Rich, I have to say I'm getting pretty sick and tired of these claims that I am "thinking with my heart instead of my head." Frankly it's insulting. Jon Mx and a few others have peppered me with insults in this thread, but I expected better from you.
Though I can't prove that Zimmerman lied about the things I mentioned, it is hardly a unreasonable assumption. On EVERY point that I mentioned, the known evidence appears to contradict Zimmerman's word:
Zimmerman says he stepped out of the car in order to find the address. 3 streets in the neighborhood. A neighborhood watch guy who has made 47 calls to the police. And he doesn't know the street names? You can believe him, I don't.
Got out of the car to find the street name or to get the address? I know the name of the street on which my house sits. I don't know the number of any of the houses except my own and the few right next door.
After the operator said, "We don't need you to follow him", Zimmerman says he returned to his car. It should have taken 30 seconds at most to return to his car. Yet 2 full minutes later, the confrontation occurred. You can believe him, I don't.
You've never meandered? More likely, he looked around a few more times looking to see if he could spot Trayvon. Not unreasonable to believe, not contradicting his story, and not indicative of starting a confrontation.
Zimmerman says Martin told him he was going to die tonight. What possible reason would Martin say something like this? It sounds straight out of a melodrama. You can believe him, I don't.
You can choose not to believe him, but there's no proof either way.
Zimmerman says Martin slammed his head on the pavement 25-30 times. If that had happened, Zimmerman wouldn't be around to talk about it. The ME said the injuries to the back of his head were extremely slight, almost minimal. You can believe him, I don't.
Embellishment, probably. More likely, in the heat of the moment, in the dark, in the rain, scared, Zimmerman honestly thought that's what happened. Ever been in a fight? Do you remember every detail? I'll tell you, I find it extremely unlikely that he had his head slammed into the concrete a dozen times. But I'll also tell you, in that scenario, in a fight, with adrenaline going, three times would feel like a dozen. Five would feel like twenty, and he probably honestly believes that it was twenty.
Zimmerman says Martin covered his face and mouth and went for the gun. How Martin did this, while throwing punches, and supposedly Zimmerman screaming at the top of his lungs, from a position of lying on his back, is beyond my comprehension. You can believe him, I don't.
Wait, Zimmerman said he did all of that simultaneously, or at separate points?
These are all REASONABLE assumptions on my part. You can disagree with any and all of them, but stop telling me they're the result of some emotional need I have. They're not; they all stem from logic and common sense, IMO. And when I put them together, they tell me that Zimmerman lied several times about his narrative. And if I believe that, then it becomes much more likely than not that Zimmerman is also lying about who initiated the confrontation, especially when added to Zimmerman's statements during the 911 call. On the other hand, the ONLY evidence that Martin started the confrontation is the 4 minute timeline issue and some questionable internet stuff about his background. Neither of that is compelling at all IMO, which again makes me conclude that Zimmerman initiated the confrontation and is therefore guilty of manslaughter.
Not an emotional conclusion. Logical all the way.
Perhaps, except A) you're ignoring lots of stuff that supports Zimmerman's contention that Martin started the confrontation, and B) even if you have proof that Zimmerman lied at one point, it doesn't mean that every word he utters is a lie. We also know he told the truth about some stuff, which could therefore, rationally, brings us to a point where we should discount everything he says, but that's not what you're doing. You're picking the items you don't like and calling them lies.
Zimmerman volunteered for and passed a lie detector test. Yes, lie detectors aren't the end-all, be-all, and they can be beaten. Zimmerman hardly seems like a master criminal capable of this, though.
When told there was a video recording of the entire incident, Zimmerman was relieved, according to the investigator.
Zimmerman had previously called the police 40+ times in similar situations, yet never initiated a physical confrontation before. Why this time? What was different?
You're more than willing to put stake your claim on a two minute timeline issue of returning to the car, but you completely discount a four minute timeline issue?
Why would an armed man, particularly an armed man who sucks at fighting, start a fistfight? Why would an armed man, particularly an armed man who is shorter, older, and less physically in shape, start a fistfight? Unless you subscribe to the notion that Zimmerman just wanted an excuse to kill Martin, and started the fight with the express intent to lose the fight and then claim self defense, it defies logic.
It's not necessarily what you believe that causes me to think you're taking an emotional rather than logical view, it's what you willfully choose to ignore.
