any kid wandering around may appear suspicious to a guy actively looking for the suspect.
You raise very important points... Particularly the hoodie point. While I agree that an older person might make certain associations when they see someone walking with a hoodie, these associations are always following blacks/Latinos, particularly young black/Latino men. I have a friend who entered a GameStop near City Walk (which is next to Universal Studios) wearing his hood up. My friend is Latino. Upon entering, the security guard asked him to take off his hood, which he did. But that did not stop the security guard from following him around the store. Annoyed, my friend left the premises, but the security guard continued to follow him outside the store. My other friend told the guard "we left the store already, stop following us," but the guard did not say anything or go away until he made sure my friends had left the surrounding area.
Had my friend entered the store without his hoodie, he probably wouldn't have been followed. But even after removing his hood, he still aroused suspicion. My point being that skin color and/or dress can arouse certain associations of (possible) criminality. People of color sometimes don't have to dress a particular way to stop people from making these associations. This is something that people of color are very familiar with, unfortunately.
We will see how the case turns out. Some people were asking the prosecution to file hate crime charges, which the prosecution did not do, because this one is really hard to prove.
Read my post again(not that you will), the evidence I have seen doesn't make me believe that they will be able to get a murder conviction, manslaughter is much easier to prosecute, especially since self defense is going to be a major part of the case.
Unless the prosecution feels confident that they can dismantle the self-defense claim, this shouldn't be any problem. There could be two reasons why the prosecution chose to file murder charges.
1) Public pressure.
2) Regardless if they choose manslaughter or second degree murder, the prosecution will still have to address self-defense. If they had chosen manslaughter, and the defense is able to successfully establish self-defense, Zimmerman will still walk away a free man, since he would be protected by the "Stand Your Ground" law. The prosecution might have reasoned that if this was the case, why not land the most time for Zimmerman?
The line between manslaughter and second degree murder is very thin, giving the prosecution leeway in determining how harshly they want to punish the aggressor in question. Basically, manslaughter is supposed to denote crimes in which the frailty of human composure is taken into account. Your alleged crimes of passion fall under these categories. Second degree murder involves murder that is not premeditated, but is done with malice.
The common example used to denote the difference is the passion crime: a person who discovers his/her partner sleeping with someone else grabs a gun from the drawer and kills the lover. Where the difference lies is the circumstance... if the person decides to leave without the lovers noticing, take some time to purchase a weapon to kill the lover, and then wait to catch them again in the act, it no longer is manslaughter. If done in the spot, upon learning of the affair, it is manslaughter.
One more element for the prosecution to prove, basically. Zimmerman's failure to stand back even when the 9-11 operator suggested he stand back helps fulfill, somewhat, that last element of malice. That's the circumstance that changes everything, because if Zimmerman had been unexpectedly attacked by Martin (let's say Martin did want to steal something and wanted to incapacitate the watchdog) then Zimmerman kills him, then that's manslaughter (notwithstanding the Stand Your Ground law). But the fact that it was Zimmerman doing the pursuing, and possibly Martin feeling like the he was the one in danger, 2nd degree murder isn't that far-fetched of a stretch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_(United_States_law)#Degrees_of_murder_in_the_United_States
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/homicide-murder-manslaughter-32637-2.html
and this one...
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justic...ee-race-and-justice-in-US/I-am-Trayvon-Martin
I am the one who defined the law correctly.
