Frank Taaffe, a former neighborhood watch volunteer who knew Zimmerman, said had Trayvon simply answered Zimmerman’s question about ‘what are you doing here?’ none of this would have happened. Rather than answer the question, Martin responded with the question, “Why are you following me?”
Cooper said there was a lot of response on Twitter with people asking why should anyone have to answer the question of some guy who has no real authority to ask the question.
Asked if a person would have to answer such a question posed by a neighborhood watchman, Toobin said, “In the United States of America you don’t even have to answer a police officer under the Fifth Amendment – you have the right to remain silent as everybody knows.
“But you certainly have no obligation to answer some guy who’s calling himself a neighborhood watch officer. And, most importantly, if you refuse to answer, or even if you answer inappropriately, we don’t have the death penalty for failing to answer.
“So the idea that Trayvon’s inappropriate answer is somehow justification for George Zimmerman to shoot him dead in the street is completely preposterous,” Toobin said.
Anderson Cooper: Did George Zimmerman use a racial slur? Why it's important - National unsolved cases | Examiner.com: