Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwin320
The Court in the Zimmerman case held that Stand Your Ground didn't apply, which is why there was a prosecution in the first place. (In a stand your ground case, an initial hearing is held to determine whether a prosecution should take place. The Zimmerman defense team elected not to seek a stand your ground hearing at the outset, because they felt the law didn't apply).
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Exactly. The Zimmerman case turned into a self-defense case, not a SYG case. Mostly because when Zimmerman claimed he was knocked to the ground, there was no escape. SYG says you don't have the duty to flee, but you can. The self-defense portion revolved around what he claimed was the inability to flee, which resulted in a self-defense action. Had there been no situation where he was knocked to the ground, it would have been a SYG case.
Disclaimer: Not validating any details on the case, just why it was argued in the manner that it was. I wasn't there. I saw nothing.
In the case of the SUV, it would have been the same issue while he had room to move. When he made the decision to speed away, it was a SYG case (because he also could have opted to not flee). Once caught in that final traffic, he would have had nowhere to flee, in which case it would turn into a self-defense argued suit.