Well, I think the conjecture that Mr. Zimmerman ought to have simply physically overpowered the lad who attacked by surprise sounds very nice in principle, but one does with what resources one has at the time. If there is a crying absence of manliness in this picture, I believe the chiefest offenders do not include George. How about all the cowards that let this railroading go on, no matter what the jury ends up saying? How about the cowards who did not dare to teach St. Tray about the moral hazards of purple drank?
I was disgusted reading this. There is nothing unmanly about GZ. He is a married man who constantly “gave back” to his community. He has now had to sit through a kangaroo trial and he never flinched - a disaster that would break most men. Sheesh, Rush, I love you but get your head out.
"George Zimmerman . . . projects a courtroom image of a meek pudgeball who wouldn’t (couldn’t?) hurt a fly -- and not in a Norman Bates way. Perhaps this is the effect that his lawyers intended. But it jibes with what we know. According to one unidentified witness, Zimmerman endured a domineering mother’s frequent beatings and a docile father who failed to stick up for his kids. His mixed-martial arts instructor described him as 'physically soft,' a student who lacked athleticism and 'didn’t know how to really effectively punch.'"
I have a vivid memory from high school: a short, compact and somewhat athletic boy harried, bullied, punched a boy of his own age who stood a head taller and would have outweighed him even if he hadn’t been taller.“It isn’t the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
Treyvon Martin was loaded with fight. He had no concept of manliness apart from making sure he was feared. George Zimmerman’s notion of manliness was “meekness, gentleness, and self control.” It is impossible to envision a tough person such as a former cop, let’s say, who was armed and was somehow surprised by Treyvon Martin allowing himself to be taken down into a "ground and pound” predicament. He, nay especially she, would if there was any doubt draw and threaten Treyvon Martin with the weapon - and if that didn’t give him pause, one - or if in doubt, two or more - shots from that gun would. But it almost certainly wouldn’t get to the point of actually shooting because Treyvon Martin would have been sufficiently warned to come to terms with his inability to dominate and intimidate, at least for the moment.
Had I been summing up for the jury, I would appeal to the parental experience of the jurors. I would have proved, as conclusively and probably even more thoroughly, that Trevon Martin was guilty of aggravated assault and battery. And I would have said that every mother knows and worries about bullies. And every mother, and especially every father worthy of the name would be humiliated if their child acted as a bully in the presence of the parent of the child being bullied. That mother, that father, would make sure that the behavior ended instantly. They would hold nothing back in their condemnation, and if need be they would enlist help to stop the abuse. That abuse would stop.
During the sequence of cries by Zimmerman for help - and there is no question that it was Zimmerman crying out, no matter how many people, of whatever credentials, might say otherwise - John Good came on the scene, saw the “MMA style” beating going on, and told them both to stop. Realistically, the victim of a “ground and pound” beating who hadn’t succeeded in extricating himself by then was in no position to “stop.” So in fact John Good told Treyvon Martin to stop. If Martin had heeded that admonition from an adult third party, he would be alive today (albeit in jail for the assault). If Tracy Martin had been there instead of John Good, and if he had ordered Trayvon to stop, you can be pretty sure - if only because of the physical size of Tracy Martin - that he would have stopped. But Tracy Martin was otherwise engaged, and the mother who raised him lived in a different town and naturally wasn’t around.
So, Treyvon Martin was in mortal need of parental supervision and he did not have it. And because he was headstrong, because he was willfully, violently, maliciously assaulting and battering George Zimmerman, he finally did something which crossed a line in George Zimmerman’s mind. As to what it was, we have only a potentially self-serving statement of one man, but it is controverted by no evidence. But that isn’t really important. After enduring an excruciating beating and crying for help for forty seconds or more, finally George Zimmerman resorted to the only option he had. In that extremity of fear George Zimmerman drew his weapon, and in less time than it takes to tell it he fired.
Unlike fictional accounts and in movies, a bullet is not magic, it is only a piece of metal. If it strikes a person anywhere besides the brain or spinal cord - even in the heart - the victim will retain volition and the ability to move for a quarter of a minute. In many places, the injury may disable only a limited functionality of the gunshot victim. So the typical recommendation for the use of a firearm is that a single shot is no guarantee that the fight is over. And George Zimmerman did not assume that the fight was certainly over; he exerted himself to gain physical control of Trayvon Martin on the assumption that he might continue to fight. But with the gun in his hand, pointed at Trayvon, he did not fire again. Perhaps the policeman who engaged in CPR to revive Trayvon was more even more heroic than the forbearance of George Zimmerman in not firing a second shot in accordance with training - but that decision did at least as much to allow for hope of the revival of Trayvon Martin.
And the only conclusion the prosecution can draw is that George Zimmerman is a vicious mad dog.