As A Former Law Enforcement Officer, My Impressions Of The Martin Case.

[MD20]

96. One quote from your premise still bothers me!

Last edited Sun Mar 25, 2012, 11:24 PM - Edit history (1)

As I said before, your assessment of the less than fully disclosed events is agreeable. I might add that the bulk your analysis was expertly done.

Yet, the nagging pangs of doubt arose when I saw that you started your 4th paragraph with this:

"We do have to say Zimmeramn had the right to have the gun under the law. He even had the right to pursue Trayvon and ask him what he was up to. Bad judgement, but not illegal."

To me, that statement is troubling because it embodies the premise that Zimmerman 's
right to be suspicious of Martin somehow coalesced into the authority or , as you put it,, the right to harass Martin by following him, apparently at a close enough distance to make Martin nervous. But you didn't stop there, did you? Without citing any references you unilaterally embrace all of the moves made by Zimmerman that led to this tragedy in the first place. Indeed, saying Zimmerman had the right to pursue Trayvon and ask him what he was up to is disingenuous.

MY POINT: if Zimmerman was following Martin so close that he could see the lint on his hoodie, that is undue harassment. Following from a safe distance, say a couple of hundred feet , would not be so obvious and iMHO would be more acceptable.

We know "following" placed Zimmerman in close proximity to Martin. You seem to support the notion that it was ok for Zimmerman to escalate his harassing episode by asking the victim questions. If it were Snoop Dog instead of Martin, I imagine the silence in the neighborhood would have been punctuated with multiple shots...all into the body of the stalker, Zimmerman. Snoop, though, would have been arrested and hauled off to jail.

The Stand Your Ground Law wasn't written for Black folks who shoot white people, was it? Fear of blacks was the reason for such a law in the first place. So let us not pretend otherwise. While your global assessment is commendable, that one little excerp that I dared to address sums up the reality that prevades, not just the Twin Lakes community and Sanford, but the entire nation as a whole! Like it or not, that is just the way it is...for now!


DEFINITIONS:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalking?show=0&t=1332728292

http://www.esia.net/State_Stalking_Laws.htm