George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder for killing Travon Martin. Based on what I know of the facts and understand of Florida law, I believe the jury got the verdict wrong. Why? Because Zimmerman committed a crime, Simple Assault, in engaging Mr. Martin as he did. That being the case, he had no right to use deadly force. Shooting Mr. Martin was a continuation of Zimmerman’s assault on him. Zimmerman should have been convicted of either second-degree murder or manslaughter.
Here’s the portion of Zimmerman’s call to 9-1-1 which indicates that he, not Martin, was the perp:
Zimmerman: … Shit he’s running.
Dispatcher: He’s running? Which way is he running?
Zimmerman: Down towards the other entrance to the neighborhood?
…
Dispatcher: Are you following him?
Zimmerman: Yeah.
Dispatcher: Ok, we don’t need you to do that.
(You can read the full transcript here.) The fact that Zimmerman chased Martin is critical. It makes Zimmerman not Martin the aggressor. What the jury – and, it would seem, the prosecutors – missed is that as the aggressor Zimmerman had no right of self-defense. When you undertake criminally aggressive behavior in Florida you forfeit your right to use force. Once Zimmerman initiated his assault on Martin then his actions that followed were a continuation of the assault. They were not self-defense. Why is that true? After all, here’s Chapter 776, Use of force in defense of person (emphasis mine):
776.012 Use of force in defense of person.—A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:
(1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony; or(2) Under those circumstances permitted pursuant to s. 776.013.
Here’s s.776.013:
776.013 Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.—
(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
It appears to me that people read s.776.012 and s.776.013 and stop there. The problem is not reading the all of s.776. Sections 776.012 and 776.013 aren’t the relevant sections. As I noted above, chasing Mr. Martin was Simple Assault, see Section 784.011. Because Zimmerman was the aggressor, s.776.041, Use of force by aggressor, was the applicable statute:
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.
Again, Zimmerman chased Martin. That rules out any plausible argument that he “exhausted every reasonable means to escape.” If Section 776.041 had been applied then the only plausible defense Zimmerman had was 2a above. Not to flog a dead horse, but the fact that he chased Martin down makes 2a a big stretch.
That’s my input. I figured Doug Muder would be on this and he is. See his commentary here.