Mediaboss Marketing

In 2004, the National Rifle Association honored Republican Florida state legislator Dennis Baxley with a plum endorsement: Its Defender of Freedom award.

The following year, Baxley, a state representative, worked closely with the NRA to push through Floridas unprecedented stand your ground law, which allows citizens to use deadly force if they reasonably believe their safety is threatened in a public setting, like a park or a street.

People would no longer be restrained by a duty to retreat from a threat while out in public, and would be free from prosecution or civil liability if they acted in self-defense.

Floridas law is now under a cloud as a result of the controversial February shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, in Sanford, Fla. The 28-year-old shooter, George Zimmerman, who was licensed to carry a gun and once had a brush with police claims he acted in self-defense after a confrontation with Martin, and some legal experts say Floridas law could protect Zimmerman, who has not been charged. The case has inflamed passions nationwide in part because Zimmerman is Hispanic and Martin was African-American. Baxley, whose state party has benefited from large NRA donations, contends his law shouldnt shield Zimmerman at all because he pursued Martin.

The NRA has been curiously quiet on the matter since the shooting as the nation takes stock in light of the Martin case and other similar examples of whether stand-your-ground laws are more dangerous than useful to enhance public safety. The gun-rights organization did not respond to requests for comment. But the groups silence contrasts sharply with its history of unabashed activism on stand-your-ground legislation. Since the Florida measure passed, the NRA has flexed its considerable muscle and played a crucial role in the passage of more than 20 similar laws nationwide.

The Florida law is rooted in the centuries-old English common law concept known as the Castle Doctrine, which holds that the right of self-defense is accepted in ones home. But the Florida law and others like it expand that established right to venues beyond a home.

Since Florida adopted its law in 2005, the NRA has aggressively pursued adoption of stand-your-ground laws elsewhere as part of a broader agenda to increase gun-carrying rights it believes are rightly due citizens under the 2nd Amendment.

To gain attention and clout at the state level, the NRA has ponied up money and offers endorsements to legislators from both parties. The NRA and the NRA Political Victory Fund, its political action committee, have donated about $2.6 million to state-level political campaigns, committees and individual politicians since 2003, according to records compiled by the National Institute on Money and State Politics.

And ambitious politicians take note that the NRA is heavily invested and involved in congressional races.

The organization showered the Florida Republican Party Committee with a total of $125,000 in donations between 2004 and 2010. That sum tops the list of all NRA donations to state party committees between 2003 and 2012, according to National Institute on Money in State Politics records. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee of New York was next with $119,700.

The NRA energetically monitors state elections, from governors races down to the most obscure special election for a state legislative seat if the seat is considered crucial and, as its legislative action website shows, it regularly mobilizes constituents to flood lawmakers with calls and e-mails.

Following the Florida victory, the Stand Your Ground movement accelerated. In July 2006, the NRA posted celebratory news on its website, noting that legislators in eight more states Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Dakota had already followed Floridas lead.

This train keeps a rollin Castle Doctrine Sweeps America, the NRAs 2006 message said. The campaign, the group said, is turning focus from criminals rights to those of the law-abiding who are forced to protect themselves.

Since then, a host of other states have passed various laws expanding the Castle Doctrine. Among them: Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee Texas, Utah, Washington and West Virginia.

To spread the word, the NRA said in an Aug. 12, 2005 website posting, it approached the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, which drafts legislation for like-minded state lawmakers. ALEC, as it is known, adopted model stand-your-ground legislative language in 2005 after Floridas top NRA representative made a presentation.

And along the way key lawmakers benefited from NRA support. In Indiana, for instance, GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels, who took office in 2005, received $12,400 in NRA donations between 2004 and 2008. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue got $7,500 from the group between 2004 and 2006. Mark Shurtleff, Utahs attorney general, received $22,500 between 2004 and 2008.

But it hasnt been smooth sailing quite everywhere. An emotional debate in Minnesota this year resulted in passage of a proposal in both houses, which are GOP-controlled, but a veto just this month from Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. A couple of GOP lawmakers changed their votes from no to yes in the course of the legislative process, state records show.

We had a few people tell us apologetically and privately that they were afraid of the NRA, said Joan Peterson, a Minnesota activist with the Northland chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Proponents didnt get enough votes to override Daytons veto.

Heather Martens, executive director of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, which opposed the proposal, said that a newly elected Democratic legislator who reluctantly voted yes had faced a tough special election campaign in 2011. At the center of the campaign were accusations that she would be anti-gun.

Take your best shot, a Minnesota Republican Party-sponsored mailer against Democrat Carly Melin said back then, urging voters to protect their gun rights from St. Paul liberals.

The Minnesota bills Republican sponsors, state Rep. Tony Cornish and state Sen. Gretchen Hoffman who is now running for Congress against a Democrat who's had NRA support did not respond to requests to discuss their proposal.

Opposition to the laws has gone beyond gun-control activists. Some of the staunchest critics the NRA has faced while promoting stand your ground laws have been state police chiefs and sheriffs associations and district attorneys groups.

In 2007, the Virginia-based National District Attorneys Association issued a report, Expansions to the Castle Doctrine, warning that the phenomenon could have significant implications for public safety and the justice systems ability to hold people accountable for violent acts.

Scott Burns, the associations executive director, said legislators decisions to buck law-enforcement officials on this issue can only be explained by the volatile issue of guns rights and the 2nd Amendment. He said many of these laws, in his opinion, have nothing to do with the true intent of the Castle Doctrine.

How can the Castle Doctrine apply, he said, seven miles from your home, at a shopping mall?

In Florida, the Tampa Bay Times reported that justifiable homicides in Florida spiked after the 2005 law, from an average of 34 yearly to more than 100 in 2007.

Prosecutors said the law permitted gang-related assailants from being prosecuted after a 2008 shoot-out in Tallahassee that killed a 15-year-old boy, the paper reported. A judge dismissed charges based on the stand your ground defense.

In 2010, Trevor Dooley, upset about a skateboarder on a Valrico, Fla., basketball court, marched into a park with a handgun, for which he was licensed and legally able to take into the park. Dooley ended up in a confrontation with David James, who was in the park with his young daughter. Dooley and James scuffled and Dooley shot James dead. In a case that is still pending, he was arrested for manslaughter but also claims he is protected by the stand your ground law.

Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Violence, accuses the NRA of feeding on fear and paranoia to expand concepts such as the Castle Doctrine. His groups research, he said, shows that politicians can survive an NRA stamp of disapproval more than they think, and that his priority is to convince more politicians the group is a paper tiger.

We are behind closed doors with politicians all the time, Gross said, who say they want to do the right thing, but that the gun lobby will ruin them.

Back in Florida, the soul-searching about the law has now extended to the legislature. Baxley, the sponsor, told CBS News that sometimes the application or interpretation of its use is the problem. He defended the law as important to law-abiding citizens, but suggested, according to other reports, that perhaps legislators should look at limiting crime-watch volunteers ability to pursue people and confront them.

Nothing, he said, is ever finished in the legislature.

Excerpt from:
NRA pushed 'stand your ground' laws across the nation ...

Trayvon Martin rapidly became a household name after he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in a gated Florida community. The police did not to arrest the shooter at the time nor charge him with a felony in the shooting death of Martin, based at least in part on the self defense protections of Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.

North Carolina also has a Stand Your Ground law. It is relatively new - lawmakers added it on to the Castle Doctrine just last year and it just became effective in December. Under the Stand Your Ground statute, there is no longer a duty to retreat from a place that you have a legal right to be before using deadly force to protect yourself.

Self defense is considered an affirmative defense - meaning, that what is being accused or charged did happen, but there is a reason why you should not be criminally punished. North Carolina's Stand Your Ground law allows you to defend:

To a certain extent, the law also allows you to defend others who are unrelated to you as well as other property not listed above. If you've been charged with a crime, your Raleigh criminal defense attorney can help determine whether the Stand Your Ground law is a usable defense in your case.

For many throughout North Carolina, Stand Your Ground was a welcome change in protecting would-be victims of crime. But, based on the recent Florida shooting, some North Carolina lawmakers are considering changing the self defense statute again. Whether the Stand Your Ground law is being applied correctly in the Trayvon Martin case remains to be seen.

Source: ABC 11 Eyewitness News, "Lawmakers consider changes to 'Stand Your Ground'," Joel Brown, March 27, 2012

See the original post here:
Self Defense And North Carolina's Stand Your Ground Law ...

Self defense or defense of another often comes up when violence erupts between two people. For example, suppose a person is charged with assault or battery but the other party struck the first blow, was attacking someone else, or made frightening and credible threats. The defendant is entitled to present evidence that he was only acting in self defense or in defense of the victim. Traditionally, a successful self-defense claim involved showing that the defendant had no other choicehe couldnt diffuse the situation by using less force, or safely walk away from the aggressor. A limited exception to these requirements applied when the confrontation occurred within the defendants home, explained more fully below.

A new wrinkle on self-defense, known as the stand your ground doctrine, has arisen recently in many states. In a nutshell, the new stand your ground statutes do not require the person being attacked to retreat. Some of these laws, such as Floridas, specifically state that a person being attacked or threatened, even in a public place, has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force. This defense played a part in the 2013 Florida prosecution of George Zimmerman, accused of second-degree murder of the unarmed teenager Travon Martin, though it was not relied upon at trial, as explained below.

This expanded version of self-defense is controversial, sparking debate about the proper response from non-law enforcement people who are faced with an aggressive attacker or a perceived threat of violence in their homes or in public. As many as 32 states have adopted some version of the stand your ground defense, while other states have retained traditional self defense statutes that strictly limit the right of self defense or defense of another to certain actions in certain circumstances.

The law governing self defense has never been as simple as excusing any violent act just because another person struck the first blow. Traditionally, self defense laws have required someone being attacked or defending another to act reasonably and

The requirement that one use only the force reasonably necessary to stop an aggressor means that a person defending himself cannot use more force than the aggressor. For example, if an aggressor raises a fist or strikes a person with his hand, that person cannot shoot the aggressor. If a person uses deadly force to fend off an attack, he must have been in fear for his own life and that fear must have been reasonable. In other words, there must have been a reasonable basis for him to fear for his life, such as dealing with an aggressor who was pointing a gun, wielding another deadly weapon, or acting in a way that could cause death or serious bodily harm.

Members of law enforcement do not have the same duty to retreat as civilians. Because they are professionally trained to deal with violent aggressors and volatile situations, they may do what is reasonably necessary to defuse a situation. However, law enforcement personnel are required to follow certain protocol and any use of force by a member of law enforcement is subject to review by superiors and by a local public review board or other office.

Even within the traditional rule, an exception known as the castle doctrine developed, which allowed non-law enforcement people who are in their homes more freedom to use violence against aggressors or intruders. This doctrine, based on the age-old notion that a mans home is his castle, permits a person to use even deadly force against someone who has entered his home without permission and who poses an imminent threat of serious injury. The defense does not involve any consideration of whether retreat was safely possible. In some states, the resident can use violence even if the intruder wasn't using or threatening serious force.

States that have adopted stand your ground laws have extended the castle doctrine to confrontations outside a persons home, thus expanding an individuals right to act in a threatening situation and protecting him against criminal prosecution and civil liability.

The stand your ground defense may apply, depending on state law, in the following situations:

Once the defendant raises self defense, the prosecution has the burden of proving that the defendant did not act in self defense.

Stand your ground supporters argue that a person defending against aggression from another should be free to act in a stressful situation and not have to worry about his actions being scrutinized by a judge or jury after the fact. Opponents express grave concern that this type of law gives citizens unlimited power without sufficient constraints, and point out that use of force by trained law enforcement personnel is subject to greater scrutiny than acts by citizens under such stand your ground laws.

For an indication of the limits to the castle doctrine and stand-your-ground law, and a discussion of a mentality the concepts may foster, seeMichigan Porch Shooting Verdict: The Law and Message.

Floridas stand your ground law allows defendants to raise self-defense in a pre-trial hearing, which is essentially a mini-trial at which the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self defense. If the defendant wins, a trial cannot proceed, and the defendant has immunity from civil suits as well. If the defendant loses, he can still raise the issue at trial.

The Zimmerman second-degree murder trial brought Florida's stand your ground law to public attention, and it appeared to play a significant role in the prosecution's initial decision not to file charges (the police and the prosecutor apparently believed that the defense would be raised, and that the prosecution would not be able to overcome it). But from that point on, the defense did not invoke it -- they did not ask for a pre-trial hearing, nor did they ask the jury to consider it. Rather, the defense relied on being able to convince the jury that the victim was the agressor and had pinned the defendant to the ground, where he was pummeling him, when the defendant shot him. In this version of events, the option of escape was not a factor, so invoking the stand your ground defense wasn't necessary (remember, the hallmark of the stand your ground defense is that a defendant need not retreat even when a safe avenue of retreat is apparent). Instead, the defense relied on the classic definition of self defense: A reasonable response to life-threatening behavior by someone else. (You can read more about the Zimmerman case in The George Zimmerman Verdict.)

If you are charged with a crime of violence against another person, such as assault or battery, and you believe you were defending yourself or another person, you should consult with an experienced attorney who is familiar with the criminal law in your state. Even a misdemeanor charge of assault or battery can significantly impact your life. You could be sentenced to time in jail or prison and placed on probation or parole. A conviction for this type of crime also becomes part of your permanent record. Employers and landlords now regularly run background checks on potential employees and tenants; a conviction for a violent crime could cause an employer to reject you or a landlord to decline to rent to you. An attorney can investigate and analyze your case and determine whether the facts support a claim of self-defense according to your states laws.

Read more:
"Stand Your Ground": New Trends in Self-Defense Law

The shooting death of Trayvon Martin has drawn national attention to Florida's "stand your ground" law, which says there's no duty to retreat -- anywhere -- before using force in self-defense. But Florida is not alone.

In many states, a legal doctrine called the "castle doctrine" allows the use force in self-defense, without retreating, if a person is at home. It's derived from the old adage that "a person's home is his castle." But critics worry about the unintended consequences of "castle" laws, and especially Florida's "stand your ground" law.

"I think there is vigilante justice happening and I think people are getting shot," one Florida lawmaker told USA Today. Here's how Florida's stand your ground law compares to some key examples of similar statutes in other states:

Florida -- Under Florida's law, a person who is attacked in a place "where he or she has a right to be" (indoors or outdoors) has no duty to retreat. A person can "stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force" if it's "necessary" to prevent death, serious bodily harm, or "the commission of a forcible felony."

New York -- New York's self-defense law states that a person cannot use deadly force if the person can safely retreat. But there is no duty to retreat if a person is at home and did not start the altercation, or if the other party is committing a kidnapping, rape, robbery, burglary, or arson.

Texas -- Texas' stand your ground law explicitly states "there is no duty to retreat" before using deadly force, if the use of deadly force is justified. Valid reasons include stopping an armed kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, or robbery, along with self-defense. But self-defense cannot be claimed if a person provoked the other party.

California -- California's castle law allows a home's occupant to use deadly force, without retreating, if an intruder creates a "reasonable fear of imminent peril or death or great bodily injury." But a simple burglary that doesn't create fear of great bodily harm isn't enough to justify deadly force.

Colorado -- Under Colorado's version of the castle law, a home's occupant can use deadly force, without retreating, against any intruder who intends to commit a crime, or who uses "any physical force, no matter how slight, against any occupant."

Colorado's castle law was also called a "Make My Day Law" -- a reference to a famous Clint Eastwood movie line -- when it was enacted in 1985.

Related Resources:

Follow this link:
'Stand Your Ground' Laws: State by State - FindLaw Blotter

The debate about the shooting death of Trayvon Martin has made it clear that "stand your ground laws" are simple in theory but when used for a claim of self-defense they become complicated.

It's an old legal concept, one that has been in place in Georgia like Florida, for more than a century. But Martin's death has drawn national attention to the law that makes it OK to shoot to kill.

George Zimmerman, a self-described neighborhood watch captain, told police he was justified in shooting the 17-year-old Martin, who Zimmerman said attacked him. Martin's parents and supporters say the teen was attacked without provocation while returning to his father's home in Sanford, Fla. after walking to a convenience store for tea and candy.

The details of the case, now well-known around the country, illustrate just how muddy "stand your ground"laws can become. Twenty-five states, including Georgia and Florida, have virtually identical laws. Stand your ground laws provide immunity from prosecution if you kill someone while defending yourself.

In Georgia there have been 21 cases of justifiable homicide since 2003, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Those are homicides in which the police at the scene, prosecutors later on or a judge in an initial hearing decided no crime had been committed.

Many prosecutors, defense attorneys and gun rights advocates agree there is a need for the laws that allow deadly force in some circumstances, but there are some who disagree.

We were adamantly opposed to the shoot-first-ask-questions-later law, said Brian Malte with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Thats a recipe for tragedy.

Still, the courts have said for more than a century it's legal to "stand your ground" with deadly force when faced with a threat of death or serious injury.

Georgia's Supreme Court wrote in 1898 -- and many times since -- there is no requirement that a victim of an attack first try to escape before using deadly force to stop an aggressor. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled also in 1898 that "a true man does not fly in the face of an aggressor who seeks to do him grievous bodily harm."

"That came to be known as the true man rule' and that has evolved into the stand your ground rule," said University of Georgia law professor Ron Carlson.

It has only been in recent years that states have included those court decisions in their laws. Florida's adopted a stand your ground law in 2005 and Georgia in 2006, expanded upon the self-defense rights the courts have upheld for years. There are 23 other states with similar laws that allow for justifiable homicide with no requirement that the victim first try to escape; seven other states allow residents to defend themselves with deadly force in specific areas -- such as at home in the car or at the workplace.

Self-defense claims are made often in homicide cases, Georgia prosecutors say. But it's hard to make a legitimate claim of self-defense.

Rational, reasonable citizens who use deadly force to protect themselves... are fairly rare," said Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter.

In Dekalb County, said chief assistant district attorney Don Geary, "In half the drug murders we get, they claim it was self defense.... The problem with self-defense is if you're in the commission of a felony, you can't claim self-defense."

A key question in the Martin shooting is whether Zimmerman was the aggressor. If so, Carlson said, he was not justified to use deadly force.

"Can you say ... I triggered this thing...but then I backed off ?'" Carlson said. "When do you stop being the aggressor?"

But Martins family deny teenager attacked Zimmerman. They believe he was an innocent victim.

Often there is only one witness, the person who pulled the trigger or had the knife, and that person is claiming self-defense.

"Sometimes you ... make a judgment call based on all the evidence [and] whether the acts were reasonable," said Gwinnett prosecutor Porter. "The standard is whether or not a reasonable man would have acted the same way under the circumstances."

And even if police and prosecutors believe there was no self-defense, a jury can find otherwise.

Lona Scott shot her husband, Cliff, six times during an argument in their bedroom on March 4, 2008, after the 42-year-old trucking executive had transferred assets totaling $5 million into a bank account in the Bahamas and was divorcing her.

The police and prosecutors believed it was murder. Lona Scott said it was self defense. She was indicted 14 months later.

The Dunwoody mother of two argued at trial she had no choice, she couldn't escape so she had to stand her ground and kill her husband before he killed her.

On Feb. 2, 2010, a jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of guilty. When she went on trial a second time, she was acquitted.

"If you're truly a victim, you don't have to wait and give the man or the woman (attacker) another chance," said Lona Scott's defense attorney, Brian Steel.

Cliff Scott's family was stunned by the verdict.

Josephine Scott said a "stand your ground" claim is appropriate sometimes but it was not in the death of her son.

"How many shots constitute self-defense?" said Josephine Scott. "The first shot severed his aorta. The next one pierced his elbow... There were two [shots] to the elbow. The fourth shot was between the eyes. Then she shot him twice in the back as he was flat on the ground. You call that self-defense?"

And sometimes it's easy to decide deadly force was justified.

Law enforcement officials said there was little question Georgia's stand your ground law applied to Georgia Tech student Lewis Moore when he shot and killed 30-year-old Yuhanna Abdulah Williams in December 2010.

Moore was getting out of his car at a Conyers grocery store when Moore grabbed him, put a knife to his throat and demand money and car keys.

Moore told police he grabbed his Taurus .357 Magnum from its a holster, turned and shot Williams in the face.

The first thing he said to a Rockdale County deputy was "this guy tried to rob me and I shot him."

Witnesses agreed.

"It was a clear-cut case of self defense," said Rockdale County Sheriff's Office investigator Michael Camp.

Moore was not charged.

Go here to see the original:
Stand your ground law' in effect in Georgia more than 100 ...