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Five years after Trayvon Martin’s death, myths and lies about case live on

The Not Guilty verdict came as no surprise to those of us following the actual evidence.

Posted by William A. Jacobson Sunday, February 26, 2017

Today is the 5th Anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin, who was shot dead by George Zimmerman.

I don’t think any other website has covered the case as extensively as we have. We have hundreds of posts under the tags Trayvon MartinGeorge Zimmerman and George Zimmerman trial. We covered the initial publicity, the pre-trial criminal proceedings, the trial itself, and the post-trial problems George Zimmerman experienced.

Andrew Branca’s live coverage of the trial was epic and widely credited, including by Don West, co-defense counsel for Zimmerman, Unexpected thanks to Legal Insurrection on 2nd Anniversary of Zimmerman Acquittal.

This is Don West, co-counsel for George Zimmerman in the Treyvon Martin shooting.

Today is the second anniversary of George Zimmerman’s acquittal. Because of the hectic pace of the trial, I’ve only recently begun to review much of the coverage of the case; and I want to compliment Legal Insurrection, Professor Jacobson, and especially Andrew Branca for their exceptional coverage of the trial.

The facts of the case were reported fairly and accurately, and the legal analysis was always first rate.

Where so many news outlets and bloggers seemed unconcerned with the actual facts or the law, and were content to combine misinformation with their own misunderstanding, its obvious from the reporting that Legal Insurrection was genuinely interested in the truth and fully understood the legal issues of the case.

Your effort is truly appreciated. Thank you.

From our very first post on March 23, 2012, Zimmerman-Martin questions, we took the position that we needed the facts to roll in before jumping to conclusions:

Let’s allow the facts to come in before we opine on the legal significance of the facts.  Did Zimmerman hunt Martin down, or did the two come into unexpected contact with deadly results?  It could be important.

Given the high political profile the case already has taken, we owe it to the victim and the accused for there to be a professional investigation free from politics.

The media, activists, and Trayvon’s family lawyers took a different approach, developing narratives before the facts were known.

In my third post on the case, on March 24, 2012, I warned that they were setting up a very bad situation if and when those narratives fell apart, What happens when Zimmerman is found “not guilty”?

George Zimmerman has been tried and convicted in the media and public opinion for the shooting of Trayvon Martin, with the case almost uniformly being portrayed as racially motivated, with the wearing of a hoody by a young black male as the symbol.

Violence is in the air….

Even Obama has framed the case in racial terms, saying that if he had a son, he would look like Trayvon, which has thrust the issue into presidential politics as Newt pushed back on Obama’s racial narrative of the case.

Zimmerman, not surprisingly, is in hiding and has not returned to work, where his employer fears for the safety of fellow employees.

A case which should be focused on the guilt or innocence of the accused based on evidence, and finding justice for a victim based on law, has been turned into a racial political play.

The evidence made public so far, however, is not as conclusive as public opinion either as to Zimmerman’s guilt of a criminal offense or racial motivation.  Based on what is known so far, the possibility of a not guilty verdict is very real.

That prediction was prescient.  Sometimes you just have to go with you gut, and the early evidence suggested to me the case would not turn out the way the media and the activists wanted.

There is no possible way I can cover every aspect of the case in this one post, so I’ll focus on just a few aspects of the lies about the case that framed the case and continue to live on in the coverage today of the anniversary.

False Hoodie Narrative

In trying to turn the case into a racial narrative, the initial burst of publicity and activism turned on Trayvon wearing a hoodie.

https://twitter.com/GeraldoRivera/status/182982712934674432

There were hoodie protests around the nation.

And even at Cornell Law School, where I teach.

Yet early on the evidence demonstrated the falsity of that narrative, as I explained on March 28, 2012, Sourcing narrative “facts” in the Martin case:

2. Hoody.  The Hoody has become the symbol of protests, based on the assertion that Zimmerman found Martin suspicious because he was wearing a hoody.  But the audio tape [link now dead](language warning) in which Zimmerman mentions a hoody is clear that a hoody was mentioned only after Zimmerman had described why Martin was suspicious, and in response to a later question by the 911 operator as to what the suspicious person was wearing.  What is the source of this fact that Zimmerman found the wearing of a hoody suspicious? [current note: I spelled “Hoody wrong,” but got the facts right]

I expanded the discussion on April 1, 2012, Speculative hoodie symbolism

The hoodie has become the symbol of protests regarding the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman.

From images of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm wearing a hoodie, to the “million hoodie march,” to Havard law students wearing hoodies with a sign “Do we look suspicious?,” to Congressman Bobby Rush appearing on the House floor in a hoodie, the hoodie has come to symbolize alleged racial profiling by Zimmerman which led to the shooting.

But as relates to the Zimmerman-Martin case, the hoodie at best is speculative symbolism, not based on any known facts connected to the shooting.  While Martin was wearing a hoodie that night, there is nothing other than surmise to suggest that Martin was considered suspicious by Zimmerman for that reason.

In the 911 call (audiotranscript) in which Zimmerman reported a suspicious person, the clothing Trayvon was wearing was not initially mentioned:

listen to ‘George Zimmerman call to police’ on Audioboo

Dispatcher: Sanford Police Department. …

Zimmerman: Hey we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy, uh, [near] Retreat View Circle, um, the best address I can give you is 111 Retreat View Circle. This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.

A hoodie was mentioned but only in response to questioning by the dispatcher as to what the suspicious person was wearing (emphasis mine):

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy is he white, black, or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

Dispatcher: Did you see what he was wearing?

Zimmerman: Yeah. A dark hoodie, like a grey hoodie, and either jeans or sweatpants and white tennis shoes. He’s here now, he was just staring…

Dispatcher: OK, he’s just walking around the area…

Zimmerman: …looking at all the houses.

Dispatcher: OK…

The suggestion that Zimmerman found the wearing of a hoodie suspicious simply is not supported by the 911 call, made at a time Zimmerman could not have known how the evening would end or how the case would gain national attention.

Despite the lack of evidence of the wearing of a hoodie as an actual factor in the case, the hoodie today remains the symbol of the case, as evidenced by these tweets:

False Racial Narrative

First came the racial narrative, that Trayvon was followed and shot because he was black. That was based on multiple falsehoods, most particularly the NBC News doctoring of police audio in which it falsely made it seem as though Zimmerman said he was following Trayvon because Trayvon was black.

But that’s not what happened. Zimmerman only mentioned race when the police operator asked about race.

There also was the claim that Zimmerman used the term “f-ing coons” on the police tape. But that was debunked early on, as I wrote on April 12, 2012, Affidavit of Probable Cause destroys claim Zimmerman used racial epithet:

One of hotest topics of argument has been whether George Zimmerman said “f-ing coons” under his breath on the 911 tape.  The left-blogosphere has used the alleged racial epithet endlessly to paint this as a racially motivated hate crime.

CNN used three different audio experts to analyze the tape, but one of whom found “f-ing coons,” another “f-ing cold,” and another “f-ing punks.”

In the Affidavit of Probable Cause, which just was made available, State of Florida investigators swore under oath that that Zimmerman used the term “f-ing punks”:

An FBI investigation also found no history of racism in Zimmerman’s past.

Feeding the media racial narrative, there were widespread but false claims that neo-Nazis were patrolling the neighborhood where the shooting took place, Sanford (FL) Police deny any indication of neo-Nazis patrolling.

False Stand Your Ground Narrative

As Andrew Branca has explained many times, Florida’s Stand Your Ground law was not invoked in Zimmerman’s defense. SYG also is very misunderstood, it is not a “license to kill” – it only kicks in when all the other elements of lawful use of deadly force is established. SYG only addressed the need to retreat.

It made sense for Zimmerman not to rely on SYG, because Stand Your Ground would only be relevant if Zimmerman had a route of exit, but the shooting took place while Zimmerman was on his back on the grass, his head having been pounded on the pavement and being beaten Mixed Martial Arts style by Trayvon:

O’Mara: OK. And do you stand by that today, that what you saw is was a Ground-and-Pound event?

Good: It looked like that position was a Ground-and-Pound type of position, but I couldn’t tell 100% that there were actually fists hitting faces.

O’Mara: But you did see [reading] “the guy in the top in the black hoodie pretty much just throwing down blows on the guy kind of MMA-style.”

Good: Meaning arm motions going down on the person on the bottom. Correct.

O’Mara: You’re’ not going to tell the jury here today that you saw fists hit flesh or face if you didn’t actually see it, right?

Good: I wouldn’t tell them that anyway, because i didn’t actually see it.

O’Mara: Great, thanks very much , no further questions.

Forensic analysis demonstrated that the trajectory of the single shot fired and burns on Trayvon’s sweatshirt were consistent with Zimmerman being on his back with Trayvon hovering over him at the time of the shot.

Since Zimmerman was pinned to the ground, he didn’t need to invoke SYG because there was no reasonable means of avoidance.

While the jury instructions did contain language similar to the SYG standard, the SYG statutory protection itself was not invoked.

So why is SYG so frequently mentioned when talking of the Zimmerman case? Because it is a convenient excuse for gun control advocates to try to scale back self defense laws.

False Claim That Zimmerman Disobeyed Police Instructions Not To Get Out of the Car

This is perhaps the most frustrating false narrative of the case: That George Zimmerman supposedly was told by the police dispatcher not to leave his car, but did so against police instructions.

This allegation is used to claim that the entire confrontation was Zimmerman’s fault, and had he merely followed police instructions, nothing would have happened.

It is a claim made again on February 14, 2017, in an updated CNN post from 2013 (but republished as updated), Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts (emphasis added):

February 26, 2012 – George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida, calls 911 to report “a suspicious person” in the neighborhood. He is instructed not to get out of his SUV or approach the person. Zimmerman disregards the instructions. Moments later, neighbors report hearing gunfire. Zimmerman acknowledges that he shot Martin, claiming it was in self-defense. In a police report, Officer Timothy Smith writes that Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and back of the head.

I have debunked this claim many times, including in response to a column by Jonathan Capehart at WaPo, in which he dealt forthrightly with many problem narratives, but repeated the police instruction narrative, In busting Zimmerman myths, Jonathan Capehart perpetuates the greatest myth of all:

Zimmerman was not in the car at the time of the comment “we don’t need you to do that.”

Here’s the transcript of the call from Andrew Branca’s post at his blog addressing the call:

Zimmerman:  Shit, he’s running.

Dispatcher:  He’s running?  Which way is he running?

[Sound of car door opening.]

Zimmerman:  [Grunts.]  Down towards the other entrance of the neighborhood.

[Sound of car door closing.]

Dispatcher:  OK, and which entrance is that he’s heading towards.

Zimmerman:  The back entrance. . . .  [mutters] Fucking punks [puddles?].

[Wind/breathing noise.]

Dispatcher:  Are you following him?

Zimmerman:  Yeah.

Dispatcher:  OK, we don’t need you to do that.

Zimmerman:  OK.

On direct examination, the 911 operator acknowledged hearing the car door chime go off right after the “he’s running” statement by Zimmerman (at 3:15):

https://youtu.be/UCHm-NIg8WE?t=3m3s

Here’s the cross-examination of the 911 operator, including his acknowledgement of hearing the door chiming (at 12:30) and that at the time of instruction there was wind noise from having cell phone outside the car (15:30).  The denial that there was an order not to follow appears at 14:00:

https://youtu.be/fsuYjBrIwFI?t=12m19s

(More video and analysis of the police dispatcher’s testimony at trial is here.)

This is important because it defeats a key narrative of the case, that Zimmerman was in his car at the time the police made the suggestion (not the direction) that “we don’t need you to do that.”

Despite the clear evidence, the claim that Zimmerman disregarded instructions became Soap in a sponge: The enduring myth that George Zimmerman was told not to get out of his car:

In this sea of media malpractice, one enduring fabrication lives on despite conclusive trial testimony, the concept that Zimmerman was ordered, instructed, or told not to get out of his car by the 911 operator.

I completely debunked this concept when it was assumed by Jonathan Capehart at WaPo, In busting Zimmerman myths, Jonathan Capehart perpetuates the greatest myth of all.  I emailed Capehart about it, he responded “fair point,” and as of this writing the offending comment about Zimmerman being told not to get out of this car no longer is in Capehart’s column.  Good for him.

But the myth lives on in part because other media is not as responsible….

There is a second and implicit part of the myth, namely that Zimmerman was told not to follow Martin (in addition to being told not to get out of his car)…. If the media refuses to correct the obvious factual inaccuracy that Zimmerman was told not to get out of his car, it seems hopeless to get the media to correct this other part of the myth….

The myth will survive because it is part of the background narrative, an assumption upon which arguments implicitly rest.

Regardless of what they think of the verdict, most Americans will go to their graves believing the myth that “if only George Zimmerman had not gotten out of the car when the police told him not to.”

Bottom Line – The Jury Got It Right

The verdict came as no surprise to those of us following the evidence. It came as a shock to those who bought into the false narratives.

If you really are a glutton for punishment, you watch a 1:40 hour presentation by me and Andrew Branca at Cornell Law School about the case, Did The Zimmerman Jury Get It Right? The short answer is, YES.

I gave a shorter explanation in this radio interview, “The jury reached the right result”:

Trayvon Martin's Mom Just Can't Stop Lying About Her Son's Death

By Bob Owens | Mar 30, 2017

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of the Trayvon Martin, refuses to let reality intrude into her fantasy world. Sadly, biased news media like the Miami Herald allow her to spew forth her easily disproven lies.

On Feb. 5, my son Trayvon Martin would have been 22 years old. Just like every year, my family celebrated his birthday surrounded by friends and loved ones. And like every year since his death, I mourned my son, whose life was cut short by someone who decided to shoot first just because of the color of Trayvon’s skin.

Clearly, Fulton didn’t pay any attention at all during the trial of George Zimmerman, even though she did attend it. Zimmerman didn’t know Martin’s race when he called Sanford police, a fact proven by the recorded conversation with the dispatcher. Zimmerman became suspicious of Martin when he saw a shadowy figure lurking under the window of a recently burgled home in the rain. He only saw Martin’s face and race well after he began talking to the dispatcher.

Further, eyewitness evidence and forensics alike indicate that after Trayvon Martin attacked George Zimmerman from behind as Zimmerman was returning to his truck in what may have been a gay-bashing attempt. Multiple 911 calls and witness statements establish that Martin viciously committed felony assault on George Zimmerman for the better part of a minute before a dazed Zimmerman pulled his pistol as a last resort and fired a single shot to stop Trayvon Martin’s vicious criminal assault.

Trayvon was only 17 years old when he was followed and killed by a stranger who believed he looked threatening. He was visiting with his father, walking home from the store, unarmed. He had just a packet of candy and a can of iced tea. This person killed my son for simply walking through his own neighborhood. He claimed that he was acting in self-defense, though Trayvon never approached him and he pursued my son before attacking him.

No sane person who watched any part of the trial or who knows anything at all about the case will believe Fulton’s lie that Martin was shot for “simply walking through his own neighborhood.” As noted above, Trayvon Martin waited four long minutes to sneak up behind George Zimmerman as Zimmerman was walking back to his truck, allegedly screamed, “What you followin’ me fo?!” then launched his attack on Zimmerman. Let’s be very clear on the point that Trayvon Martin was the aggressor.

Everything Fulton said about Zimmerman attacking Martin is an abject lie, unsupported by anything other than a mother’s refusal to face the facts about the son she raised.

Our state’s laws allowed him to claim he was standing his ground, and it took the public crying out for police to even make an arrest. This is common in Stand Your Ground cases. The law is applied inconsistently and studies have found that it is difficult for police to enforce it. The American Bar Association found that Stand Your Ground laws can actually increase homicides, and that the policy carries an implicit bias against African Americans.

Stand your ground laws played no role at all in the Zimmerman/Martin confrontation, a lie Fulton continues to spread. Neither the prosecution nor the defense in the Zimmerman case made any mention of Florida’s implementation of stand your ground laws for one very simple reason: George Zimmerman never had a chance to stand his ground. Zimmerman was approached from behind, sucker punched, mounted, and viciously attacked by a violent young criminal named Trayvon Martin. Zimmeran’s defense was a straight self-defense case.

And he was victorious.

Like almost all gun control advocates, Sybrina Fulton must lie to support her new career. If she admitted the truth that her son was a violent criminal justifiably shot during the commission of a felony assault, she’d have to get a real job.

Fact vs. Narrative in the Trayvon Martin Case

By  Mike McDaniel  M

With the third anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin (2/26/12) coinciding with the exit from office of Attorney General Eric Holder, this is a good time to review the facts — not the narrative fantasies — of the Trayvon Martin case. As a result of this case and others, Mr. Holder plans to argue that federal law should employ a lesser standard than is currently the practice in civil rights cases, so that worthy “social justice” principles might be vindicated. The rule of law and outmoded concepts like “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” or producing actual evidence that fulfills the necessary elements of crimes must be changed or ignored so that “white Hispanics” like George Zimmerman may be prosecuted regardless of the law and the facts . . .

Should leftists like Holder be successful, the consequences for the right to keep and bear arms would be dramatic and destructive. In truth, the Martin case was nothing more than an unremarkable case of self-defense. Absent national racial grievance-mongers, anti-gun thugs, and the President of the United States and the AG seeing an opportunity to stir the racial pot and advance their agenda, it would have remained one of many such cases that occur each year, known only to those directly affected.

But because Trayvon Martin became the “son President Obama never had,” and because he became a lucrative meal ticket for the race hustling industry, and because the narrative jibed with the America-as-bastion-of-racism narrative of the legacy media, the case continues to imperil the Second Amendment to this day.

I do not write expecting to change the minds of those who champion “social justice” or who believe the narrative regardless of fact, logic and law. I write for those who must, upon occasion, do rhetorical battle with forces that would destroy the right to self-defense, the right to keep and bear arms, and would champion a violent, illegal drug-using, thug wannabe and future felon. For the facts and the law reveal unmistakably that was what Trayvon Martin was.

I will not cover every point, only the main aspects of the narrative, those most destructive to liberty. And I won’t link to every potential fact, which would render much of the rest of this article as links, but merely refer readers to the SMM Trayvon Martin case archive, where more than sufficient documentation of every assertion may be easily found.

Narrative: On the night he died, Trayvon Martin was a small, non-threatening scholar with a bright future on an errand to get snacks for a younger sibling.

Fact: Trayvon Martin was a tall, muscular former athlete, taller and much stronger than George Zimmerman. He was in Sanford, Florida because he had been suspended from school — not the first time — for ten days after being caught in possession of burglary tools and jewelry stolen from a break-in near his school. THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — was in his bloodstream and shortly before meeting Zimmerman, he had purchased blunts, cheap cigars used in smoking pot. He often expressed a preference for them on social media. He was also carrying two of the three ingredients, one of them Skittles, for a dangerous drug concoction his social media messages reveal he favored. He was not carrying — as has been wrongly reported — iced tea.

Narrative: Zimmerman racially profiled Martin and shot him because he was wearing a hoodie.

Fact: Zimmerman, the local neighborhood watch captain and well-respected in that role by the Sanford Police Department, began to watch Martin because he appeared to be casing homes by remaining outside while it was raining and walking on the grass, not the sidewalks, of homes that had been recently burglarized. Zimmerman had no idea of Martin’s race until several minutes after Martin first drew his attention. No evidence was ever developed or presented at trial of racial profiling, nor did Zimmerman so much as suggest that Martin’s hoodie had anything to do with his suspicions about Martin. Merely by observing his behavior, Zimmerman concluded Martin might be under the influence of drugs. He was.

Narrative: Zimmerman was a racist who told the dispatcher Martin was black, and called Martin a “f***ing coon.”

Fact: NBC selectively edited the recording of Zimmerman’s conversation with the police dispatcher to make Zimmerman seem racist. In fact, Zimmerman only mentioned Martin’s race in response to the dispatcher’s specific question about Martin’s race — “he looks black” — which any dispatcher would ask of any witness. CNN tried to claim that Zimmerman called Martin a “f***ing coon,” but CNN’s own audio experts conclusively proved what Zimmerman said, under his breath, was “it’s f***ing cold.” It was indeed cold and rainy that night in Sanford. NBC and CNN were forced, very reluctantly, to retract their false statements. An extensive FBI investigation revealed not the slightest trace of racism in Zimmerman’s background or actions that night. In fact, Zimmerman has at least one black ancestor, and was well-known in Sanford as a champion and friend of black people. George Zimmerman is actually Hispanic, though the media (New York Times) invented an entirely new race just for him: the “white-Hispanic.” Only last week, the Holder Department of Justice was forced to admit there would be no federal civil rights charges filed against Zimmerman. There was no evidence — none at all — to support them.

Narrative: Trayvon Martin was running for his life, and he was pursued by Zimmerman who left his truck and ruthlessly hunted him down and shot him, all against the orders of the 911 dispatcher.

Fact: Rather than confront, pursue or shoot Martin, the first thing Zimmerman did was call the police and report a suspicious person. Precisely why Martin ran isn’t known, but there is no doubt that Zimmerman was never told not to leave his vehicle. In fact, the dispatcher specifically told Zimmerman to continue to report on Martin’s actions, as any competent dispatcher would. When Martin abruptly ran, Zimmerman ran a short distance, but lost sight of Martin before he could leave his truck. Zimmerman’s only intention was to keep Martin in sight so he could report to the police who he believed were on the way. Even if Zimmerman had been actively following Martin, that too would have been entirely lawful.

The dispatcher asked if he was following Martin, and when Zimmerman said he was, he was told, “we don’t need you to do that.” Zimmerman, who had already lost Martin, replied, “OK,” and told the dispatcher he had lost Martin and had no idea where he was. It was about four more minutes before Martin, who was hiding somewhere in the immediate area, surprised and confronted Zimmerman, broke his nose with a sucker punch, knocked him to the ground, straddled him and repeatedly swung at his face and beat his head on a concrete sidewalk. There is no evidence, physical or testimonial, that Zimmerman so much as landed a single blow on Martin.

Narrative: Trayvon Martin was unarmed, was screaming for help, said “don’t shoot,” was shot in the back, had his hands up in surrender, or was, in some other vaguely defined or suggested manner, an innocent victim of murder.

Facts: Martin did not have a weapon, but was far from unarmed. His use of a concrete sidewalk to repeatedly bash Zimmerman’s head constituted the use of a deadly weapon under the law. In addition, after knocking Zimmerman to the ground with his first blow, he was astride Zimmerman, pinning him to the ground, raining blows on his head and face “MMA ground and pound” style, as explained by a highly credible eyewitness. Zimmerman’s consistent and unchanged accounts, voluntarily given to the police long before he retained an attorney, reflect this reality, including the fact that it was Zimmerman screaming for help.

Witnesses, including Martin’s brother and father, initially identified the screaming voice on the recording as not belonging to Martin, while Zimmerman’s father and another relative identified it as Zimmerman’s. The call to the dispatcher of an eyewitness inadvertently recorded much of the assault, and no plea to “don’t shoot” or anything similar was recorded. Forensic evidence supports Zimmerman’s account. With Martin straddling him, pinning him to the ground, repeatedly beating his head against the sidewalk, Zimmerman fired a single round from near contact range into Martin’s chest. The evidence — the angle of the wound — makes it clear that Martin was leaning forward over Zimmerman’s prostrate form when he was shot.

Narrative: Zimmerman used the “stand your ground” law to get away with murdering Martin.

Fact: Florida’s “stand your ground” provision had no bearing on the case and was never invoked either before or during the trial. Because Martin was pinning Zimmerman to the ground and beating him, giving Zimmerman no possibility of escape or retreat, it was entirely irrelevant.

Narrative: Martin’s “girlfriend,” with whom he was on the phone while he was hiding from Zimmerman and as he was ambushing Zimmerman, proved that Zimmerman was a racist that hunted and murdered Martin.

Fact: Rachel Jeantel’s testimony was a disaster for the prosecution. She was revealed to be a serial perjurer, made statements on the witness stand that she had never before told anyone, and had no evidence that contradicted Zimmerman’s account. Actually, she confirmed that it was Martin who angrily and aggressively confronted Zimmerman, and confirmed virtually every other element of Zimmerman’s account. The prosecution illegally withheld from the defense the exculpatory — even incriminating — contents of Martin’s cell phone.

Narrative: Zimmerman demonstrated evil intent and a depraved mind because he carried his gun with its chamber loaded and used hollow point ammunition.

Fact: This was an argument of the prosecution presented at trial. Even the police carry hollow point ammunition and carry their handguns with loaded chambers, which is the correct and completely lawful thing to do. This argument is utterly irrelevant to self-defense, technically incompetent, and carried no weight with the jury.

Narrative: Zimmerman didn’t have to use a gun. He put himself in danger, and his actions weren’t self-defense; they were murder.

Fact: While one can argue tactics, nothing Zimmerman did was against the law. Nothing he did or said made him, under Florida law, an aggressor. Nothing he said or did removed self-defense as a viable, lawful option. Prior to being confronted and sucker-punched by Martin, Zimmerman had not exchanged a single word or gesture with Martin, nor had he done anything but observe him, at the request of the police dispatcher, from a distance.

As far as Zimmerman knew, Martin was long gone, and for four minutes, he totally lost contact with him. During that time, it was conclusively proved in court that Martin could have been home, indoors, and never again seen by Zimmerman, but he chose instead to remain outside, hiding in the rain, and for reasons known only to him, waiting to ambush Zimmerman.

Zimmerman found himself beaten and bloody, potentially losing consciousness, under continual assault, and afraid for his life. Under Florida law, and under the laws of most other states, all of the requirements for the use of deadly force in self-defense were present. Zimmerman was innocent — he was not the aggressor — a reasonable person in his situation would have reasonably believed he was in danger of serious bodily injury or death, he had no other option to stop Martin’s attack, and his response — a single round fired — was proportional to the situation.

Zimmerman’s actions were fully in accordance with Florida self-defense law, an absolute defense to murder, and in no way violated Florida’s murder statutes.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

George Zimmerman should never have been prosecuted. The Sanford Police and the local prosecutor refused to prosecute him on the evidence. It was only when the racial grievance industry and the Obama Administration injected themselves that a corrupt special prosecutor was charged with prosecuting Zimmerman regardless of the evidence. This was a matter of cynical racial politics, not the law.

The prosecution actually proved self-defense. The prosecutors actually proved that George Zimmerman lawfully defended his life.

The lesson of the George Zimmerman prosecution is clear: even if one lawfully employs deadly force in accordance with the letter and spirit of the law, even if one fires only a single round that causes no collateral damage to persons or property, even if there is no evidence whatsoever of racial animus, even if there is no evidence to fulfill a single element of a charge of murder, there is no guarantee that one will not be prosecuted — and perhaps even convicted — of a crime they did not commit.

Despite the fact that no “stand your ground” law was in any way implicated or invoked in the Zimmerman case, anti-gun advocates continue to argue the case as evidence of the need to abolish stand your ground provisions. Perhaps the truth might be useful there as well.