What if Trayvon Martin Was the One Acting in Self-Defense?

Because of Florida?s Stand Your Ground law?and because Zimmerman is alive and can speak and Martin is not and cannot?the assumption has been, as Jeffrey Toobin puts it, that ?the question at the heart of the case is whether Zimmerman reasonably felt threatened." I?ve framed it this way, too. It?s hard not to. But as Jeff Chase, a recent University of Connecticut law grad, pointed out to me over email, you can flip the premise and see Martin, not Zimmerman, as the person who was acting in self-defense. Jeff writes: ?Trayvon saw someone following him, felt threatened, retreated, was still followed, and then was approached by an armed man who had 100 lbs
on him. ? Because Zimmerman was acting as an aggressor, Trayvon had the right to defend himself by punching, kicking, tackling, etc. Because Zimmerman was acting as the aggressor, his actions cannot be considered self-defense: you can't initiate and then claim self-defense. The evidence for initiation is there on the 911 tape. ... Why is it that a black man cannot be afraid of a white man who follows and approaches him on a street at night??

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=f35f9e48834569c02d8ab5e3cc239bc9

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