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**HootSnori** · 03-27-2012, 11:50 PM

A couple of interesting tidbits. Just as background, what's been coming out is that after Zimmerman left his car, he got into an altercation with Martin. In the altercation, Martin punched Zimmerman hard enough to slam him to the ground, then got on top if him, and started slamming Zimmerman's head into the sidewalk. Somewhere in this, Zimmerman is able to pull his gun and shoot Martin.

Now here are a couple of applicable parts of FL self defense statutes. First the "Stand Your Ground" part of the law:

776.013 Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.—

(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.

Personally I don't think this is so applicable. It's not so much as Zimmerman didn't retreat as much as he advanced. But he did have a right to be in the location where the fight took place.

Okay, the next one.

776.041 Use of force by aggressor. —The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:

(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:

(a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant;
I think what Zimmerman did qualifed as prevoking the use of force. However, the law gives him an out here. If he had been knocked to the ground, and, as has been suggested, Martin was on top of him, slamming head against the sidewalk, it could very well satisfy the second clause.

This may be why the police/prosecutors haven't acted. But if that is the case, the need to explain this.

03-27-2012, 11:50 PM	#18
HootSnori Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 407 Senior Member	A couple of interesting tidbits. Just as background, what's been coming out is that after Zimmerman left his car, he got into an altercation with Martin. In the altercation, Martin punched Zimmerman hard enough to slam him to the ground, then got on top if him, and started slamming Zimmerman's head into the sidewalk. Somewhere in this, Zimmerman is able to pull his gun and shoot Martin. Now here are a couple of applicable parts of FL self defense statutes. First the "Stand Your Ground" part of the law: 776.013 Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.— (3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony. Personally I don't think this is so applicable. It's not so much as Zimmerman didn't retreat as much as he advanced. But he did have a right to be in the location where the fight took place. Okay, the next one. 776.041 Use of force by aggressor. —The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who: (2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless: (a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; I think what Zimmerman did qualifed as prevoking the use of force. However, the law gives him an out here. If he had been knocked to the ground, and, as has been suggested, Martin was on top of him, slamming head against the sidewalk, it could very well satisfy the second clause. This may be why the police/prosecutors haven't acted. But if that is the case, the need to explain this.
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