Repeal Stand Your Ground Law - "it assisted the person who killed my son"

[CF DolFan]

Mark O'mara addressed this yesterday. According to polls most people understand this. Why doesn't Jesse, Al, Ms. Martin and the media?

"The George Zimmerman case was not a ‘stand your ground’ case; it was clearly traditional self-defense, and therefore any campaign for the repeal of ‘stand your ground’ laws predicated on the facts of the Zimmerman case is a non-starter, and any campaign that relies on misrepresentations and misinformation is doomed to fail," O'Mara continued, adding that those wanting a modification of the "stand your ground law" will need to have an "honest conversation."

[pondwater]

Mark O'mara addressed this yesterday. According to polls most people understand this. Why doesn't Jesse, Al, Ms. Martin and the media?

"The George Zimmerman case was not a ‘stand your ground’ case; it was clearly traditional self-defense, and therefore any campaign for the repeal of ‘stand your ground’ laws predicated on the facts of the Zimmerman case is a non-starter, and any campaign that relies on misrepresentations and misinformation is doomed to fail," O'Mara continued, adding that those wanting a modification of the "stand your ground law" will need to have an "honest conversation."

Just like all the fake bullshit these useless racists say. The Tawana Brawley case, the Duke Lacrosse case, the Zimmerman Case, now this fake "stand your ground" outrage and probably countless more "Whitey is evil" cases. Jessie, Al, and "the oppressed and their watchdogs" have an agenda. This agenda has nothing to do with justice or equality. Some people think that they are owed something. If it is not given, they will try and take it.

[Spider-Dan]

Spider .... SYG had less than Zero to do with this case so why pretend it did?

If SYG had "less than zero" to do with the Zimmerman case, why wasn't he arrested?  Well, according to the City of Sanford at the time:

“Zimmerman provided a statement claiming he acted in self defense, which at the time was supported by physical evidence and testimony,” the letter, signed by Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr., says. “By Florida Statute, law enforcement was PROHIBITED from making an arrest based on the facts and circumstances they had at the time.”

Normal self-defense laws do not specifically grant immunity from arrests; Stand Your Ground does.

Furthermore, from the jury instructions (emphasis added):

"If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony."

Now, if you want to argue that the specific Stand Your Ground hearing was declined by Zimmerman, fine.  But it's clear that the existence of the law has, at a very minimum, greatly influenced other Florida statutes.  The jury instructions should make that crystal clear.

So if you want to insist that the Stand Your Ground law had "nothing to do" with the Zimmerman case, but that laws that permit you to stand your ground (but not the Stand Your Ground law!) had a great deal to do with it, then sure, I guess?  I'm not sure the distinction matters.

P.S. I have a feeling that the vehemence with which certain people are insisting that SYG laws "obviously had nothing to do with this case" is, shall we say, perhaps not entirely consistent with some of their previous posts on the subject.

[Fau Teixeira]

If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force

i agree with this statement  .. 100% makes sense and it the way the entire country should be

+1

[Dave Gray]

I think it's safe to say that SYG, while ultimately not used in Zimmerman's defense, still played a role in the legal process.  As Spider pointed out, before all the facts were in, the fact that Z was not even arrested point to SYG being used as justification.

[CF DolFan]

If you want to say he wasn't initially arrested because of it ... well, I don't agree but will concede its a possibility. The problem is they are stating he was able to kill an unarmed black child because of it and that's a HUGE misinterpretation of the truth at best. That's two entirely different things.

He wasn't arrested because of it vs. "it helped him get away with murdering my son"

[Spider-Dan]

The jury on Zimmerman's trial was explicitly instructed that Zimmerman had a right to stand his ground.  Based on their interpretations of the law under those instructions, he was acquitted.  One of the jurors later said that she thought GZ "got away with murder" but that based on how the law was explained to her, her hands were tied.

Ms. Martin's interpretation is not nearly as far-fetched as the claim that SYG had "nothing to do" with the case.

[Phishfan]

One of the jurors later said that she thought GZ "got away with murder" but that based on how the law was explained to her, her hands were tied.

Personally, I am glad to hear a juror was able to set aside personal feeling and follow the law as instructed. You may not agree with her decision but I applaud the fact she was able to do this.

[Spider-Dan]

While I do believe in the concept of jury nullification, I'm not sure I'd say this was the best time to use it.  So yes, given that she believed that the evidence did not support a conviction under the law, it was appropriate for her to cast a Not Guilty vote.