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Friday, March 30, 2012

Don't Let Trayvon Hysteria Lynch a Good Law

The media circus surrounding the tragic death of Trayvon Martin has largely focused on Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. That focus is misplaced.

Stand Your Ground, or SYG, provides certain narrow protections for individuals who use deadly force in self-defense, but the basic standards for whether the use of deadly force is justified are not changed by the SYG law, nor are the penalties and liabilities for the unjustified use of deadly force.

In the Trayvon Martin case, the specific part of the law that has applied so far is a provision that a person claiming self-defense should not be arrested unless there is some clear evidence that self-defense was not the motive. In this case, George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Martin, was beaten and bloody with grass stains and mud on his clothes when police arrived. Zimmerman told them he had turned around and was going back to his vehicle when he was attacked by Martin. There was nothing to suggest Zimmerman was lying then, nor has any new evidence surfaced indicating that his story was not true.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am SOOOOOOOOOO tired of hearing about this case.

You watch, some coward will give in and railroad Z just to appease some groups of people. Justice be damned.

If he didn't do anything illegal, he didn't do anything illegal.

Let it go and get on with your lives. For God's sake....and the rest of us.

PLEASE!

Anonymous said...

I think the stand your ground law is a good law. Maryland should have such a law. If someone attacks me or mine you best believe I will use deadly force even if I have to go to jail.

Anonymous said...

10:29 PM

Hell yes. Who in their right mind would just sit by and let someone hurt them or their family?Someone breaks into my home, I'm shooting their butt right back out. And then I'm dragging their body back inside my house.

They have so many laws, and so many assinine laws, they really have little effect.

I wonder when those paper pushers realize that criminals do not pay any attention to any law they so proudly pass.

They are so out of touch with the rest of us it's sad. And dangerous because of laws we have that are in favor of the criminal.

I will be the one to go to jail because of their joke of a system, but I will be alive. Can't say the same for the burglar.