Bill Cosby weighs in on Zimmerman case
Bill Cosby weighed in on George Zimmerman's acquittal on Thursday, telling a Virginia radio show that the prosecution did not do a good job presenting its case for second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin.
"The prosecution did not tell the story well and they lost," Cosby said in an interview with the DomNnate Radio Show. "If you're a lawyer and I'm a lawyer and I'm going up against you and we both have to talk to a jury, we present our story and I think if I don't present the story well enough, that you will win."
The 76-year-old comedian was then asked if he thought if racial profiling was used in Zimmerman's pursuit of Martin.
"Let me just tell you this man," Cosby said. "See this racial stuff goes into a whole bunch of discussion which has stuff that you can't prove. You can't prove that somebody is a racist unless they come out and do the act that is found to be that."
He continued:
But I do know this. I do know this. I heard the person say, "Don't go there." You understand? Okay. "Don't do that." I know that if you have a gun, it changes your whole feeling about what you can tell people, about how people better do what you say. Your mind can turn in such a way that you have a sense of control and power. I see a thing and the so-forth and so-on doesn't look right and say 'Okay, just stay where you are and don't ...' But I got a gun. Let's not go into a racial discussion unless we really have something there. But we do know they got a gun. And we do know that the Florida state law says you have a right to defend yourself. That means both people. So you have a gun. You come up to me. I don't have a gun. But then, you show me your gun. And I become frightened. And according to the state of Florida I have a right to defend myself. According to the state of Florida the person with the gun has a right to defend him or herself. I mean, this is getting out of line.
Earlier in the interview, Cosby said he was reluctant to form an opinion based on the media's coverage of the racially-charged case.
"I would never pay attention to information given to me by media, radio, whatever, about a high profile case until the jury says what it says," he said.
Zimmerman was found not guilty of all charges in Martin's killing last week, drawing the ire of civil rights activists who believe the former neighborhood should be charged with a federal hate crime in the unarmed black teen's slaying.
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I like Cosby, and I like how he was smart enough not to jump into the race thing.
But I think, like many people, he's still a little unclear on how Florida law works. He has touched on what a lot of people seem to be claiming is a contradiction in self-defense law: "The guy with the gun can defend himself, but can't the guy getting followed by the guy with the gun defend himself?"
Yes... of course. If the guy with the gun is acting like an aggressor. In fact, in that case, the guy getting followed has the right to defend himself and the guy with the gun has NO such right. Zimmerman would be guilty of murder in that case.
So I don't see how that's a problem with the law. It's very logically spelled out.
The problem here is that people assume Zimmerman was the aggressor because he followed Martin with a gun. Therefore, shouldn't Martin have the right to defend himself?
No, not unless there is evidence that Zimmerman did something besides follow. Other than following someone, which under the law does not make you an aggressor, there's no evidence that Zimmerman did anything. Maybe these people are saying following someone while you have a gun on your person should make you an aggressor, but I don't know if I agree.
