the tradition of blaming the victim

[stupidicus]

21. notta problem

Zimmerman claimed that he yelled for help, and that various neighbors who peered out to see the fight from their backyards didn’t get involved. Zimmerman, the source said, told officers he was so paralyzed by fear that he initially forgot he had a gun, but he said that after Martin noticed his 9mm pistol, Zimmerman pulled it out of his belt holder and fired one round, a hollow-point—the round that killed Martin. (The autopsy report on Martin has not yet been released.)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/19/new-account-zimmerman-told-cops-trayvon-s-last-words-were-okay-you-got-it.html

To me between his not using it first as a heavy and blunt instrument to ward off his attacker, or in the other reasonable alternative, as a warning by making the threat to Martin clear so that he would cease and desist with the alleged life threatening beating he was allegedly administering, shows his intent and interest lied with pulling the trigger first, and not the less humane alternatives. After all, how could Martin have been pounding his head against the ground and struggling over a gun at the same time? How he even "noticed it" in the course of administering the beating as Zimmerman alleges, remains a mystery to me, given he was allegedly in the midst of straddling him (he'd be sitting on top of it, or standing over him bent over focused on the bouncing ball that Zimmerman's head allegedly was) in the dark during the "beating my head against the ground" phase, and had he noticed it he surely would have noticed Zimmerman pulling it out of the belt holster, whereupon a struggle for it would have likely ensued. Maybe Zimmerman is a "quick draw"?

Martin then punched him in the face, knocking him down, and began beating his head against the ground. Zimmerman called out for help, while being beaten, before shooting Martin once in the chest at close range, in self-defense.[129][130]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin#cite_note-Sentinel20120326Zimm-130

This is why his actions under the applicable law as a pants/bedwetting, wouldbe toughguy may be defensible -- we'll have to wait for all the evidence and the jury to decide -- but it never will be morally imo, as I'm sure St. Peter will make clear if you believe in that sorta thing.

I'm inclined to think that this, coupled with his stalking, may put him a bit outside of the protection of the statute. And if the struggle and shooting was over the gun already pulled by Zimmerman, whose "ground" was most threatened?

The more likely scenario to me is that the bedwetter pulled the gun outta fear at the onset, and the rest is history. If there was a struggle over it, then DNA or fingerprint evidence should show that. And if that is shown, then the "quick draw" scenario falls apart. Imo, his claims to being the one yelling for help are pretty damning, and I've yet to see any evidence that there was a struggle for the gun as being part of his original statement to the police as well.

I'm guessing it is the stench of inconsistencies like that that prompted the prosecution, and will likely lead to his conviction. And of course, all his phone calls to the police, etc, can be used to confirm a state of mind I addressed as an essential element in the conviction -- a wreckless and callous disregard for human life.

and if that's the case, I think the ground will be yanked from underneath any SYG defense

776.041?Use of force by aggressor.—The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:
(1)?Is attempting to commit, committing, or escaping after the commission of, a forcible felony; or
(2)?Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:
(a)?Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or
(b)?In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.

http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/776.041

why would cracking his noggin with the gun as opposed to pulling the trigger first, not be required I ask, to satisfy the language there

After all, the fight wouldn't have occurred but for the provocations of Zimmerman, from start to finish