So the short fat Latino dude ...

[sexobon]

Adak, are you responding to tw or to me. You quoted my response to tw in which I was addressing tw's notion that Martin was standing his ground. When I parodied Kenny Rogers' song The Gambler, I was implying that Martin needed to know when to hold or give ground. Even when someone is in fear for their life, standing ground just because one can isn't always the prudent course of action. Martin is now the poster child for that mistake.

I question whether any judge would apply the Stand Your Ground law to Martin as he had not yet reached the age of majority. It would set a president for all minors to perpetrate violence against adults by simply claiming they were in fear for their lives. This, even though minors as a group are generally considered to not have the skill sets, experience and maturity, to make an accurate determination like those inadequacies personified by Martin. There are many laws on the books that minors can't avail themselves of for that reason.

Additionally, the courts have routinely upheld that once someone turns and closes on an antagonist, rather than just remaining in place (standing their ground), their action demonstrates that they were not in fear for their life. The courts have also upheld that in a confrontation the first one to lay hands on another, in the absence of demonstrable serious threat to their physical self, becomes the aggressor. Many have resisted police arrest claiming that they did it in self defense while in fear for their lives 'cause the police had guns. The courts have routinely upheld that the mere presence of police officers' legally carried guns does not constitute a threat and the courts are extending that to all legally armed citizens.

Right or wrong, Zimmerman provoked only a verbal confrontation. The verdict implies that Martin initiated a physical confrontation, without adequate justification, and escalated it to such a level that his actions forfeited his right to life. Zimmerman was talking on the phone with police. Martin was talking on the phone with his girlfriend. Who intended to proceed within the limits of the law is clear. Childlike interpretation of the facts secondary to emotionally dysfunctional hoplophobia is alive and well.