I see your point, but I'm not sure to what extent this would be probative (nor do I know how the actual chain of custody and discovery process actually played out, so I can't comment on whether the prosecution fell short on its responsibilities or not).
The basis of my reservation, which may seem extremely pedantic, is twofold:-
First, it's undisputed that Zimmerman spent several minutes following Martin while commenting on his suspicions to the police dispatcher. At some point Zimmerman exited his car, came face-to-face with Martin, and then they had an altercation. It seems quite plausible to me that Martin might have punched Zimmerman in the nose as alleged.
But it's not the case that Zimmerman was doing his own thing, ran into Martin, and was attacked by him. Rather, we know from the recorded phone call that Zimmerman followed Martin for at least two minutes in his car, at which point Martin ran away and Zimmerman got out of the car and began to follow him (per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin which has the audio recording). Under Florida law (http://law.onecle.com/florida/crimes/784.048.html), Zimmerman's behavior up to that point amounts to at least harrassment, and arguably aggravated stalking; it was certainly reasonable for Martin to believe that Zimmerman, through his actions alone, presented a credible threat to him.
Whether Martin was a peaceful person or not is thus (IMHO) mooted by the undisputed fact that Zimmerman was chasing him. Running away from another person is the exact opposite of an aggressive posture. Pursuing a person who is running away, by contrast, places the object of pursuit in a defensive posture. One could certainly argue that when Martin approached Zimmerman's car to 'check [him] out' and then ran away, that he had misapprehended Zimmerman's lawful intentions. But when Zimmerman got out of car and started running after him, that could only be interpreted as a threat. The act of pursuit made the situation into a conflict, in which Zimmerman was the aggressor.
It's worth considering what the outcome of this would have been had Zimmerman not shot Martin as he did - ie, supposing Martin had punched Zimmerman, knocked him down and straddled him as alleged by Zimmerman but that the police had shown up and stopped the fight before it went any farther. First, Martin would have have been able to argue that he was standing his ground in response to an unprovoked assault by Zimmerman; and second, that if Zimmerman had been convicted of aggravated stalking (and his behavior definitely constituted the elements of that crime: 1) wilful 2) malicious 3) repeated following, and 4) making a nonverbal threat placing the target in reasonable fear for his safety), then simply by virtue of carrying a weapon during the commission of that crime, he would have been subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years (http://law.onecle.com/florida/crimes/775.087.html).
Second (and this is more abstract), whatever the contents of Martin's phone, they were not known to Zimmerman at the time of their interaction. So they could not have had any bearing on Zimmerman's assessment of Martin. In other words, it would make no logical to sense to say 'Z was afraid of M because M was the sort of person who talked about fighting and trading firearms' - you're inviting the jury to consider knowledge after the fact as an input to Zimmerman's self-defense claim.
Now it might seem like the prosecution is doing that with regard to Zimmerman's past history of studying criminal justice and so on - but that's part of the prosecution's job in terms of demonstrating motive and prior knowledge. The prosecution is not attributing such insight to Martin, who knew only that he was being followed by a stranger in a vehicle. There's no requirement for the prosecution in a homicide case to limit itself to the information that was available to the victim at the time of the incident (otherwise you'd be able to get away with murder as long as the victim were surprised).
I understand that many people have some moral objection to Zimmerman claiming self defense because it is claimed that Zimmerman was pursuing Martin, thus provoking the confrontation. However, that doesn't make the behavior illegal and your interpretation of the law claiming that this is harassment is without foundation. One of the first clauses in your cite is "and serves no legitimate purpose." It is legitimate under the law to check out suspicious behavior, so the statute doesn't apply to this situation.
Almost universally in American law, the legitimate use of force in self defense can be summed up as "meeting force with force." Merely pursuing someone is not even assault and committing battery in response is thus unlawful. That is to say, Martin could not have lawfully attacked someone who was merely pursuing him. It would only be lawful self-defense on Martin's part if he was repelling physical violence (say, a punch or a kick) initiated by Zimmerman with equal force.
Again, though you may have a moral objection to how the law assigns blame here, that doesn't change the law.
Also, it's not an undisputed fact that Zimmerman was chasing Martin. Zimmerman, for one, disputes that. He claims that he got out of the car to see the street sign and then later tried to get a better view of where Martin went. Zimmerman claims he was attacked as he was walking back to his car. You don't have to believe Zimmerman, but the evidence presented to rebut his claim was hardly conclusive.
And yes, Zimmerman totally had no idea what was on Martin's phone and so the evidence is of absolutely no bearing on what Zimmerman thought of Martin. However, Zimmerman claimed that he was attacked by Martin. Nobody saw the beginning of the confrontation, so the only word we have is Zimmerman's. The prosecution called Zimmerman a liar on this point, so the evidence could show violent tendencies on Martin's part, bolstering Zimmmerman's story. It's not direct evidence and it's certainly prejudicial against Martin, but the defense certainly had the right to try to use it.
It is legitimate under the law to check out suspicious behavior, so the statute doesn't apply to this situation.
It's unclear what Zimmerman found suspicious about Martin's behavior besides his looking around as he walked down the street.
pursuing someone is not even assault
I disagree. You're arguing that someone who wasn't engaged in any criminal activity should be OK with kerb-crawling followed by foot pursuit. I would not be OK with someone following me down the street in such fashion.
Also, it's not an undisputed fact that Zimmerman was chasing Martin. Zimmerman, for one, disputes that.
The police dispatcher asks him whether he was following Martin and Zimmerman replied in the affirmative. This is just a fact. From the transcript of his call:
Dispatcher: Are you following him?
Zimmerman: Yeah.
I'm inclined to give his words on tape during the actual incident much greater weight than whatever a posteriori account he offered afterwards. After all, he wasn't on the hook for a homicide at the time he got out of the car.
While many might agree that the evidence would not have been admitted in this trial by this judge based on other decisions this judge made pertaining to some similar evidence... If the defense had this evidence they may have gone with the Stand Your Ground hearing before a judge in which the judge may have taken the evidence into account and prevented this trial from the get go. If the defense had this evidence earlier decisions prior to trial may have been different.
I'm not following you. My understanding is that the defense did have the evidence in question prior to trial, but I'm not sure about when - so I agree that might have affected their strategy. However, I'm not sure what you mean about the hearing and preventing the trial.
The basis of my reservation, which may seem extremely pedantic, is twofold:-
First, it's undisputed that Zimmerman spent several minutes following Martin while commenting on his suspicions to the police dispatcher. At some point Zimmerman exited his car, came face-to-face with Martin, and then they had an altercation. It seems quite plausible to me that Martin might have punched Zimmerman in the nose as alleged.
But it's not the case that Zimmerman was doing his own thing, ran into Martin, and was attacked by him. Rather, we know from the recorded phone call that Zimmerman followed Martin for at least two minutes in his car, at which point Martin ran away and Zimmerman got out of the car and began to follow him (per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin which has the audio recording). Under Florida law (http://law.onecle.com/florida/crimes/784.048.html), Zimmerman's behavior up to that point amounts to at least harrassment, and arguably aggravated stalking; it was certainly reasonable for Martin to believe that Zimmerman, through his actions alone, presented a credible threat to him.
Whether Martin was a peaceful person or not is thus (IMHO) mooted by the undisputed fact that Zimmerman was chasing him. Running away from another person is the exact opposite of an aggressive posture. Pursuing a person who is running away, by contrast, places the object of pursuit in a defensive posture. One could certainly argue that when Martin approached Zimmerman's car to 'check [him] out' and then ran away, that he had misapprehended Zimmerman's lawful intentions. But when Zimmerman got out of car and started running after him, that could only be interpreted as a threat. The act of pursuit made the situation into a conflict, in which Zimmerman was the aggressor.
It's worth considering what the outcome of this would have been had Zimmerman not shot Martin as he did - ie, supposing Martin had punched Zimmerman, knocked him down and straddled him as alleged by Zimmerman but that the police had shown up and stopped the fight before it went any farther. First, Martin would have have been able to argue that he was standing his ground in response to an unprovoked assault by Zimmerman; and second, that if Zimmerman had been convicted of aggravated stalking (and his behavior definitely constituted the elements of that crime: 1) wilful 2) malicious 3) repeated following, and 4) making a nonverbal threat placing the target in reasonable fear for his safety), then simply by virtue of carrying a weapon during the commission of that crime, he would have been subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years (http://law.onecle.com/florida/crimes/775.087.html).
Second (and this is more abstract), whatever the contents of Martin's phone, they were not known to Zimmerman at the time of their interaction. So they could not have had any bearing on Zimmerman's assessment of Martin. In other words, it would make no logical to sense to say 'Z was afraid of M because M was the sort of person who talked about fighting and trading firearms' - you're inviting the jury to consider knowledge after the fact as an input to Zimmerman's self-defense claim.
Now it might seem like the prosecution is doing that with regard to Zimmerman's past history of studying criminal justice and so on - but that's part of the prosecution's job in terms of demonstrating motive and prior knowledge. The prosecution is not attributing such insight to Martin, who knew only that he was being followed by a stranger in a vehicle. There's no requirement for the prosecution in a homicide case to limit itself to the information that was available to the victim at the time of the incident (otherwise you'd be able to get away with murder as long as the victim were surprised).