Unarmed teen shooting: Is Florida law to blame?

[Coito ergo sum]

By shooting someone, you are just taking your freedom of expression to its logical extreme. Freedom of expression is enshrined in the Constitution and prior restraint has been roundly rejected by the Supreme Court.

Something along those lines.

The logical extreme of "freedom of expression" is shooting someone?

Gotta gits me sum o' dat Yerpeein logic!

The only way to respect some people is to shoot them, as Phar-Q said....

Well, if Phar-Q said it, then we can take it as writ.

[Clinton Huxley]

Are you trying to oppress me, CES? I didn't see my buddies lying face down in the dirt so you could oppress me!

[MrJonno]

But, I wouldn't think throwing a person in jail for 24 hours is necessarily the minimum any "sane" police force would do. I don't see as how a day of a person's life, spent imprisoned (and even a nice jail sucks ass) is something to be so trifled with.

It's a relatively minor thing compared to the level of serious of a potential crime. I suspect in the UK you may not be automatically arrested but would be asked to assist with enquiries down the station and the second you didnt fully cooperate would then be arrested

[Coito ergo sum]

But, I wouldn't think throwing a person in jail for 24 hours is necessarily the minimum any "sane" police force would do. I don't see as how a day of a person's life, spent imprisoned (and even a nice jail sucks ass) is something to be so trifled with.

It's a relatively minor thing compared to the level of serious of a potential crime. I suspect in the UK you may not be automatically arrested but would be asked to assist with enquiries down the station and the second you didnt fully cooperate would then be arrested

Well, the cops normally conduct inquiries here, and from what I've read, Zimmerman hasn't refused to cooperate.

[Coito ergo sum]

Are you trying to oppress me, CES? I didn't see my buddies lying face down in the dirt so you could oppress me!

Not oppress. Repress, maybe.

[Clinton Huxley]

Are you trying to oppress me, CES? I didn't see my buddies lying face down in the dirt so you could oppress me!

Not oppress. Repress, maybe.

Help, help, I'm being repressed!

[Coito ergo sum]

I'm impressed.

[Warren Dew]

My impression is that they looked at the crime scene (cursory investigation) and found nothing to contradict Zimmerman's claim. I think the least they should've done was to detain him without charges for 24hrs or whatever the legal limit is while the scene was more thoroughly investigated and other evidence, such as the phone recordings, was collected.

The legal limit in the U.S. is zero. The police must have probable cause in order to make an arrest. If they have probable cause to arrest, they can wait up to 24 hours to file charges, but without probable cause - which they didn't have if on the face of it his claim to self defense seemed reasonable - they can't make an arrest at all.

And that's a good thing, not a bad thing, because we don't want police to be able to arrest people for 24 hours whenever they feel like it.

They don't have to make an arrest to do an investigation. Under normal circumstances in the U.S., most of the investigation is done before making an arrest, unlike some more repressive nations.

[MrJonno]

What exactly is probably cause?
Wikipedia entry of
The Supreme Court decision Illinois v. Gates 462 U.S. 213 (1983)[11] lowered the threshold of probable cause by ruling that a "substantial chance" or "fair probability" of criminal activity could establish probable cause. A better-than-even chance is not required.

Maybe killing people in self defence is you run of the mill normal day out shopping event in the US but generaly if there is a corpse there is a fair probability that a crime has taken place

[DaveD]

In conversations about police activity (or in this case, possibly, inactivity), across the Atlantic, there often seems to be a difference in the understanding of the word "arrest".
I've had a qick look on google, and found this: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/arrest
For the most part, there seems little difference between the legal definitions in the UK and the USA, but then I saw this paragraph:

Investigatory stops or detentions must be limited and temporary, lasting no longer than necessary to carry out the purpose of the stop or detention. An investigatory stop that lasts too long turns into a de facto arrest that must comply with the warrant requirements of the Fourth Amendment. But no bright line exists for determining when an investigatory stop becomes a de facto arrest, as courts are reluctant to hamstring the flexibility and discretion of police officers by placing artificial time limitations on the fluid and dynamic nature of their investigations. Rather, the test is whether the detention is temporary and whether the police acted with reasonable dispatch to quickly confirm or dispel the suspicions that initially induced the investigative detention.

In the UK, "Investigatory stops or detentions" would be regarded as arrests. Any such detention that was applied to Zimmerman appears to have been cursory, which is where the controversy arises.

[Coito ergo sum]

Maybe killing people in self defence is you run of the mill normal day out shopping event in the US

The enlightened, educated Yerpeein' view of Main Street, USA:

[Coito ergo sum]

In the UK, "Investigatory stops or detentions" would be regarded as arrests. Any such detention that was applied to Zimmerman appears to have been cursory, which is where the controversy arises.

Certainly. And, one of the things some people seem to have a difficulty grappling with is the difference between proper police procedure under the law, and police fuck-ups and dereliction. It is not proper police procedure to talk to a guy for 5 minutes, take his word for it, and do no follow up. I'm not sure that is what the police did. That is what some people allege that the police did. They may be right. If they are, it is dereliction of duty, and not what Florida law requires.

[Svartalf]

Maybe killing people in self defence is you run of the mill normal day out shopping event in the US

The enlightened, educated Yerpeein' view of Main Street, USA:

Looks more like Tombstone than Disneyland.

[Tyrannical]

Little Trayvon was a young thug who got exactly what he deserved, a bullet. That is what all the evidence is pointing at. He attacked and tackled Zimmerman as evidence by the grass stains and head injury. Though you can't prove from the evidence that Trayvon went for Zimmerman's gun, it does follow that after tackling him he could have tried for it.

So here Mr. Zimmerman , thank you for making Florida just a little bit safer from the "made nigga" element.

[klr]

Little Trayvon was a young thug who got exactly what he deserved, a bullet. That is what all the evidence is pointing at. He attacked and tackled Zimmerman as evidence by the grass stains and head injury. Though you can't prove from the evidence that Trayvon went for Zimmerman's gun, it does follow that after tackling him he could have tried for it.

So here Mr. Zimmerman , thank you for making Florida just a little bit safer from the "made nigga" element.

Well, that is one of the most vile, hate-filled and downright sick pieces of racist invective that I've ever had the displeasure to read on the Internet, and that's saying something.