Trayvon’s Mother: ‘Stand Your Ground’ Allowed My Son’s Killer To ‘Get Away With Murder’ Social face

[kpete]

Trayvon’s Mother: ‘Stand Your Ground’ Allowed My Son’s Killer To ‘Get Away With Murder’

PERRY STEIN 12:26 PM EDT, MONDAY JULY 29, 2013

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, denounced Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law Monday, saying it allowed her son's killer to "get away with murder."

“The thing about this law is I just think it assisted the person who killed my son to get away with murder,” she said at a National Bar Association event in Miami Beach, according to the Miami Herald. “I think we have to change these laws so people don’t get away with murder.”

A number of critics of the law, most notably Stevie Wonder, have called for boycotting the state until the legislature changes the self-defense law. Fulton would not endorse the boycott, however.

“I can’t say that I’m in support of it, but not in support of it,” she said. “But I think people have a right to free speech. And if that’s their way of showing how they feel, to express themselves about the verdict, then I think that’s something they can do.”

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/trayvons-mom-stand-your-ground-allowed-my-sons

[dkf]

1. It was standard self defense, not stand your ground.

[TBF]

2. Keep repeating your right-wing talking points -

maybe there are folks on here that actually find them entertaining ...

Reality, however, is that SYG was very much a part of the trial. There was no SYG hearing, but interestingly enough it showed up in the jury instructions --

The jury instructions—and a reason for their verdict: Just because Zimmerman's defense team didn't bring up Stand Your Ground in the trial (more on that below), that doesn't mean the law was irrelevant to the jury's decision. To the contrary, Judge Debra Nelson made clear in the jury instructions (PDF) that they should consider the law:

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.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/07/stand-your-ground-did-indeed-play-role-zimmerman-trial

[X_Digger]

4. You mean jury instructions like these in California?

http://www.courts.ca.gov/partners/documents/calcrim_juryins.pdf#page=289

"A defendant is not required to retreat. He or she is entitled to stand his or her ground and defend himself or herself and, if reasonably necessary, to pursue an assailant until the danger of (death/great bodily injury/<insert forcible and atrocious crime>] has passed. This is so even if safety could have been achieved by retreating."

Doesn't seem to cause people to run around with their hair on fire when a person in California is acquitted, claiming 'Oh noes, SYG!'

[TBF]

14. Lovely straw there ... nt

[X_Digger]

22. Apparently it went right over your head.

Having jury instructions include the right to stand one's ground doesn't make any case a 'SYG' case.

If that were true, then all cases in Florida (or California) would be 'SYG' cases.

[dkf]

6. It was in the instructions but he didn't need it.

His entire case was that he couldn't retreat and he felt his life was in danger. That is plain old self defense.

[TBF]

13. If it wasn't needed why was it in there? nt

[Hoyt]

3. Not this crud again. Read the jury instructions and listen to Juror B37.

In addition to poster above, here is another explanation --

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/07/15/stand-your-ground-and-the-zimmerman-defense/194870

Jury Instrutions --

"In deciding whether George Zimmerman was justified in the use of deadly force, you must judge him by the circumstances by which he was surrounded at the time the force was used. The danger facing George Zimmerman need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force. Based upon appearances, George Zimmerman must have actually believed that the danger was real.

"If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in anyplace 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."


The Stand Your Ground law enacted in 2005, changed the definition of self-defense.


Of course, I bet if 25 people present you with the same thing, you still won't acknowledge it.

[dkf]

8. Doesn't matter...he couldn't retreat he was pinned down.

He didn't need those changes.

[NoOneMan]

10. By 160 lbs of rippling, muscular, 17-year-old bone and sinew

George was saving his strength for pulling families out of burning cars

[TBF]

15. ...

[hfojvt]

19. here's a guy about that size

he couldn't hurt a fly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Ray_Leonard

[NoOneMan]

20. He couldn't pin me down

But I don't save my strength for pulling families out of burning vehicles.

[Hoyt]

18. Yeah, right. The lengths you folks will go to supporting the bigot with a gun crack me up.

Did it ever occur to you that you are wrong about that, just like you were wrong about SYG?

[LanternWaste]

21. You should write Trayvon's mother a sternly worded letter saying as such

You should write Trayvon's mother a sternly worded letter saying as such if you are frustrated by her (or others) lack of procedural understanding.



Let us know how it goes!

[NoOneMan]

7. What did your parents do wrong to raise such a fuckn moron?

Last edited Mon Jul 29, 2013, 02:07 PM - Edit history (1)

[Blue_Tires]

11. I can tell you have a bright future here

^^^^^^^Who's sock is this?

[fadedrose]

12. Background checks

might have uncovered his "defective" upbringing and the consequences of it.

He should not have been permitted to carry.

The laws in FLA killed Trayvon legally.

[TBF]

17. Wow.

Some first post there ....


I'd welcome you and direct you to the Gungeon but my guess is that you have a pretty good idea where it is.

[fadedrose]

9. SYG is a great way for the NRA to sell more guns

and they get people elected who do their bidding....

I feel that the NRA killed Trayvon.

The other thing that assisted in the killing is the lack of background checks. From what I read about GZ he wouldn't have been qualified in some states...

[hack89]

23. Z had to pass a background check

to get a CCW permit.

[Crunchy Frog]

24. Must be pretty damned easy to pass in Florida.

[hack89]

25. Background checks are done by the Federal government

there is only one background check system in America

[Blue_Tires]

16. An uncomfortable truth none of the gun nutters want to acknowledge...

[Skittles]

26. SYG is designed to protect gun humping cowards

ENOUGH already