Mediaboss Marketing

Guilty ... Michael Dunn raises his hands in disbelief as he looks toward his parents after the verdicts were announced in his trial in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jacksonville, Florida: In failing to acquit or convict Michael Dunn on the most significant charge the premeditated murder of a teenager in a dispute over loud music a jury on Saturday may have run headlong into the breadth and reach of Floridas contentious "stand-your-ground" self-defence law.

In their 30 hours of deliberation, the 12-member panel wrangled with a question that cuts to the heart of all self-defence claims: How does a juror know when using lethal force is justified, where nothing is straightforward, memories are hazy or contradictory and perception counts as much as fact?

Even as the jury agreed to convict Dunn of attempted murder, it found no consensus on murder.

Jordan Davis' mother, Lucia McBath, leaves the courtroom with her husband Curtis McBath during the trial of Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Florida.

In the courtroom, Dunn told the jury he shot Jordan Davis, 17, after the teenager pointed a shotgun at him from the window of a sport utility vehicle, threatened him and then got out of the truck. The two cars were parked side by side in front of a petrol station convenience store.

Advertisement

But the prosecution said there was no shotgun: No witness saw one, the three teenagers who were in the vehicle with Jordan said they did not have a shotgun, and the police never found one. While Dunn fired 10 rounds at the teenagers on November 23, 2012, no one ever shot back.

Rather, the prosecution argued, Dunn shot Jordan because he became enraged after the teenager disregarded his request to turn down the loud rap music blasting from the vehicle and then mouthed off, hurling expletives at him. He fabricated a story about the shotgun to bolster his self-defence claim, they added.

Widespread anger ... Jacob Black ducks his head behind a sign outside of the Duval County Courthouse during the trial of Michael Dunn.

Read the original:
Stand your ground law complicated jurys job in Michael Dunn trial

By The Associated Press - Associated Press - Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The murder trial of a Montana man who shot and killed 17-year-old German exchange student Diren Dede in his garage tested a state law that gives a person the right to use force or threaten to use force to protect his or her own home from unlawful entry or attack, particularly a provision known as stand your ground. Markus Kaarma unsuccessfully invoked the law in his defense, saying he was protecting his family and property. He was convicted of deliberate homicide Wednesday. Heres a brief explanation of the law and controversy surrounding it.

AN OLD LAW CHANGES, SPARKING DEBATE

Montanas self-defense law has been on the books in some form since the 19th century. In 2009, it was amended to eliminate the restriction that a person was justified in using force only when entry is made or attempted in violent, riotous, or tumultuous manner. It also was changed to state that a person who is threatened with physical harm has no duty to retreat or summon law enforcement assistance prior to using force. Shortly after Dedes death, a state legislator proposed legislation striking the 2009 changes, arguing they encourage vigilante justice. Gary Marbut, of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, has said it is premature to say the law needs to be fixed. Marbut, who helped draft the 2009 changes, had argued that if Kaarma was convicted, it would prove the law was working fine.

A LEGAL MOVEMENT THAT BEGAN IN FLORIDA

Montana is just one of about half the 50 U.S. states that have enacted stand your ground laws, starting with Florida in 2005. The laws have strong backing from gun rights groups, including the powerful National Rifle Association. But the Floridas law came under intense scrutiny during the trial of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, who was the acquitted in the 2012 shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Other cases have called into question laws in Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina and other states.

See original here:
AP EXPLAINS: Montana's 'stand your ground law'

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

Floridas Stand Your Ground law might be expanding, thanks to a case being brought before the State Supreme Court.

According to Reuters, Jared Bretherick was arrested and charged with aggravated assault back in 2011 for pointing a pistol at a man during a road-range incident. If the court rules in his favor, the burden of proof would shift to the prosecutor to show that a defendant invoking the laws protection didnt act in self-defense.

Court documents reveal that Bretherick was riding with his family when his vehicle was almost sideswiped by an SUV driven by Derek Dunning near Orlando. The Bretherick family claimed Dunning cut them off, stopped his SUV in front of them and jumped out of his vehicle.

Ronald Bretherick, Jareds father and the driver of the vehicle, called 911 and showed his concealed carry handgun to warn Dunning off.

Dunning got back into his car, but, according to the Bretherick family, he started backing up his SUV toward them. Thats when Jared took his fathers gun and stood next to their vehicle.

Deputies said Jared was pointing the gun at Dunnings SUV when they arrived. No shots were fired.

As Reuters reports, Jared says he was protecting his father by staying next to the SUV, who is a disabled veteran, until police arrived.

Stand Your Ground immunity was denied at a hearing in 2012, on the grounds that Dunning wasnt committing a violent crime and had gone back to his vehicle. Bretherick appealed, and an appellate court is asking the Florida Supreme Court to decide on burden of proof.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com

Read the original post:
Florida Court Mulls Change to 'Stand Your Ground' Law

A stand your ground defense motion for a former Eutawville police chief has been denied, opening the path for prosecutors to move forward on a criminal charge.

Circuit Court Judge Ed Dickson has determined former Police Chief Richard Combs did not meet the elements of the states stand your ground laws when he killed a person in the town hall parking lot.

Mr. Combs has failed to establish that he is entitled to claim self-defense as he did not show that he was without fault in bringing about the difficulty, the order states.

South Carolinas stand your ground laws are an extension of the states Castle Doctrine, which says a person engaged in a confrontation has no obligation to retreat any further if hes on his own property. An individual can claim self-defense when not on their own property only under specific circumstances under the stand your ground law.

In August 2013, Combs was indicted by an Orangeburg County grand jury on a charge of misconduct in office in connection with the 2011 shooting death of Eutawville resident Bernard Bailey.

The shooting occurred on May 2, 2011 in the town hall parking lot after a confrontation over a warrant for Baileys arrest. Combs and Bailey got into a scuffle inside the drivers door of Baileys truck as the Eutawville man tried to leave. Combs then shot him several times.

The indictment against Combs says the former police chief unlawfully used deadly force ... shooting and killing Bernard Bailey, when deadly force was not necessary, during the confrontation.

Bailey had gone to the town hall to talk with Combs about a traffic ticket given to Baileys daughter, Briana Bailey, six weeks earlier. Bailey walked out to his truck after Combs told him he had a warrant against him for obstruction of justice.

Through his attorneys, Combs made the motion for immunity from prosecution in a Nov. 18 hearing in front of Dickson. Combs testified he had no other options than to shoot Bailey during a struggle inside the Eutawvilles mans open truck door.

Its your testimony you were trapped in that door and could not get out? defense attorney John OLeary said at the hearing.

Read more here:
Judge: No stand your ground defense in shooting: Ex-Eutawville police chief must face misconduct charge in Bernard ...

House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. McMorris Rodgers, from Eastern Washington, chairs the House Republican Conference.

Top technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have recently quit the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative group that drafted Floridas Stand Your Ground law and which is working to counter the federal governments bid to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

But a top House Republican, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., has embraced ALEC. McMorris Rodgers spoke Thursday to its Jefferson Reception, part of a conference of lobbyists and legislators that has featured seminars on such topics as Big Green Radicals.

The congresswoman has been active with ALEC since her time in the state legislature, McMorris Rodgers office said in her weekly schedule.

Microsoft bailed out of the council in August, saying it was incongruous to be supporting an organization which is fighting policies that promote renewable energy.

Googles CEO Eric Schmidt, in a National Public Radio interview, said that ALEC is just literally lying by promoting skepticism about climate change, adding: And so we wont be aligned with such people.

Amazon.com quit ALEC in 2012, citing public concerns over the groups drafting of gun, immigration and voter ID laws. The Stand Your Ground law was a component in the defense of George Zimmerman after the neighborhood vigilante killed unarmed Florida teenager Travon Martin.

House Speaker John Boehner and Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers blast President Obama at news conference. McMorris Rodgers is a rising figure in GOP leadership.

McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the House Republican Conference, took a different perspective and praised the council in an email to seattlepi.com.

ALEC embraces that collaborative spirit and enables lawmakers from all 50 states to come together to exchange ideas in an effort to make life better for communities of Washington state and all across the country, said the Eastern Washington congresswoman.

Read more from the original source:
McMorris Rodgers, House GOP leader, embraces controversial, conservative group