General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Murder in the first, murder in the second, and manslaughter. [View all]TheWraith
(24,331 posts)Manslaughter itself is the highest, after which you have negligent and involuntary manslaughter. These lower levels are what covers unintentional deaths arising from negligence instead of malice: for instance, someone runs a red light and accidentally kills a pedestrian. Standard manslaughter charges are more serious, and accordingly reflect a higher degree of responsibility.
The scenario I described, which is basically the one that Zimmerman claimed to the police as what happened, is one where the person doing the killing would have been acting appropriately in self defense if they had not initiated the encounter. Instead of direct responsibility, they bear indirect responsibility, for creating the situation where the confrontation happened. As opposed to something like our theoretical driver, who bears not indirect, but negligent responsibility.
In any event, it just came across that they're charging him with murder in the second.