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So Trayvon Martin;s shooter is still screwed!
Under any reasonable interpretation of the law, yes. We’ll see how it plays out with a jury. So far he hasn’t won himself any favors from the courts though; he and his wife apparently lied about their assets to get a more affordable bail. And got in trouble for it.
That depends on whether Trevon assaulted the guy that shot him and whether the jury considers physical size and strength to be relevant.
Well, the court decided that Zimmerman getting out of the car was not the instigation of the assault. Which Martin’s defense argued created the scenario, however the judge saw that there was nothing unlawful about Zimmerman exiting the vehicle. The jury didn’t seem to believe that Zimmerman started the physical altercation. The jury’s other consideration was based off of the testimony of 3 independent witnesses, as well as the testimony of Zimmerman himself, that Martin was continuing to punch Zimmerman in the head while Zimmerman was calling for help.
In the jury’s eyes this might have looked like an unlawful use of force on a person who had no ability to retreat, and that any reasonable person in Zimmerman’s position (physically and figuratively) could have also come to the conclusion that he was in immediate danger of being killed.
With regards to “creating the situation”, is that the situation as a whole, or just the deadly force aspect of it? Take Jake and Parson Bob (https://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=917), if Jake hadn’t known how to safely disarm a guy with a knife but instead shot the Parson; he started the fight, but the Parson escalated it to deadly force. Does Jake then have a case for self-defense? If not, what should he have done?