http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/19/1336842/-Stand-Your-Ground-Women-and-blacks-need-not-apply?detail=email
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On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was shot to death. His crime? He happened to be black, and a racist overzealous neighborhood vigilante named George Zimmerman decided to take matters into his own hands. He believed that "those assholes always get away" and he decided to make sure Trayvon didn't. So he ignored the advice of the dispatcher and left his home, armed, and had a confrontation. We don't know the exact details of how that confrontation played out. But what we do know is that Trayvon Martin ended up dead for the simple crime of walking down his own street.
Normally, one would think that if someone ignores police dispatch, goes out of the house armed, provokes a confrontation with an innocent teenager, and then kills him, that would result in some sort of murder conviction. Not so in the state of Florida, however. Florida is one of many states with so-called "Stand Your Ground" laws, which grant immunity from prosecution if a person has a reasonable belief that they are fearing for their own life in a confrontation.
Just to be clear, this law was not the direct reason that Zimmerman is not currently in jail. The law grants immunity from prosecution, and Zimmerman was prosecuted for the homicide he committed. But as Kevin Drum wrote shortly after Zimmerman's acquittal last year, the fact that the law was in the news had a definite effect on the jury's perceptions of Zimmerman's guilt:
And consider it they did. According to the most outspoken juror, known only as Juror B-37, Stand Your Ground was key to reaching their verdict. She told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an interview that neither second-degree murder nor manslaughter applied in Zimmerman's case "because of the heat of the moment and the 'stand your ground.' He had a right to defend himself. If he felt threatened that his life was going to be taken away from him or he was going to have bodily harm, he had a right."
So that's it then, right? Even if you're the one that provokes the confrontation, even if you're the only one with a gun, even if the person you kill is completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever—as long as you feared for your safety at some point during the confrontation, you have a right to kill.
I don't know whether these laws as considered by a jury are the real reasons that those who kill Blacks are generally acquitted, the other considerations like the 911 tape, disobeying the dispatcher, stalking, threatening the life of a teen, police malfeasance, killers very questionable account of the fight over the gun which by his account should have been between the ground and his back and while being pinned down the murder victim went for the gun, questionable wounds but still they used everything else but the evidence to conclude innocence.
If you're a woman fearing from your life in an abusive situation, the odds are that you won't get the benefit of Stand Your Ground laws as a justification for self-defense. Take the case of Marisa Alexander, also in Florida, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into the air during a violent domestic incident with her husband. Alexander was awarded a new trial, but both her original judge and the judge who overturned the sentence rejected her request for a Stand Your Ground defense, even though this was her testimony about the incident:
Alexander testified that, on Aug. 1, 2010, her then-husband, Rico Gray Sr., questioned her fidelity and the paternity of her 1-week-old child.
She claimed that he broke through a bathroom door that she had locked and grabbed her by the neck. She said she tried to push past him but he shoved her into the door, sparking a struggle that felt like an "eternity."
Afterwards, she claimed that she ran to the garage and tried to leave but was unable to open the garage door, so she retrieved a gun, which she legally owned.
Once inside, she claimed, her husband saw the gun and charged at her "in a rage" saying, "Bitch, I'll kill you." She said she raised the gun and fired a warning shot into the air because it was the "lesser of two evils."
The jury rejected the self-defense claim and Alexander was sentenced under the state's 10-20-life law, sparking outrage over how self-defense laws are applied in the state.again ignoring evidence and this time convicting and disavowing stand your ground. those who oppose will argue Zimmerman is not White but he garners their favor because he murdered a Black teen. this is tantamount to the rich buying justice except this is racial bias buying not guilty verdicts.
much more to this article please read the rest see where you come out on these cases. those who would seek understanding I think will benefit trolls will continue to be trolls. 5 more women have come forward in Ms. Alexander's defense and corroborate her story of husbands brutality
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/17/1337149/-5-More-Women-Accuse-Marissa-Alexander-s-Abusive-Husband-Of-Extreme-Brutality
