patrickaa317 wrote:Zimmerman was being pummeled, already had a weapon on him and used it to defend himself. Alexander was confronted, had a moment to escape, retrieved a weapon, returned to the scene and fired the weapon. That is the key difference that you seem to refuse to recognize. Had zimmerman left the scene, returned, then shot Trayvon and if Alexander had a weapon on herself and was being pummeled when warning shot was fired; the rulings would have been reversed.
I still agree that Alexander's 20 years is ridiculous but recognize these two cases are apples and oranges; or red apples and green apples at the very least.
They're not as apples-and-oranges as you make it sound. Zimmerman wouldn't have been pummelled if he hadn't stepped out of the vehicle, which means he had an escape and didn't take it, just as Alexander had a temporary escape and didn't take it - I say temporary because being confronted implies she was being followed/stalked and maybe felt that just running again would buy the stalker time to plan something worse.
Also, maybe you have to be a woman in Florida who's had some dude be violent against her to realize how "cracker" some of the "law enforcement" is, how, "now now little lady, you oughtn'ta made him angry like that," the "officers" get and use as an excuse to NOT protect her from the nasty "hims" who are set out to hurt her.
They didn't arrest the guy who strangled me in my home. It was before "stand your ground," and they told me if I'd shot him I'd be up for murder, and never mind the purple marks around my neck I wore for 6 months, and never mind the sprained wrists and bruises from being tossed over and into my furniture and my body being used to break my lamp after he broke back in. And never mind they wouldn't serve the restraining orders and he was coming by every night and calling, and they wanted ME to provide THEM with his current address even though the "victim advocate" offices kept telling me where NOT to go because that's where he was working.
And to be told it was my fault because I'd initially let this guy in...
...To be told I should sell my house and move to prevent him stalking me in my own home...
Pretty sad that a woman isn't allowed to do what she needs to make sure she's safe from violence when the cops won't, while a dude can fairly actively invite violence by stepping OUT of his vehicle when told NOT to by the cops.
If Zimmerman had died, and Martin lived, I imagine Martin's defense would sound like this: "Man, I was walking home from getting my munchies, minding my own business on a public street when this dude followed me and I was afraid for my life, and based on Florida's 'Stand your ground' law, I defended myself."
I don't think Zimmerman actively planned to shoot when he stepped out of the vehicle, so it wasn't homicide. He wasn't doing anything illegal or directly harmful, so it also wasn't manslaughter.
But if Alexander had planned to use that gun in advance, I highly doubt it would've been in the garage - unless it was there because the dude was harassing her elsewhere and she felt threatened enough to need protection.