Wow! It sounds like the JUDGE, not the jury, may have freed Zimmerman.

[onenote]

150. You have not correctly described the standard for what it would take for Zimmerman to have been

the initial aggressor.

The case law in Florida makes clear that in order to be the initial aggressor, one has actually engage the other person with force or must actually threaten to use force. What Trayvon's perception may have been or not been does not matter from the standpoint of whether Zimmerman would be deemed the initial aggressor. The state would have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the altercation between Zimmerman and Trayvon began when Zimmerman physically attacked Trayvon. I don't recall the state trying to do that, but I could be wrong. A But even if the state made out the case, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Zimmerman was the initial aggressor, Florida law would still allow Zimmerman to use deadly force unless the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman not only used or threatened the use of force initially but that such use of force (or threatened use of force) would have created a reasonable belief in Trayvon that he was threatened with loss of life or great bodily harm). Proving that beyond a reasonable doubt was a step beyond what the prosecution could do or even try to do because Trayvon was not alive to testify and there was no other evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman was the initial aggressor.