I'm on your side, but I don't think Zimmerman is guilty of stalking, since there was no repetition, and his following had a legitimate (if stupid) purpose of trying to serve as a witness to a putative crime. Following someone, even if you have a gun (assuming you have a license to carry), isn't considered assault in…

I think the only civil DOJ case would be section 1983, which does not cover GZ since he is not a governmental actors. Federal criminal civil rights charges are questionable as well, since GZ was not part of a conspiracy and is a nongovernment actor. There might be a federal hate crime charge, but I doubt it would fly.

It looks like civil immunity covers SYG, Castle doctrine, self-defense, and defense of others:

Glad to help!

I can try my best.

There are two things being discussed, with similar names, causing some confusion.

I agree with you, I think that having to explain the use of state power to 12 randomly-selected people is the best defense against governmental injustice known to man, and I would love to see some sort of equivalent institution govern the other branches of government.

I'm halfway between the two groups (law student who loves to armchair).

Larger juries are almost always better for the defendant. They only need one to agree w/them for a hung jury. I am not sure that having more jurors would have made a difference.

The term is the "separate sovereign" exception to double jeopardy. However, an state-level acquittal can have a very strong evidentary effect on latter cases (all judges are extremely hesitant to second-guess a validly-constituted jury's findings). However, if there is a deprivation of civil rights, in this case the…

Just playing the odds. Weekends are by far the most busy days for retail. Additionally, weekend morning shoppers tend to have much more time to give advice and, if there is a connection, grab coffee/brunch. If you are doing a quick errand run to go back to your online business, would you have time to teach me the…

I apologize for the heteronormativity and gender-roles typified in this post, but I wanted to provide my own experience, which is from the eyes of a straight, white, cis male.

When I was single and looking for a LTR, I accidentally found that the best place to met women was at Jo-Anns fabric on weekend mornings. I…

Zimmerman was legally privileged to follow Martin with a gun. He had a concealed carry license, he was on public property, and his conduct fell well-below the legal standard for menacing or stalking. Lawful behavior cannot serve as the escalating action. It can, however, serve as the basis for criminally negligent…

Two people can theoretically have equally valid claims of self-defense against each other. The fact that Martin reasonably believed that punching Zimmerman was imminently necessary to protect himself from violence would serve as a justification for physical assault. The fact that Zimmerman reasonably thought that…

Go bears!

I've never had to deal with an Article 134 issue, but I agree, the worst thing about the UCMJ is when senior enlisted and officers, with no legal training, think their gut feelings outweigh the orders of Congress, the executive branch, or the highest levels of command. So often, accused or victims are harangued into…

I think you are very right. The military barely believes that men rape women, let alone that men rape men (or any other permutation).

I agree. One of my least favorite things about the military was how officers and senior enlisted would intimidate and lie to young, naive, shamed 18 year olds in order to prevent them from accessing the procedural protections that Congress, the President, and Generals created for them.

Callie,

I don't think its strictly correct. I am fairly sure that other than entering into a same sex marriage, the burden of proof for a DADT discharge was pretty high. It officially required: consent, witnesses to the act, and repetition (it couldn't be "merely experimental and not likely to reoccur").

The problem was that…

Lack of unions doesn't keep my wages high. I live in Norcal, my wages are high solely because of my skin color. In the North, whites and Asians average 30k more in family income then Blacks and Latinos (and twice as much in per capita income), made worse by the fact that CA's sales tax, the most regressive of all…