If you have a gun and the other guy doesn't . . .

[Kennah]

159. Might be too late to undo it, but ...

... when you pursue it changes things under the law. Having the right to stand your ground is NOT the same thing as having the right to pursue someone. Trayvon Martin also had the right to stand his ground. Under those conditions, one must look at whether one or the other did anything to aggravate the situation.

Consider the scenario where TM and GZ are taunting one another with barbs. They escalate to profanity and start calling each other "Motherfucker!" Push, shove, kick, punch, and they are fighting. A gun comes out, TM is dead, and GZ is guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Mutual combat is one of the classic examples of voluntary manslaughter. The real situation, according to all press reporting and court testimony shown to date, does not bear ANY resemblance to that. If TM contributed to escalating the fight, it was slight. I don't see how GZ escapes with anything less than a conviction for manslaughter, although he really deserves murder two.

If TM had stalked and attacked GZ, then it becomes a clear cut case of self defense when GZ was getting his head bashed. In pursuing TM, GZ changed everything. He shattered his mantle of innocence, turned into the aggressor, and became the archetype of a criminal defending "his turf".