You're minding your own business when suddenly...

[Nine]

... the "suspicious," "up to no good," "probably on drugs," guy you had just reported to police pops out from behind the bushes and says, "You got a problem, homey?!" Keep in mind that this guy had already appeared out of nowhere once before, circling your car while you were on the phone with the police dispatcher (which you, for some odd reason, neglected to mention to the dispatcher in real time), and then vanishing into the darkness again. For some other odd reason you decided it was a good idea to leave the safety of your car so you could get a better look at a street sign in the small neighborhood where you had been the neighborhood watch captain for three years. This was apparently one of those special street signs that cannot be seen from inside a car even with headlights. And suddenly, there the suspicious-looking guy is again! You know that you're not a very strong fighter despite being a former bouncer and having hundreds of hours of MMA training and some previous arrests for violence. You feel this is a true emergency situation. So after answering "no," you naturally reach for... your cell phone so that you can call 911. Not the gun you have holstered in your waistband, but your phone. This is what Zimmerman expects us to believe.

[Animal Chin]

1. Zimmerman doesn't expect you to believe anything

He only needs to present a plausible alternative narrative that explains the prosecution's evidence, and in my opinion, he has accomplished that.

[MattBaggins]

3. Unicorns did it?

Some people will believe anything I suppose.

[brush]

4. Keep dreaming. nt

[Animal Chin]

5. I don't like it either

It's a failure on the part of the prosecution, either in presenting its case poorly or, more likely, in pursuing a second degree murder charge in the first place. Perhaps their thinking was to go for second degree murder, but get manslaughter (a more appropriate charge) as a fallback.

I question whether the facts even support manslaughter (given Zimmerman's injuries, and the doctor's testimony -- which I found credible), but I don't think the prosecution has established the mental element of second degree murder...by a long shot.

[Nine]

6. It's not plausible and it contradicts the evidence.

All you're saying is that Zimmerman can make up anything he wants and we have to take his word for it without exercising any common sense or else we're picking on him.

[Animal Chin]

7. Not really

Zimmerman does not need to establish what happened that night. He only needs to raise a doubt as to the prosecution's version of what happened. Personally, I think the doctor's testimony as to his head injuries and nature of the gunshot wound, as well as the 9 or 10 witnesses who identified the voice crying for help as that of Zimmerman are enough to raise a reasonable doubt as to whether Zimmerman was acting with a depraved mind, as opposed to in self defense.

[Nine]

8. That fact that you think that parade of Z's friends accomplished anything says a lot about you. (nt)

[Animal Chin]

9. Volumes. (nt)

[sbh]

2. I think he's already established his guilt. I'm expecting 2nd Degree.