I dont understand what you mean it wasnt a SYG case? There is no such thing as a "SYG case" it is simply a defense that is used, and in this case arguing he was acting in self defense fits under the SYG law in Floridora. YOu are acting as if there are special designations for SYG cases or something. ANd SYG is also the reason Zimmerman wasn't arrest the night this happened.
https://www.theatlantic.com/nationa...ur-ground-relates-to-george-zimmerman/277829/
Ta-Nehisi Coates is notoriously and repeatedly wrong on SYG and is wrong in this opinion as well.
SYG is a law that removes a duty to retreat for defendants claiming justifiable self defense. It doesn't, as many have claimed, give people legal defense to go out and kill people. It doesn't give them the right to instigate fights and then claim self-defense without there being some other circumstances involved (such as engaging in mutual combat and then the one of the combatants escalates the force level to a gun). He also makes the erroneous statement that SYG is integral to self-defense. That is incorrect. SYG is there to (a) keep prosecutors from using the process to punish a suspect claiming self-defense if the elements of justifiable self-defense are present and (b) to counter over-zealous prosecutors from convincing juries that someone had a duty to retreat even though there was no safe avenue to do so. ALL of the other elements of self-defense were already in place and ALL of them are still applicable to a successful justification defense. Imminence, innocent, proportionality, avoidance, and reasonableness all still apply.
Bill Lee's statements at the arrest were wrong, which he corrected later. They should not have arrested at the time because the elements of justifiable self-defense are all there. But also, from what I understand about Central Florida procedures, officers and deputies in Central Florida do not typically arrest for murder on site. Normally, the state's attorney comes out and makes the decision. Besides, whether he was arrested that night or not is a red herring. He was eventually arrested and went through trial. Now, I would put forth that Wolfinger made the right decision initially to not prosecute based on the evidence, but Rick Scott bowed to the political winds and assigned Angela Corey with the express intent to arrest and go to trial.
Coates waves away the reason that this was not SYG, and that is because when Z reasonable perceived and imminent threat of grave bodily harm or death, he was pinned down by Martin and had no ability to retreat. No ability to retreat would obviate any duty to retreat, so there was no need to invoke SYG and have a hearing to determine if Martin was shielded from a duty to retreat. Which is how the process works anyways. If the state's attorney feels they can disprove any one of the 5 elements of the justifiable defense, then they will arrest and charge. If the defendant feels that the avoidance element is the one in contest and SYG can remove the element, they will ask for a hearing and the judge will determine if SYG applies.
Here's some more information to get you started just on this case:
https://legalinsurrection.com/tag/trayvon-martin/
https://legalinsurrection.com/2015/02/zimmerman-trial-redux-busting-the-myths-again/
https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/...tins-death-myths-and-lies-about-case-live-on/
