General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The very last thing that Trayvon did before he was killed was cry and plead for his own life [View all]X_Digger
(18,585 posts)[div class='excerpt']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.
Zimmerman is precluded from using this defense by being the aggressor, and if he tried to detain Martin, tackled him, or attacked him, that's a forcible felony under FL law, and would make this defense doubly inapplicable.
No, I see this as more evidence of Sanford PD's cover-up. A fig leaf, so to speak, to attempt to brush one *more* incident of racial violence under the rug.
It rises to the level of institutional racism on the police department's part. Rev. Al did a piece on previous attempts by the PD to do the same.