Drudge had a link that I posted near the front of this thread that says there was an eyewitness whos statement was the basis for releasing Zimmerman at the scene. The police won't release the name of the person for fear they will be attacked. That eyewitness said that Zimmerman appeared to be walking towards his vehicle and Martin was laying-in-wait and ambushed Zimmerman and assaulted him breaking his nose and lacerating the back of his head (Martin had Zimmerman on the ground). Zimmerman got ahold of his gun at some point and shot Martin.
When the eyewitness statement matched Zimmerman's statement the police ruled it as a lawful shooting. Florida has a "stand-your-ground" self-defense law that says you don't have to back away or otherwise flee before using lethal force. Zimmerman had a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
This Zimmerman guy is an overzealous wannabe cop and this act is pretty despicable but its important to stick with the rule of law imho.
In California Zimmerman would have been arrested for murder. Here we cannot shoot a burgular even if he assaults us and there are lots of cases where burgulars are suing homeowners who shot them inside of their home. Basically in California if you shoot anyone for any reason you are going to jail. In the next town over from mine a man was assaulted in his garage by 4 people and he pulled a gun and shot them and is sitting in jail charged with murder, no bail was granted.
