Zimmerman case shows folly of ‘stand your ground’ laws

[LuckyTheDog]

It is tempting to believe the acquittal of George Zimmerman was another case of Southern jurors ignoring the law to let the killer of an African-American walk free. But it’s more complicated, and more troubling, than that.

The real fault lies not with the jurors, but with Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which gives people a virtual license to kill when they feel afraid.

Even though Zimmerman’s defense never invoked Stand Your Ground, the law’s principles were woven into the lengthy instructions given to the jurors by Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson. Any jury that took those instructions to heart would have had a hard time convicting Zimmerman, even if it wanted to.

The law, enacted in 2005, states that a “person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat” if he or she “reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.” That right applies any time “the person is in a place where he or she has a right to be.”

MORE at link: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/politics/2013/07/15/zimmerman-case-stand-your-ground/

This is my latest blog post for the Detroit News Politics Blog. Please follow the link. Feel free to leave comments on the blog.

[JohnnyBoots]

1. Only he didn't use SYG as a defense.

It was straight up self defense.

[LuckyTheDog]

2. I addressed that in the article

He did not have to assert SYG. The law was on the books and the jury had to decide the case in accordance with it. And SYG completely re-defined self-defense in Florida.

[JohnnyBoots]

3. Fair enough. nt

[dkf]

4. What was the self defense law prior to SYG?

[LuckyTheDog]

5. The SYG statute added the "no duty to retreat" language

It also added language making it OK to use lethal force based on a "reasonable belief" that one's life was in danger.

[dkf]

6. What was the burden before "reasonable belief" of danger?

[LuckyTheDog]

7. This is from a report from the Florida Stand Your Ground Task Force

This provision is a significant departure from Florida common law which required a person to
use every reasonable means available to retreat before using deadly force, except when the person was in his or her home or place of work. By amending this section, the legislature eliminated the common law duty to retreat before using deadly force in all places so long as the person meets the requirements of the statute.

<snip>

Thus, the law allows people to use deadly force so long as they feel threatened with death or great bodily harm, even if a person has other means of protecting his or her safety, such as calling the police or retreating from the situation if it is possible to do so safely.

Source: http://senatorchrissmith.com/standyourground/finalreport.pdf

[dkf]

8. thanks!

In all honesty I don't think those changes made a difference to the verdict.

[LuckyTheDog]

9. All that likely mattered to the jury...

was that Martin was a scary, scary black teen.

[dkf]

10. They got stuck at self defense.

2 jurors were searching for any way to get some conviction, but they couldn't find anything because of the self defense instructions.

[LuckyTheDog]

11. And the self defense instructions...

if you read them, were quoted almost word for word from the Florida Stand Your Ground law.

[dkf]

12. Duty to retreat...they concluded Z was screaming for help and was on the bottom.

Thus no way to retreat anyway.