But there is additional evidence, including: Zimmerman's past conduct toward people he called the police on; Zimmerman's physical shape as evidenced by getting winded after a run of under half a minute; the relative physical condition of Martin compared with Zimmerman, in particular speed and endurance in running, reach advantage, etc.; Zimmerman having called the police and was expecting them; absence of any witness hearing "Don't shoot!", "Gun!", or similar; that if Martin did see a gun before he hit Zimmerman (as your hypothetical posits), he failed to focus his attention on the gun arm for the duration of the one minute or longer altercation.
-- The standard of proof I "demand" is called just that - proof. --
I understand. You require a reliable, credible, and independent witness, or video. A person who was on scene, who viewed the entire altercation from a vantage point that admits seeing and hearing the action, combined with an ability to clearly recall the sequence of events. But the police and court don't have that, so have to reach a conclusion on the evidence they do have. The police didn't have a problem doing that. The state, in order to mount its case, has introduced two witnesses that the SPD did not use - DeeDee and Sybrina. The state's theory of the case depends on the testimony of those two, which runs counter to the testimony of on-scene eyewitnesses.
-- You have just acknowledged that you don't have it. --
Nobody has it, or will have it. That condition of quality of evidence is no big deal, despite your attempt to make it so. There is plenty of evidence in this case. That the evidence does not meet your standard for finding Zimmerman to have justification for his use of deadly force is irrelevant, because the law provides its own standards of "proof." At a 776.032 immunity hearing, the standard is "more likely than not," and if the case goes to trial, the burden is on the state to disprove the use of self defense, beyond a reasonable doubt. Neither of those standards is "proof to a metaphysical certainty."
Great point. These two were not eyewitnesses but earwitnesses who disagree with the eyewitnesses.
When any group blindly engages in the same unsupported speculation we call it a circle jerk.
If you want to talk about zimmerman's past conduct then let's include the time he bounced his girlfriend around and the time he tussled with a cop doing his job.
We can also talk about the things we do know from zimmerman's own mouth...he was pro-actively trying to close the gap between himself and martin (following)...martin was pro-actively trying to avoid confrontation (running).
The whole 'martin attacked zimmerman' scenario requires that in the space of less than two minutes martin completely reversed his action of avoidance to one of confrontation and that zimmerman did the same in reverse. There is nothing to suggest this let alone prove it.
In my book zimmerman is no hero, he's a dope who got in over his head and had to shoot his way out of the situation he initiated. I don't think he will be convicted or should be based on the evidence. His life is permanently effed either way but, the other guy is dead.
Martin may not have been anybody's idea of an angel but there's no indication that he was any worse than millions of American teenagers these days of all colors and economic background.
I live in one of the top ten wealthiest zip codes where I raised three daughters (now grown). I've seen more than a couple of 'good' families turn out kids a lot worse than what we know about martin. And, I personally know people who started off with far less of everything than martin had (except trouble). They took really scary detours before getting straight. One in particular is a First Sgt. with the 101st.
All that though is utterly meaningless vis a vis what happened that night. What does have meaning though, is the fact that there is absolutely no evidence that martin was doing anything that night except walking back to the place where he was staying...that zimmerman followed him by car and then on foot..and that martin took steps to avoid confrontation with the stranger who was following him --- he ran.