Firebird wrote:tifosi77 wrote:Firebird wrote:This never would've made it to trial if the police released the photo's of a beat up Zimmerman, as opposed to waiting 2 months.
The police didn't actually have any pictures of 'beat up' Zimmerman. The only photos taken at the scene were shot by a neighbor, the cops never got a picture of Zimmerman's wounds before they were cleaned up by the EMT.
They showed photos in court taken in the police station with dried up blood on the back of his head, right?
Also, I'm sure the neighbor showed his photo some where soon after the shooting. They chose not to share it.
But the station photos with the dried blood present a considerably less compelling case for Zimmerman being reasonably fearful for his life or of being in danger of grievous bodily harm. (The wounds didn't even need stitches, fwiw) I think the neighbor's photos only came to light through the pre-trial discovery process, not the police investigation. (Could be wrong on that, but I seem to recall reading that in the last week or so)
The point there being that the police's inaction on the night of the incident could have made it harder for Zimmerman to claim self-defense than it maybe needed to be. And it may have also had the knock on effect of also making the prosecution's job more difficult by not properly documenting the crime scene.
Shyster wrote:I don’t think merely following someone would qualify.
I have to call a bit of BS on that.
1) He had placed a 911 call because he deemed TM to be suspicious, therefore he was - by his own estimation - following a prospective criminal, who may or may not be armed themselves;
2) Zimmerman was not 'merely following' anyone, he was providing information to 911 on the person's movements;
3) As the 911 call wore on, he ignored the 911 dispatch operator's words about not following the person, and lied to police when questioned about it.
Everything about his actions indicate that he was attempting to assist in 'apprehending' Martin. Which at best can be described as foolhardy.
Given all of that, in a similar situation, who among us here would have chosen to follow the person on foot? I've been in broadly similar situations, but with the key difference of knowing who I was following and having a more complete understanding of the potential risks I was exposing myself to by pressing on. Zimmerman was ignorant of the situation, yet chose to move on foot in the dark during a rain storm to follow someone he was told to stop following, who - by his own estimation - was a likely criminal.