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Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout
Witness accounts say that Martin was beating on Zimmerman MMA style.
If Martin was defending himself once Zimmerman was done, that should have been it. Pouncing on him once down is excessive and where the shooting in self defence comes into play.
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Looking over everything, this is the one segment that I think will be the centre of most post-decision debates. What were Martin's intentions when he was on top and pounding away on Zimmerman? If he was acting in self defence, then on would wonder how far he needed to go? Did he need Zimmerman unconscious so he couldn't be chased? Did he need Zimmerman dead? If he did initiate or seemed intent on killing Zimmerman, it's obvious that would qualify as a justifiable murder by definition. However, if Martin was acting in self defence to an attack by Zimmerman, then we could go the other way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout
Actually if Zimmerman did confront Martin and Martin punched him out of fear, and then left that's fine. Being on top of him throwing punches is not.
That's not self defence.
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Again, I think that depends on intention. I'm not sure about where the law is on this, but I would presume a fight ends when one is unable to continue or is conceding defeat. If Zimmerman was in a fight and Martin just punched him and Zimmerman hit the ground, it would make sense in Martin's mind, in my view, that it's plausible that there's no proof yet Zimmerman couldn't just get up again and continue pursuit. Martin needed him out cold to prevent any more agitation.
If Zimmerman was obviously (and I will stress obvious. Heat of the moment passion is strong when it comes to fighting) unable to do anything from thereon out and Martin was just mindlessly venting using his fists past when Zimmerman could fight back or continue following Martin around, then it's unnecessary.
But I stress that this is an area where things are tough to figure out. What we know with certainty was that Martin was on top, likely "winning" the fight, and Zimmerman was in a lot of trouble. Intentions are lost due to key person in this scenario being dead.