Ottawa925 wrote:
OK, one more time cause at this point I'm so confused I need cooler heads to prevail to explain to me cause I've VERY frustrated on this point.
Today, Sundance has a thread The Zimmerman Trial Draws near. In that thread Sundance posted a video of a media interview with MOM. In that video MOM begins says it will be up to the jury to decide who was the aggressor - who started the fight.
Recently as you know Dershowitz was on Piers Morgan and explained that even if George was the aggressor, and then Trayvon defended himself and in the process got the better of George, George, at this point if he believes he is in fear of great bodily harm can meet that aggression with deadly force. THIS is what Dershowitz says is Florida law on self-defense.
If a car blows a stop sign and hits my car crossing. I get out of my car and go over to driver and in a heated exchange he gets out of his car. He pee's me off in the argument and I take a swing at him. I hit him, but now he comes at me, gets me on the ground and begins to pound away. I fear for my life so I take reach for my legal firearm and shoot and kill him.
I was the agressor. I got out of my car .. I approached, I engaged him in a heated argument and when he got out of his car .. I hit him. He defends by hitting me, gets me on the ground, and has me in a situation where the beating I am taking could result in the loss of my life. I am allowed to meet his deadly force with deadly force.
Where am I wrong. Let's get all this clear before the trial starts cause quite frankly that video with MOM upset me. He was making it sound like the jury has to decided who confronted who as the lynch pin and to my knowledge this IS NOT the law.
MOM, however, is giving the impression to the listener that the jury will have to decide who STARTED it. According to Dershowitz ... it doesn't matter who started it.
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From the CNN transcript:
DERSHOWITZ: Well, it wouldn't be very relevant evidence. It would be marginally relevant.
But let me show you why this is not a civil rights case. Let's hypothesize George Zimmerman was completely wrong, that he was a racist, that he stopped this young man for all the wrong reasons. Let's assume that for a moment. But then let's assume the young man got on top of Zimmerman and started banging his head at a point where he could kill him. At that point, was George Zimmerman entitled to save his own life, even if he was the wrongdoer initially by using lethal force?
The law says yes, even without Stand Your Ground. So even though George Zimmerman, might -- I'm not saying he was -- might have been a racist who was at fault and who started this, he might still have the right of self-defense under Florida law.