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[magical thyme]

144. I was beaned by an icicle 2 years ago

when it fell off my barn roof, from about 7 1/2 feet. From a piece of ice falling less than 3 feet to my head, I had far, far more bleeding than he does. There's a reason they put out styptic for shaving cuts....

The 2 injuries to the back of his head could just as easily be from a single backwards fall, depending on how he landed, so while they support that he slammed his head into concrete at least once, they don't prove how that happened. None of the witnesses reported seeing his head slammed into concrete, so there is only his word that is how those injuries occurred.

It is entirely possible that Martin landed a punch on his nose, and with witnesses to the two fighting, that seems most likely. However, as I wrote above, it also is not impossible that shooting upward toward Martin's chest caused recoil toward his face. Either way, plenty of fist fights have left people with broken noses and alive without resorting to a gun and killing.

Last year I read that he needed an affirmative defense, but I can't remember now if that was for a potential stand your ground hearing, or for the trial, or for both. And of course we don't know what the jury instructions are or will be. But if I understand correctly, his lawyer has to prove with a preponderance of evidence that he believed his life was in imminent danger and that he had no reasonable escape. But only he can describe his state of mind, yet he can't take the stand because he will be taken apart by the prosecution.

So the defense will have to discredit pretty much every witness to the events, and somehow turn their testimony into Zimmerman ambushed and at disadvantage in the fight, without being able to actually have a witness explain how he felt his life was in imminent danger. Beyond that, they have only his contradictory, discredited and un-provable claims of what happened.

I think the 911 tapes of someone yelling for help, cutoff by a gunshot mid-cry, and Zimmerman's own claim that he was being smothered, will make it pretty clear who was at disadvantage. Doesn't matter if you're on top, when the one on the bottom is aiming a gun at you. I don't believe Zimmerman's claim that Martin said, "You got me." The bullet shredded his lungs and likely the force of the impact would have winded him so that he couldn't speak or inhale.