So it is now against the law to follow someone?
No, I think she just got there on the basic (2) section, based on the “depraved mind” language.
Perhaps there needs to be a Federal Law that says it's illegal to watch black people.
This is the Florida statute on Aggravated Stalking. Now, they would have to prove that Zimmerman either repeatedly followed Martin, or the that he made "credible threats with the intent to place the person in fear of death or bodily injury". Just proving that he followed Martin is not sufficient. So unless they have a recording of him threatening to shoot Martin before the fight started, I don't see how they meet the burden of proof. Especially since the mere fact that he called the police in the first place would argue against the idea that his intent was to harass Martin.
No. According to Florida law, aggravated stalking requires a violation of an order of protection multiple times.
In other words, Martin would need to have been killed by somebody other than Zimmerman, while Zimmerman was engaged in "aggravated stalking." And Martin would not need to have been the target of the stalking.
This provision is so that when a person is killed during commission of another crime, and the perpetrator is not the one who killed the victim, he can still be charged with the murder.
Is there a legal definition of “aggravated stalking”?
It is clear from Zimmerman’s phone call that Zimmerman didn’t know where Trayvon was and was afraid of him. It is clear from Trayvon approaching Zimmerman (rather than taking 2 minutes to walk home) - as both Trayvon’s girlfriend and Zimmerman said - that Trayvon was not afraid of Zimmerman.
When Zimmerman lost Trayvon and went to his pickup to go home the encounter initiated by Zimmerman was over.
The encounter that resulted in a death began when Trayvon approached Zimmerman. He asked why Z was following him. A reasonable question. Zimmerman asked him what he was doing in the neighborhood. Another reasonable question, which also answered why he was following him. To that point things were going as they should have. Nobody had any reason to be either afraid or violent at that point.
What happened after that is that somebody assaulted somebody else and a death resulted from the fight that followed. The only question that needs to be answered is who assaulted who, after Trayvon initiated that contact.
Unless the prosecutor can prove that Zimmerman threw the first punch or in some other way threatened Trayvon, she has no legal leg to stand on in making these charges.
No. He's not remotely close to the definition of aggravated stalking under Florida law. You quoted both Florida Statute 782.04(2) and (3). Each of them defines the elements of Second Degree Murder in the State of Florida, but they're separate. She can charge Zimmerman with Second Degree Murder under 782.04(2) based on what the law deems a 'depraved mind' - that's going to include acting with hatred toward another, such as a racial element, or a 'punks' element, if she wants to claim it.
If she does that, she never even touches 732.04(3), which is where you found 'aggravating stalking.'
Aggravating stalking's going to require you to go to Florida Statutes 784.048, generally, and 784.048(7) specifically. That's not going to happen. First, 'constitutionally protected' activity can never be the 'course of conduct' necessary to establish stalking in Florida, per 784.048(1)(b). Second, you must be sentences for stalking and prohibited from contacting the victim, and then still do so, for it to be aggravated stalking. That's the definition of 'aggravated stalking' under Florida law (Florida Statutes 784.048(7)).
It's clear she's not going there. This is a 732.04(2) Second Degree Murder charge, base on some hatred or enmity element leading to a depraved mind. It has nothing to do with aggravated stalking and 732.04(3), in my semi-informed opinion.
The Trayvon Martin case has got me thinking of a horrible crime that happened in Ohio. A black pimp kidnapped two white teenage girls aged 14 and 15. These girls were raped, beaten and forced into prostitution. They were missing for weeks when someone recognized them and reported it to the police. The girls were finally rescued. Could someone with a knowledge of law tell me what this creep should have gotten according to the law? Could you list the number of crimes this beast committed and what the punishment for each crime would be? When you answer, I will let you know the sentence the pimp actually got.