AI
Monday, July 01, 2013 3:45:24 AM
George Zimmerman's case exposes the joke of stand-your-ground laws
Florida is one of many states with a stand-your-ground law that seems to legally protect everyone but those in genuine danger
Sadhbh Walshe
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 June 2013 23.30 AEST
Jump to comments (427)
[ photo inside, sorry, i've seen enough of him ]
George Zimmerman arrives at the bail hearing at the Seminole county
courthouse in Sanford, Florida. Photograph: Gary W Green/POOL/EPA
George Zimmerman .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/george-zimmerman .. is back in court to face murder charges for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/trayvon-martin . Besides deciding Zimmerman's fate, the trial will shine a spotlight on Florida's controversial self defense laws generally known as 'stand your ground' .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law .
In Florida, the law reads:
-------
A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
-------
These laws are so forgiving, shall we say, that until national outcry prompted an investigation, Zimmerman was not even charged in the murder and still has a decent chance of being acquitted even though reports are that he initiated the confrontation, and the victim was unarmed.
Sweeping as the stand-your-ground laws are, however, the one area where they might actually be of some use – providing cover for victims of domestic violence who kill or injure abusive partners before they are killed or injured themselves – is the one area .. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/01/474652/stand-your-ground-anti-woman/ .. where the laws frequently prove to be of no use at all. This says a lot about how stand-your-ground laws work. They have less to do with making sure people whose lives are in genuine danger can take action to protect themselves and more to do with letting people who could evade danger, if they wished, take the law into their own hands.
The main achievement (if you can call it that) of the first stand-your-ground law that was pushed through the state legislature in Florida in 2005 was that it removed the "duty to retreat" from the self defense equation. Americans always had the right to use deadly force in the face of an imminent threat to their lives but only after availing of any opportunity to back away. Now that safeguard has been removed prompting the law, which was heavily backed by the National Rifle Association .. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/22/449961/how-nra-fueled-floridas-stand-your-ground-law/ (NRA), to be dubbed the "kill at will" statute.
After the bill was passed in Florida, the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC) formed a task force to draft model legislation, which has since been implemented in over 20 states .. http://www.propublica.org/article/the-23-states-that-have-sweeping-self-defense-laws-just-like-floridas . Despite the sweeping protections these laws offer to anyone who responds with deadly force to what they perceived was a grave threat, however, victims of domestic violence who kill or injure their partners before they get killed themselves appear to be no better off.
This disparity of treatment of (mostly) women who respond with force to perceived threats in their own homes compared to (mostly) men who respond to perceived threats on the streets is clearly illustrated in the case of Marissa Alexander .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/17/stand-your-ground-marissa-alexander . Last year Alexander was handed a 20-year prison sentence in Florida after firing a warning shot in the course of an altercation with her abusive husband that neither harmed nor killed him. Alexander's husband, who had a history of domestic violence and admitted to beating her and previous partners, had begun hitting his wife after discovering text messages on her phone from her ex-husband. Alexander fled to the garage but says the door mechanism failed so she couldn't escape. Instead she retrieved her (licensed) gun from the car and went back into the living room where she fired a warning shot at her husband, who she claims lunged at her shouting "bitch, I will kill you."
Maybe Alexander should have or could have retreated, but in the context of stand-your-ground laws, where there is no duty to do so, it would seem on paper at least that she acted within her rights. The judge in her case rejected a motion .. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57434757-504083/fla-woman-marissa-alexander-gets-20-years-for-warning-shot-did-she-stand-her-ground/ .. to grant her immunity under the statute, however, saying that "there is insufficient evidence that the defendant reasonably believed deadly force was needed to prevent death or great bodily harm to herself" and the fact that she came back into the living room rather than retreating "is inconsistent with a person who is in genuine fear for her life".
Obviously every case needs to be tried on its own merits, but it's almost impossible to not conclude that there are some double standards at play when it comes to women who try to defend themselves .. http://verdict.justia.com/2011/10/19/barbara-sheehan-and-the-battered-womans-defense .. against abusive partners in their homes, compared to people like George Zimmerman, who claims self defense when they kill unarmed strangers in the street.
For decades failing to meet the "duty to retreat" from their own homes in the face of an imminent threat to their lives has made it nearly impossible for women who shoot or kill abusive partners to make successful self defense arguments. In the recent past many states, including Florida, have recognized that imposing a duty to retreat from one's own home in the face of a domestic threat is inherently unfair. But now, even after stand-your-ground laws have removed the duty to retreat in most situations, women who kill or injure abusive partners still face an uphill battle trying to defend themselves in court.
For now, Zimmerman has decided to claim his actions were self defense, not stand-your-ground .. http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/justice/florida-zimmerman-defense . But his case certainly illustrates how stand-your-ground could be used (and abused). A study of the outcomes of nearly 200 stand-your-ground cases in Florida by the Tampa Bay Times .. http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/florida-stand-your-ground-law-yields-some-shocking-outcomes-depending-on/1233133 .. found that 70% resulted in an outright acquittal. The same study also found that 73% of the cases where the victim was black resulted in an acquittal compared to 59% of cases where the victim was white. Statistically then this gives George Zimmerman a fighting chance to walk free even though he was armed with a weapon and allegedly went in pursuit of his victim who was armed only with a bag of skittles.
Whatever the outcome of his case, however, that Zimmerman can even invoke a self defense claim under such circumstances should give people pause when it comes to assessing the merits of stand-your-ground laws. The fact that these sweeping laws fail to protect those in genuine fear for their lives just makes them all the more suspect.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/13/george-zimmerman-trial-stand-your-ground
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======
The Prejudice of Don West
Jun 28 Posted by Xena
Don West, a lawyer on accused murderer and admitted killer George Zimmerman’s legal team, took a photograph of himself with his daughters. Nothing unusual about that. However, the caption that his daughter put to it when uploading the photo to Instagram, speaks volumes.
“We beat stupidity …”
continued .. http://blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/the-prejudice-of-don-west/
.. then there is seasoning ..
O'Mara is a seasoned att'y - his ultimate goal was to poison the jury.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=88503653
Terrorism and Privilege: Understanding the Power of Whiteness - Tim Wise
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=86925579
Florida is one of many states with a stand-your-ground law that seems to legally protect everyone but those in genuine danger
Sadhbh Walshe
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 June 2013 23.30 AEST
Jump to comments (427)
[ photo inside, sorry, i've seen enough of him ]
George Zimmerman arrives at the bail hearing at the Seminole county
courthouse in Sanford, Florida. Photograph: Gary W Green/POOL/EPA
George Zimmerman .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/george-zimmerman .. is back in court to face murder charges for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/trayvon-martin . Besides deciding Zimmerman's fate, the trial will shine a spotlight on Florida's controversial self defense laws generally known as 'stand your ground' .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law .
In Florida, the law reads:
-------
A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
-------
These laws are so forgiving, shall we say, that until national outcry prompted an investigation, Zimmerman was not even charged in the murder and still has a decent chance of being acquitted even though reports are that he initiated the confrontation, and the victim was unarmed.
Sweeping as the stand-your-ground laws are, however, the one area where they might actually be of some use – providing cover for victims of domestic violence who kill or injure abusive partners before they are killed or injured themselves – is the one area .. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/01/474652/stand-your-ground-anti-woman/ .. where the laws frequently prove to be of no use at all. This says a lot about how stand-your-ground laws work. They have less to do with making sure people whose lives are in genuine danger can take action to protect themselves and more to do with letting people who could evade danger, if they wished, take the law into their own hands.
The main achievement (if you can call it that) of the first stand-your-ground law that was pushed through the state legislature in Florida in 2005 was that it removed the "duty to retreat" from the self defense equation. Americans always had the right to use deadly force in the face of an imminent threat to their lives but only after availing of any opportunity to back away. Now that safeguard has been removed prompting the law, which was heavily backed by the National Rifle Association .. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/22/449961/how-nra-fueled-floridas-stand-your-ground-law/ (NRA), to be dubbed the "kill at will" statute.
After the bill was passed in Florida, the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC) formed a task force to draft model legislation, which has since been implemented in over 20 states .. http://www.propublica.org/article/the-23-states-that-have-sweeping-self-defense-laws-just-like-floridas . Despite the sweeping protections these laws offer to anyone who responds with deadly force to what they perceived was a grave threat, however, victims of domestic violence who kill or injure their partners before they get killed themselves appear to be no better off.
This disparity of treatment of (mostly) women who respond with force to perceived threats in their own homes compared to (mostly) men who respond to perceived threats on the streets is clearly illustrated in the case of Marissa Alexander .. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/17/stand-your-ground-marissa-alexander . Last year Alexander was handed a 20-year prison sentence in Florida after firing a warning shot in the course of an altercation with her abusive husband that neither harmed nor killed him. Alexander's husband, who had a history of domestic violence and admitted to beating her and previous partners, had begun hitting his wife after discovering text messages on her phone from her ex-husband. Alexander fled to the garage but says the door mechanism failed so she couldn't escape. Instead she retrieved her (licensed) gun from the car and went back into the living room where she fired a warning shot at her husband, who she claims lunged at her shouting "bitch, I will kill you."
Maybe Alexander should have or could have retreated, but in the context of stand-your-ground laws, where there is no duty to do so, it would seem on paper at least that she acted within her rights. The judge in her case rejected a motion .. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57434757-504083/fla-woman-marissa-alexander-gets-20-years-for-warning-shot-did-she-stand-her-ground/ .. to grant her immunity under the statute, however, saying that "there is insufficient evidence that the defendant reasonably believed deadly force was needed to prevent death or great bodily harm to herself" and the fact that she came back into the living room rather than retreating "is inconsistent with a person who is in genuine fear for her life".
Obviously every case needs to be tried on its own merits, but it's almost impossible to not conclude that there are some double standards at play when it comes to women who try to defend themselves .. http://verdict.justia.com/2011/10/19/barbara-sheehan-and-the-battered-womans-defense .. against abusive partners in their homes, compared to people like George Zimmerman, who claims self defense when they kill unarmed strangers in the street.
For decades failing to meet the "duty to retreat" from their own homes in the face of an imminent threat to their lives has made it nearly impossible for women who shoot or kill abusive partners to make successful self defense arguments. In the recent past many states, including Florida, have recognized that imposing a duty to retreat from one's own home in the face of a domestic threat is inherently unfair. But now, even after stand-your-ground laws have removed the duty to retreat in most situations, women who kill or injure abusive partners still face an uphill battle trying to defend themselves in court.
For now, Zimmerman has decided to claim his actions were self defense, not stand-your-ground .. http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/justice/florida-zimmerman-defense . But his case certainly illustrates how stand-your-ground could be used (and abused). A study of the outcomes of nearly 200 stand-your-ground cases in Florida by the Tampa Bay Times .. http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/florida-stand-your-ground-law-yields-some-shocking-outcomes-depending-on/1233133 .. found that 70% resulted in an outright acquittal. The same study also found that 73% of the cases where the victim was black resulted in an acquittal compared to 59% of cases where the victim was white. Statistically then this gives George Zimmerman a fighting chance to walk free even though he was armed with a weapon and allegedly went in pursuit of his victim who was armed only with a bag of skittles.
Whatever the outcome of his case, however, that Zimmerman can even invoke a self defense claim under such circumstances should give people pause when it comes to assessing the merits of stand-your-ground laws. The fact that these sweeping laws fail to protect those in genuine fear for their lives just makes them all the more suspect.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/13/george-zimmerman-trial-stand-your-ground
You might also not like:
A Rape a Minute, a Thousand Corpses a Year: Hate Crimes in America (and Elsewhere)
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=83821360
Walking While "Tan:" 16 yo Son Trailed by Neighborhood Watch Captain & Questioned by Police
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=89063832
======
The Prejudice of Don West
Jun 28 Posted by Xena
Don West, a lawyer on accused murderer and admitted killer George Zimmerman’s legal team, took a photograph of himself with his daughters. Nothing unusual about that. However, the caption that his daughter put to it when uploading the photo to Instagram, speaks volumes.
“We beat stupidity …”
continued .. http://blackbutterfly7.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/the-prejudice-of-don-west/
.. then there is seasoning ..
O'Mara is a seasoned att'y - his ultimate goal was to poison the jury.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=88503653
Terrorism and Privilege: Understanding the Power of Whiteness - Tim Wise
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=86925579
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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