Well, that is the crux of the debate. Was Zimmerman's life in imminent danger?
Head injuries can cause death. Not sure if you knew that.
Punches to the head and face can cause serious head injuries that result in death.
One punch from an average man can be fatal. You would have immediately agreed had you had martial arts experience.
So, receiving repeated blows to the head while being pinned down and no indication that said beating would ever stop, I would say Zimmerman was justified in believing his life was in imminent danger, and he was justified in using deadly force before he lost consciousness, thereby losing the ability to use such force and being beat to death.
To argue otherwise is complete obtuse.
Did Zimmerman do enough to cause the situation he's in because maybe Martin thought his life was in danger?
What Zimmerman did to cause the situation is irrelevant. When Martin is sitting on top of him, beating the shit out of his face and head, Zimmerman's prior actions are no longer at issue. Martin can hardly be in fear for his life if he has Zimmerman pinned to the ground and unable to stop Martin's repeated blows.
Manslaughter requires reckless action that resulted in the death of another.
You could argue that getting into that situation may have been "reckless" but the act of shooting TM was not reckless.
I think so. IMO both caused the outcome.
I disagree.
What caused the outcome was Martin continuing to keep Zimmerman down while beating him. Had Martin backed off, Zimmerman would not have been justified in using deadly force.
But Zimmerman started the whole sequence of events with one poor decision after another.
Probably true.
BUT, Zimmerman's fault became a non-factor when Martin continued to pin him and beat him.
.