Strong opinions about Trayvon Martin's murder

[wercal]

94. Lets make sure we've got the score right

Last edited Fri Jun 14, 2013, 06:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Your initial post to me had two claims, predicating the rest of your argument:

1. Trayvon Martin lived in the neighborhood
2. Tracy Martin rented a house there

You were 100% incorrect on both points.

Moving on.

I have no idea who Terry is, so I can't respond.

Now admit that Trayvon had every legal right to walk down that street and to be where he was.

You fail to have comprehended my initial post on this matter. I was trying to educate the ignorant (you) about the nature of a gated community...because, I dunno, I've designed gated communities before, and am not ignorant on the matter.

Your use of the word 'street' is technically incorrect. The word 'street' implies public Right of Way, which is owned by fee title by the governing body. It is indisputably public in every way, and there is a large body of case law which prevents people from impeding other people's ability to traverse public right of way.

The gated community is not public Right of Way. At best, the 'streets' are underlain by an easement granting use to the public. If you look in your local neighborhoods, you will notice that the named streets in some apartment complexes use signs that are reverse polarity. This is a subtle but easily indentifiable way to indicate that a street is privately maintained. This is necessary for the police...as their authorities and how people's interactions with each other are viewed by the law are slightly different on private property...as there are none of the protections and rights to freely move about afforded to you, that would be in a public ROW. An example would be a protest. Protestors could not stand on the 'street' in this apartment complex, and protest the killing, if the complex management did not agree to it. However, protestors could freely stand in the public street, just outside the complex, all day long. You see - they are different. If you can understand that, you are no longer ignorant on the matter.

So, on to this:

Trayvon had every legal right to walk down that street

Sort of. If you would have stopped frothing at the mouth, you would have noticed that my original post on the matter described a case, where department store workers were successfully sued for following minorities around the store...even though the store is clearly private property. So it is a gray area, as I describe in my initial racist, Fox News parroting post. But Martin did not have an inate, constitutional right to be in the complex, like he would in the public right of way.

So, you have to consider the circumstances that put him there. Ms. Green let an unattended minor child, not related to her, stay in her unit. Do all unattended minor children have inate rights to all private property in Florida? No. Do you think her rental agreement prohibits her from housing unattended minor children not related to her, especially during nighttime hours? Most do. I guarantee you this will come up in the wrongful death lawsuit. Just watch.

Back to my apartment analogy. Listen to the 911 tape. Zimmerman is in his truck, talking to the operator, when he says 'He Ran'. So, imagine if you are in the laundry room of an apartment building, and an unattended minor child not related to any of the tenants comes to the door. You make eye contact with him...and he runs. Is it reasonable to poke your head out the door and see which way he went (an analagy for getting out of the truck). Is it reasonable to follow this person down the hall? Put yourself in that situation - would you really just sit and do nothing?...maybe. Would you really be legally obligated to sit and do nothing?...of course not.

And that is the prosecution's biggest problem. They are trying to prove that it was grossly negligent to follow a stranger who is running from you on private property. It will be incredibly difficult to prove...its almost as if the attorney who made up the charging affidavit was just as ignorant as you. However, unlike you, they won't be allowed to wrecklessly lash out with accusations of racism, to try and fix this problem. They are in for an uphill climb, and I predict a mistrial.