South Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
After an innocent 17 year old boy was shot by accident by a neighborhood watch volunteer, his mother, Sybrina Fulton and Democratic lawmakers are asking for the repeal of the Stand your Ground law.
The stand your ground law gives a person the right to justifiably use deadly force as long as there is a reasonable belief of an unlawful threat. In Beard v. U.S. (158 U.S. 550 (1895)), the Supreme Court ruled that a man who was on his property when he came under attack, did not provoke the assault, and had reasonable grounds to believe, that the other individual intended to take his life, or do him great bodily harm, did not have a duty to leave and was entitled to stand his ground.
This basically means that if someone enters your home in the middle of the night and you have reasonable belief that this person has a gun and may take your life, you don’t have an obligation to leave your home, but you have the right to self defense and to use deadly force to protect yourself.
The case of Trayvon Martin, the 17 year old boy shot and killed by George Zimmerman, has brought even more criticisms of the stand your ground law and whether it should continue to exist or not.
George Zimmerman is being charged with second-degree murder. He is claiming self-defense and is now awaiting trial.