Jeb Bush's 2005 gun law gave people who use 'self-defense' civil and criminal immunity.

[seafan]

That fact is the at the foundation of this horrendous outcome for an innocent young boy, as his murderer goes without arrest.


This article explains it very well.


In synopsis, the reason why Zimmerman's claim of "self defense" has thus far prevented his arrest in Florida, lies with the passage of the 2005 "Stand Your Ground" law in Florida, signed by then-governor Jeb Bush.


To lay this out:

According to Harvard law professor Jeannie Suk, 17th century English common law has held that if a person felt that he was being threatened in a public place, it was his first duty to retreat as far as possible from the perceived situation. It was only at that point that deadly force could be used to defend oneself.

There was only one exception to that English common law, and that was that if the home was broken into, then the use of deadly force against that threat was justified without 'retreating' first. This was known as the "Castle Doctrine". (A man's home is his 'castle'.)


When the Castle Doctrine arrived in America, the Supreme Court in 1895 expanded it to cover public places, and was called the "true man" doctrine, referencing language from a 1876 case: “A true man, who is without fault, is not obliged to fly from an assailant, who by violence or surprise, maliciously seeks to take his life or do him enormous bodily harm.”


Then, a century later in 1999, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that a domestic violence victim who shot and killed her husband as he was attacking her in their own home had the right to claim the Castle Doctrine as her defense.

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Suk calls this revision of the true-man rule to encompass domestic violence transformative, and you can see why. The new rules made for more shooting and less retreating. And they set the stage for Florida to ditch the duty to retreat entirely, which the legislature did in passing the nation’s first Stand Your Ground law in 2005.

Florida’s new law did three things: It further loosened the restrictions on using deadly force at home. It scrapped the duty to retreat in public places. And it gave people who use self-defense civil and criminal immunity. Pushing for these changes, NRA President Marion Hammer focused on women and their need to protect themselves. “You can’t expect a victim to wait and ask, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Criminal, are you going to rape me and kill me, or are you just going to beat me up and steal my television?” she said.

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It’s that decision not to press charges that makes Stand Your Ground laws, which a bunch of other states have adopted, a crazy departure from the past. It’s one thing to raise self-defense at trial. It’s another to have what the Florida Supreme Court calls “true immunity.” True immunity, the court said, means a trial judge can dismiss a prosecution, based on a Stand Your Ground assertion, before trial begins.

At least there’s supposed to be a hearing before that happens, at which the defendant has the burden of proof. And yet as the Hernandez and Martin’s case shows, Stand Your Ground laws often lead prosecutors to decide against so much as bringing charges. According to the Sun Sentinel, “In case after case during the past six years, Floridians who shot and killed unarmed opponents have not been prosecuted.”

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The murder of Trayvon Martin has the hallmarks of a racially-motivated hate crime, and the perpetrator of it, George Zimmerman, must not be granted immunity from his actions by claiming "self defense". Not when he chased his victim, from his car and then on foot, then murdered him in cold blood.


It is time to revisit the 2005 handiwork of Jeb Bush, which facilitated this tragedy.