I've never believed that Trayvon ran up on Z to throw the "first punch."

[brett_jv]

102. Not sure how any of what I mentioned is hearsay ...

He had been caught with pot/residue/whatever ... on school grounds, and had THC in his system at the time of death (so he'd smoked weed at least within the prior month).

He had been suspended from school because of it, and was suspended at the time of his death.

He had been kicked out his mom's house for his behavior (or maybe drug use, I'm not actually sure), and was no longer living there when he died.

The defense had texts from TM's phone where he was talking about fighting (and losing, actually), and IMHO they're pretty nonchalant in tone, like getting in fights was a normal part of everyday life or something. Who knows, maybe this was just like 'practice' MMA fighting with a buddy or something, cause TM does talk about 'Round 1' in the text. However, people DO get into fights, especially youths, without the police ever being called and charges filed. & we're not talking social media here, we're talking texts, presumably between friends. Less likely to just be 'bravado/posturing', imho.

And yes, you're right, the jewelry thing was never proven, and I'm *certainly* not saying 'oh, he DID steal it', only that school officials suspected that it may be stolen. This could've contributed to him having a bad mindset re: authorities in his life.

I didn't mention the graffiti thing either, because I didn't even know about that one.

And I didn't mention the social media stuff, the pictures with guns or whatnot. Yeah, I'm very familiar with 'the culture'.

I'm ALSO saying all that stuff should've been left out of the court case here, just as Zimmerman's prior stuff was left out.

But if you ask me, it's not even remotely difficult for me to imagine, given the totality of everything going on in this kid's life at the time ... that he was 'not in a good place', mentally. He may've been feeling very persecuted given all that was going on with the authority figures in his life, and when GZ started following him, and then started harassing him ... he may've friggin' snapped. Or maybe he hit GZ first because he was terrified of him ... both are completely feasible scenarios, and also are not mutually exclusive. The whole thing adds up to TM feeling a great deal of stress as a result of GZ's (profiling) actions, and him acting to 'stand his ground' in teh face of a perceived threat.

I'm not saying that IS what happened, but I by no means would find it 'hard to believe'. I don't know why anyone would. Maybe it's the fact that Zimmerman seems to be lying about other stuff that leads folks to assume he's lying about everything, but personally ... that particular point on who attacked first by throwing the first punch ... I'd not be shocked if was telling the truth.

Fact is, Trayvon was not the innocent little 13 year old cutie-pie from the one pic we've all seen, or the kid riding the horsie in this thread ... when he was killed. Not anymore. If you take an HONEST look at everything that's known here, it's pretty clear at the time of his death that he was a troubled kid, possibly in the early stages of gang involvement, and at a minimum on Social Media he was wanting to put on airs that he was a 'gangsta' type, somebody not to be trifled with, etc. Even in 'the hiphop generation', it's generally regarded as a 'sign of trouble on the horizon' when people start posturing like that.

But NONE of the above means that he deserved to get gunned down. The most important thing AFAIC is that NOBODY testified that GZ had any remotely serious injuries. The head-bashing thing was obviously BS, and there was no evidence of a 'broken nose'. If his head was bashed, why were no paramedics called? Why no trip to the hospital? If his nose was busted, and his head smashed against cement, why wasn't there (GZ's) blood all over the friggin' place?

And why, under THESE circumstances, wouldn't the cops (or people at the hospital) have taken a BUNCH of pictures of GZ's injuries, since they had to know from word 'go' that he was claiming 'self-defense', right?

I know why ... cause that part of the story was BS. They didn't take those pics cause they'd not have shown what they wanted them to show. And I think the cops were on GZ's 'side' from word go.

And the idea that GZ, with his recent MMA training, and the size and build that he was at that time (check out the pics from his first court appearance) ... the idea that he would've lost a fight with the 17 year-old stick-figure that was Trayvon is pretty ludicrous to me. He should've EASILY been able to kick Trayvon's butt in a fight. But he didn't want to. He brought his gun for a reason, to make sure that 'Punk' didn't get away this time.

The 'SYG' and Self-Defense laws are what made this whole tragedy possible if you ask me. GZ knew the exact law, knew exactly what to say to the cops, and what he could get away with, I'd bet any amount of money on that.

The whole thing is esp. sad because 5 years ago, before SYG and such, the jury would've gotten VERY different instructions, and Zimmerman would've gone away for a long time. Those laws, that put a premium on LIFE, should've been preserved.