Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerTank77
I'm aware. However, when someone has you pinned to the ground, and is forcibly raining blows down on your head, that's considered imminent death or great bodily harm. It doesn't take very many shots to the head to kill someone. There are documented cases of people dying from contusions caused by a single punch.
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A few points to raise in response. One, that level of ferocity of attack is not consistent with the reported injuries to Zimmerman ("raining blows down on your head" woudl arguably cause more than a broken nose, a fat lip and some abrasions) or indeed the account Zimmerman provided to police. It also assumes that Zimmerman's account is
prima facie 100% accurate, which is one of the points of dispute. Two, notwithstanding the above, the Florida Statues provision requires such deadly force to be "necessary" - it is debatable the extent to which a fatal chest shot is necessary to subdue a 17-year-old of Martin's build. (Without using weight figures, he weighed less than me and I'm hardly a wrestler) A non-lethal shot would have sufficed - and if Zimmerman was able to carry out a fatal shooting, his level of gun training would indicate he could also have done a non-lethal. Hence why intent comes into the equation. Three, such cases of people dying from a single punch have seldom been the result of 17-year-olds and would entail injuries greater than those sustained by Zimmerman. The odds of such an outcome ensuing on this occasion are therefore unlikely to satisfy the reasonableness test.
I do see the point you're making, but for me it does smack somewhat of speculation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerTank77
I don't think they can drop it down to manslaughter when the trial is underway. They have to either prove in on 2nd degree terms once the trial starts, or acquit him. They can't say "well, we don't have anything to prove second degree murder, lets try manslaughter." You can't just throw charges at someone and hope they stick.
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Taylor beat me to it, but in some circumstances the judge can direct them to consider lesser charges within the same type of offence (in this case homicide). I did, however, suck majorly at explaining and apologise for this.