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The man who signed Florida's Stand Your Ground law is now awkwardly moonwalking backwards on an initially indiscriminate data-dump. Presidential hopeful and former Florida governor Jeb Bush is doing some damage control on his decision to publish his gubernatorial emails, which provided easy access to over 12,000 social security numbers from people who had written the governor emails.

JebEmails, the website created by Bush's team to allow people to comb through more than 300,000 emails the former governor received in office, was meant to highlight the 2016 contender's tech savvy and commitment to transparency.

Instead, it highlighted how oblivious Team Prez Bush 3 is about privacy. Whoever came up with this genius moved dropped the ball big-time in the thinking-things-through department. Due to Florida's Sunshine laws, anyone could've requested the emails from Bush's eight-year stint as governor. But this project provided an easily searchable database for these emails and the sensitive information they contained, inadvertently creating a tool for identity theft. His team is now redacting the SSNs it published.

Most of the exposed numbers (roughly 12,500) came from a spreadsheet attached to an email, meaning most of the people screwed over weren't just randomly messaging their personal information to the then-governor. The bulk of the social security numbers were from a PowerPoint email attachment about people on a family services waiting list.

Anyone who downloaded the original email files made available last week still has access to the SSNs and other personal identifying information from the people who wrote in, so there's still concern that the email dump may lead to fraud; it's too late to put that personal information-sharing genie totally back in the bottle. [The Guardian via The Verge]

Image via AP Images

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Jeb Bush Is Sorry He Published Your Social Security Numbers

Lawmaker Files Bill to Bring Stand Your Ground Law to Arkansas
Lawmaker Files Bill to Bring Stand Your Ground Law to Arkansas Lawmaker Files Bill to Bring Stand Your Ground Law to Arkansas Lawmaker Files Bill to Bring St...

By: Celine Downer

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Lawmaker Files Bill to Bring Stand Your Ground Law to Arkansas - Video

Marissa Alexander case: When women invoke #39;stand your ground #39;
the case of Marissa Alexander and the stand your ground law.

By: HueyP Newton510

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Marissa Alexander case: When women invoke 'stand your ground' - Video

Stand-your-ground laws were first adopted in the United States by the State of Florida in 2005. Since 2005, thirty-one states, including Oklahoma, have enacted some form of stand-your-ground law, in which a person is granted certain immunities against the use of deadly force to defend against an intruder.

As should be expected, the stand-your-ground law has resulted in the increased use of the defense of self-defense, including in the case of the killing of Trayvon Martin.The Zimmerman case focused new attention on the Florida Stand Your Ground Statute and the breadth of its protection for individuals who claim to have used deadly force in the face of reasonably perceived deadly force.

Interestingly, there was no pre-trial Stand Your Ground Motion to Dismiss in the Zimmerman case. Instead, Zimmermans defense waited until trial to present Mr. Zimmermans claim of self-defense. So, what is this immunity conferred by the Stand Your Ground Statute, how is it different from the trial defense of self-defense, and why didnt Zimmerman attempt to cloak himself with immunity under the Statute?

Before the stand-your-ground law,a person was not permitted to resort to deadly force in self -defense without first using every reasonable means within his power to avoid danger, including retreat. Now, the stand-your-ground laweliminates the duty to retreat and confers the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony. 776.012 Florida Statutes. In Oklahoma, the law is found at21 O.S.Supp.2006, 1289.25.

To make a citizens assertion of his right to self-defense independent on any duty to first try to retreat from the danger, the Oklahoma legislature enacted 21 O.S.Supp.2006, 1289.25(F), which immunizes those who are not engaged in an unlawful activity, and areacting in self-defense, from both civil suit and from criminal prosecution. Meaning, a person who claims to have stood his ground in the use of force can move to dismiss any case brought against him, civil or criminal, where he can show such force was justified. In the criminal context, a defendant may move for a pre-trial stand your ground hearing where he needs only to prove justification for his actions by a preponderance of the evidence.In the Trayvon Martin case, if Mr. Zimmerman had proven he had properly stood his ground, the criminal case against him would have been dismissed without the need for a trial.

But, Zimmerman withdrew his request for a pre-trial stand-your-ground motion. Why? At the pre-trial hearing, Zimmerman would have had the burden of proving that he properly acted in self-defense by a preponderance of the evidence.At trial, the burden shifted to the State to disprove Zimmermans claim of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a difficult burden of proof, especially in cases where there is only one person left to tell what happened.

Zimmermans attorneys may have thought that their chance of succeeding at the pre-trial motion hearing was slim, and didnt want to take a chance that potential jurors would hear that the Judge had rejected the claim of self-defense, thereby possibly leading potential jurors to conclude that the self-defense claim wasnt credible. As we know, it was a gamble that paid off.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 2nd, 2013 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Legislation & Case Notes, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Street Law School: The Stand Your Ground Law ...

The acquittal of George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin's death has thrust Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law into the spotlight again. More than 20 other states have a similar law. Is it time to revisit what some experts say is a license to kill?

The case against George Zimmerman brought a lot of attention to Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. Other states have similar laws, but just one sentence could have changed the outcome of the case dramatically.

In the year since it landed on the international news radar, the Trayvon Martin case has raised a global discussion about Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law. But in a stunning twist of events Tuesday morning, George Zimmerman's attorneys waived their client's right to a scheduled April 22 hearing that was to be held under the law that has sparked so much debate, ABC news reports.

Stevie Wonder told an audience on Sunday that after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, he would not play in Florida or any other state that has a Stand Your Ground law -- the controversial self-defense provision that lead to Zimmerman's acquittal in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

In a speech to the NAACP, Attorney General Holder blasted Florida's "Stand Your Ground" laws, the self-defense provisions that were central to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Holder said earlier that his Justice Department is investigating bringing federal charges against Zimmerman.

The new PSA calls for the repeal of "Stand Your Ground" laws in 26 states.

Attorney General Eric Holder blasted "stand-your-ground" laws in the wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting Trayvon Martin, saying such laws cause more violence than they prevent. Photo: Getty Images.

At the convention of the NAACP on Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder blasted "stand-your-ground laws" in the wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday strongly criticized stand-your-ground laws that allow a person who believes he is in danger to use deadly force in self-defense. Holder said he was concerned about the case of Trayvon Martin, in which George Zimmermann was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges, and said the Justice Department has an open investigation into what happened.

The state Senate's Democratic leader has filed a bill revising Florida's "stand your ground law" following the Trayvon Martin shooting. Sen. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale said on Wednesday said his bill (SB 136) was inspired by the unarmed 17-year-old boy's death in Sanford. Martin was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman who is claiming self-defense under the law.

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Revisiting 'Stand Your Ground' Laws (Video)