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I suppose it never occurred to you geniuses that Martin thought he was going to be attacked by that guy in the shadows following him? So maybe he attacked Z. in self defense?

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black people aren't allowed to claim "stand your ground" status in Florida

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Yet not all stand your ground claims are so successful. Not too far from Sanford, Fla., a black man named John McNeil is serving a life sentence for shooting Brian Epp, a white man who trespassed and attacked him at his home in Georgia, another stand your ground state.

It all began in early 2005, when McNeil and his wife, Anita, hired Brian Epp’s construction company to build a new house in Cobb County, Ga. The McNeils testified that Epp was difficult to work with, which led to heated confrontations. They eventually decided to close on the house early to rid their lives of Epp, whom they found increasingly threatening. At the closing, both parties agreed that Epp would have 10 days to complete the work, after which he would stay away from the property, but he failed to keep up his end of the bargain.

On Dec. 6, 2005, John McNeil’s 15-year-old son, La’Ron, notified his dad over the phone that a man he didn’t recognize was lurking in the backyard. When La’Ron told the man to leave, an argument broke out. McNeil was still on the phone and immediately recognized Epp’s voice. According to La’Ron’s testimony, Epp pointed a folding utility knife at La’Ron’s face and said, “[w]hy don’t you make me leave?” at which point McNeil told his son to go inside and wait while he called 911 and headed home.

According to McNeil’s testimony, when he pulled up to his house, Epp was next door grabbing something from his truck and stuffing it in his pocket. McNeil quickly grabbed his gun from the glove compartment in plain view of Epp who was coming at him “fast.” McNeil jumped out of the car and fired a warning shot at the ground insisting that Epp back off. Instead of retreating, Epp charged at McNeil while reaching for his pocket, so McNeil fired again, this time fatally striking Epp in the head. (Epp was found to have a folding knife in his pocket, although it was shut.)

The McNeils weren’t the only ones who felt threatened by Epp. David Samson and Libby Jones, a white couple who hired Epp to build their home in 2004, testified that they carried a gun as a “precaution” around Epp because of his threatening behavior. According to Jones, Epp nearly hit her when she expressed dissatisfaction with his work at a weekly meeting. The couple even had a lawyer write a letter warning Epp to stay away from their property. Samson testified that after they fired him, Epp would park his car across the street and watch their house, saying “it got to the point where my wife and I were in total fear of this man.”

After a neighbor across the street who witnessed the encounter corroborated McNeil’s account, police determined that it was a case of self-defense and did not charge him in the death. Nevertheless, almost a year later Cobb County District Attorney Patrick Head decided to prosecute McNeil for murder. In 2006, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/when_stand_your_ground_fails/ about as perfect a case of "stand your ground" as is imaginable...but hey, he's black, so it must be murder, eh?

According to a dissenting attorney regarding the verdict:

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Although the State had the burden to disprove self-defense, the State did not offer any evidence to rebut McNeil's evidence that Epp was the aggressor, that Epp came onto McNeil's property from a neighbor's yard despite being told previously that he did not have permission to do so, that McNeil knew that Epp had threatened to stab his son moments earlier, and that Epp had a knife on his person when he charged McNeil. In fact, the only witness called by the State who actually saw the shooting, Bobby Smith, gave testimony that actually supported McNeil's evidence that Epp was the aggressor.

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Apparently there was even a witness who corroborated McNeil's testimony:

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Bobby Smith testified that he was detailing a Ferrari in a driveway across the street from where the shooting occurred. He stated that he heard McNeil the street from where the shooting occurred. He stated that he heard McNeil and Epp arguing loudly and that he then heard a pop that sounded like a firecracker. Smith looked across the street and “saw [McNeil] pointing hands [and a gun] toward the ground and waving and stepping backwards.” Smith added that Epp was in the yard between McNeil's house and a neighbor's house; that Epp kept walking “up the yard into [McNeil's] driveway”; and that McNeil then raised his gun and shot Epp in the head.

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So according to the attorney,

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Even viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence was overwhelming in showing that a reasonable person in McNeil's shoes would have believed that he was subject to an imminent physical attack by an aggressor possessing a knife and that it was necessary to use deadly force to protect himself from serious bodily injury or a forcible felony. Under the facts of this case, it would be unreasonable to require McNeil to wait until Epp succeeded in attacking him, thereby potentially disarming him, getting control of the gun, or stabbing him before he could legally employ deadly force to defend himself. This is not what Georgia law requires.

I conclude that no rational trier of fact could find, based on the evidence presented at trial, that the State disproved McNeil's claim of self-defense Accordingly, I must dissent. http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1418360.html

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I don't see how it could be much more cut and dried that McNeil properly followed the stand-your-ground law, so why is he serving a life sentence? You don't think it could be...

Nah, certainly not! I wonder how many black people were on that jury...

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George Zimmerman told investigators that while he was on the phone with a Sanford police dispatcher reporting Trayvon Martin as suspicious, the teenager was circling his vehicle on foot, a source familiar with the investigation told the Orlando Sentinel.

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Zimmerman spotted Martin, called a nonemergency police number and began describing the teenager. While he was doing that, Martin came toward his vehicle and began to circle it. Zimmerman, though, never described that to the dispatcher.

At one point, about halfway through the four-minute call, he told the dispatcher, "Now he's just staring at me. ... Now he's coming towards me. He's got his hand in his waistband. ... He's coming to check me out."

Martin then disappeared, Zimmerman later told authorities, according to the source, and while Zimmerman was still on the phone, he parked his vehicle, got out and began trying to find Martin on foot.

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Zimmerman later told investigators he could not find Martin, so he turned and was walking back toward his SUV. A short time later, Martin approached him from the rear, and the two exchanged words, he told authorities.

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Zimmerman also told police in several statements that he was so unnerved by Trayvon’s behavior that he rolled up his window to avoid a confrontation. He never mentioned that while talking to the dispatcher and he could be heard huffing and puffing while pursuing Trayvon on foot.

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O’Mara confirmed the web page is legitimate and was created by Zimmerman. It makes reference to 2005 criminal cases and a brush in court with a woman Zimmerman referred to as “ex-hoe.”

In expressing his disgust with Mexicans Zimmerman ranted:

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“I don’t miss driving around scared to hit Mexicans walkin’ on the side of the street, soft ass wanna be thugs messin’ with peoples cars when they ain’t around (what are you provin’, that you can dent a car when no ones watchin’), don’t make you a man in my book. Workin’ 96 hours to get a decent pay check, getting’ knifes pulled on you by every Mexican you run into!”

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Zimmerman also boasts about his friends who, after he was arrested and charged with committing crimes, remained silent and went to jail rather than testify against him in court. “They do a year and don’t ever open their (sic) mouth to get my ass pinched,” he wrote.

The blog section boasts about having two felonies knocked down to misdemeanors and describes a court battle with an ex-girlfriend. Zimmerman faced two felonies in 2005 for obstructing justice and battery on a law enforcement officer, but the cases were reduced to misdemeanor simple battery and he was left with no criminal conviction on his record. http://www.examiner.com/article/george-zimmerman-s-myspace-page-includ
es-racial-slurs stuff supposedly on Martin's web page was splashed all over the news, so why isn't this equally valid?

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“A Myspace page that belonged to George Zimmerman in 2005 has been brought to light, and some of the contents of his page have been scrutinized... The O’Mara Law Group has confirmed this this page did belong to Mr. Zimmerman...The identified posts were his.

The article details a number of statements that will cast Mr. Zimmerman in a less-than-favorable light especially considering the charges he faces. In that regard, it is possible that the statements Mr. Zimmerman made could be used as part of the trial, and therefore it is our policy not to comment directly on items that could become evidence.

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So, unlike the photo of the wrong Trayvon Martin that was all over the news, this has been authenticated. Once this Myspace page came to light, Zimmerman's lawyer

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ordered Zimmerman to wipe his internet presence clean, The Miami Herald reports. Zimmerman took down his website, a Twitter account, and other social media accounts.

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What about that $200,000 Zimmerman didn't tell anyone about?

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Once O’Mara realized Zimmerman had raised over $200,000 from his website he quickly set up the more-polished website with a link to a professionally administered legal defense fund. O’Mara said he had agreed to represent Zimmerman for free until he realized he could be paid using web donations

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There's just too damned much that doesn't make sense, is contradictory, or is illogical. And yes, it makes me suspicious of the story told by the only one left alive who really knows what happened.

ETA: Left this a few hours ago without finishing it. Saw the other posts that happened since then. Ignoring PN, which I usually do (and would suggest you might do, too, Riona--just teasing), the only thing I'll mention is that, aside from Geezer's other idiocy, Zimmerman was not just "walking along behind Martin". Not that it makes any difference, he'd come up with assinine snarks no matter the facts.