Armed intruder breaks in and kills homeowner and claims SYG

[HipChick]

I wonder if folks will claim the homeowner caused his own death..

The South Carolina Supreme Court had made the unusual move of halting a murder trial to hold a hearing on the state’s so-called “stand your ground” law — but it’s who’s claiming the defense that’s likely to turn heads: an armed intruder who shot and killed the man whose home he broke into.

Gregg Isaac testified in court this week that he entered the apartment of Antonio Corbitt in 2005 with another man, Tavares World, after World kicked in the door, The State newspaper reported. Isaac testified that as World and Corbitt fought, it looked like Corbitt was going to pull a gun and shoot Isaac, so instead, Isaac shot Corbitt twice. Corbitt stumbled outside and died.

Isaac said he also feared for his life from World, because World had threatened to kill him unless he went along with him.

Isaac’s defense attorney Mark Schnee argued that his client should be granted immunity from prosecution because South Carolina’s 2006 “stand your ground” law allows people to use deadly force if they fear for their lives.

Issac is basically arguing that he was not committing a crime but he was kidnapped and forced to participate in the home invasion by World so he can use the Stand Your Ground defense.*


http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/10/2856356/sc-supreme-court-stops-murder.html

[MADem]

1. Is it me, or is this stand your ground shit as stupid as it gets? nt

[struggle4progress]

3. It's a free license to kill others when you remember to say the magic words "I was afraid"

[Warpy]

5. It is in this case because it wasn't his ground he was standing on.

This might be the new definition of chutzpah, replacing the one about the man who kills his parents and then demands the court free him because he's now an orphan.

[caseymoz]

11. So, why did they stop the trial to hold a hearing?

I thought by the basic definition, "your ground" is the ground you're standing on, and if you have reason to fear for your life standing there, you have a right to kill the threat.

Apparently, the trial lawyers thought that reasoning was debatable to decide with a hearing.

It's the definition they applied to the Zimmerman trial. That wasn't "his ground" if you asked him if he held title to it.

[pacalo]

7. You said it.

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Please don't give them any goals to shoot for...

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

[ReRe]

13. Yes.

...Because it was created by the stupid people. (Seriously.)

[ecstatic]

2. I don't think the world is laughing at us anymore

At this point, they're probably shaking their heads in disgust and horror.

[ManiacJoe]

4. The newspaper title is misleading.

What the state SC really did:

The arguments the high court wants to hear apparently don’t involve the substance of the law – they involve at what point in a trial process a judge should hold a full hearing about whether evidence can be introduced about whether the defendant can assert that he enjoys immunity from prosecution because he was in fear for his life when he used deadly force. If a judge were to grant immunity, then a trial would not have to be held.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/10/2856356/sc-supreme-court-stops-murder.html#storylink=cpy

[Kablooie]

17. So they are deciding that there may not even be a trial. The murderer is automatically free.

If you claim Stand your ground and state some kind of reason for it, you can't be held responsible and must not be arrested or tried.

That's more like it. That's the Florida law we all know and love.

People have a free pass to murder anyone they want without penalty if they only state a SYG reason no matter how contrived or convoluted.

[Iggo]

6. That's how self-defense works in a stand-your-ground world.

You start a fight, and if it goes against you, you get to kill the other guy.

Beautiful, huh.

[silverweb]

8. Absolute insanity.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]ALL of this ALEC/NRA craziness has to be reversed -- and SOON.

[JVS]

10. "but he was kidnapped and forced to participate in the home invasion by World "

If this is true and that is a BIG FUCKING IF, wouldn't this be a case for claiming that under the felony murder law that World is responsible for the murder rather than Isaac?
That seems more logical than SYG.

[Politicalboi]

15. Then why not shoot World?

And explain to the homeowner what really happened.

[JVS]

16. That's one of the things that makes it a really big if.

[defacto7]

12. I can think of a hundred stupid cartoons

that could be made out of this story... an alien forced Issac to follow him or be disintegrated so he had to shoot Corbitt as a stand your ground thing. Acquit acquit!

But really, truth is stranger than fiction in this case.

[America The Hero]

14. Well in that case...

if you'll excuse me, I have to go kill the pizza boy . . . in self defense

[tblue]

18. Right our of The Onion.

Truth is way stranger than fiction in this topsy-turvy country where guns=safety, war=peace, Christian=hateful, freedom=exploitation. What next? What is freaking next?

[JustAnotherGen]

19. I'm disgusted