This whole case is tricky. Here’s my understanding of what happened:
- Zimmerman notices Martin and begins observing/following him. (I’m betting race was a factor at this stage, although as neighborhood watch I can’t fault Zimmerman for wanting to observe/follow a person he deemed suspicious, even if that judgement was racist)
- Zimmerman calls the police. While Zimmerman was on the phone with the police, Martin began to run, at which point the dispatcher tells him not to follow Martin, although that instruction wasn’t exactly direct.
- (Here’s where things get fuzzy) A confrontation occured. According to Zimmerman, Martin confronted him and attacked. According to Martin’s girlfriend, who was (corroborated by phone records) on the phone with Martin, he also turned and confronted Zimmerman, but the words said were reported differently. Zimmerman’s account was that Martin attacked him, Martin’s girlfriend reported that she heard “sounds of pushing” after Zimmerman said "what are you doing here. Unfortunately nothing conclusive.
- Different witnesses report different events. One witness says she saw Zimmerman straddling Martin on the ground after the gun shots. Other witnesses say they saw a struggle, and reported that one person was slamming the other’s head into the ground.
- Police reports, video, and other accounts state that Zimmerman was bloodied, with wounds to the back of his head.
So, based from this, Zimmerman was the one to intially escalate the situation by following and potentially confronting Martin. I think who-attacked-who first would determine whether this is manslaughter or not. Certainly it is not murder, as I doubt the shooting was premeditated. However if Martin was bashing Zimmerman’s head into the ground, that’s potentially lethal force. The question is whether or not that was in self defense.
Ultimately, I really doubt we’ll ever get enough evidence to either convict or fully vindicate Zimmerman. He was apparently going to be charged with manslaughter, but that lack of evidence caused the state to drop the case. At this point, there’s not much more one can do. Unfortunately, the mob on both sides have formed thier own opinions and seem to be making judgements and accusations about both Martin and Zimmerman.
The bottom line is though, we don’t know precisely what happened, there is not enough evidence to convict or vindicate, and we must leave it at that unless something new comes to light. The only thing one can do is to draw personal insights from the tragedy, about racial prejudices, about the dangers of escalating situations, and rushing to judgements.