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Atlanta The sentence of life in prison without parole for an armed white man who killed an unarmed black teenager during an argument over loud hip-hop music in Jacksonville, Fla., demonstrates that our justice system works, said Judge Russell Healey at a Friday hearing.

Earlier this year, another jury failed to reach consensus on whether Michael Dunn, a 40-something computer engineer, murdered 17-year-old Jordan Davis, resulting in a mistrial. That jury did agree that Dunn was guilty of attempted murder for continuing to shoot into a fleeing SUV full of people.

The shooting fueled an ongoing debate over a new breed of self-defense laws, adopted in nearly half of all US states, which make it easier for armed individuals to kill in self-defense in public places.

Florida was the first state to make that change in 2005, and the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 was the most famous test of that law. The unarmed teenager was shot and killed after being pursued in the dark by a neighborhood watch captain named George Zimmerman. In that case, the judge instructed the jury that, under the law, someone who reasonably believes their life is at stake doesnt have to retreat from a situation before retaliating with deadly force.

Judge Healey cited Floridas stand your ground law in his sentencing Friday, saying the measure has been misunderstood and suggesting that Dunns actions exemplifies that our society seems to have lost its way. We should remember that theres nothing wrong with retreating and deescalating the situation.

Mr. Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013, based on the fact that Martin punched Zimmerman after being pursued. The verdict sparked protests and attempts to change the stand your ground laws, which so far have proved unsuccessful. But the decision in the Dunn case, at least to some legal experts, suggests that Americans more broadly may be eyeing the implications of the laws more deeply.

Dunns guilty verdict and sentence of life in prison also comes a month after a tearful judge sentenced Detroit resident Theodore Wafer to at least 17 years in prison for shooting an unarmed black teenager, Renisha McBride, who had banged on his door in the early morning hours. Mr. Wafer said in his defense that he was scared for his life before firing through a screen door, killing Ms. McBride.

An unjustified fear is never an excuse to take someone's life, Judge Dana Hathaway said in that September sentencing.

The stakes were even higher in the Dunn case, given the earlier mistrial on murder charges and Floridas stature as a pro-gun, pro-self defense state, argues Donald Jones, a law professor at the University of Miami.

Professor Jones says that the ruling also fits into a broader cultural debate about the worth of young black men, an issue that has exploded into rowdy protests in Ferguson, Mo., after the police shooting of teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9.

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Michael Dunn loud-music life sentence: a corrective on stand your ground laws? (+video)

Atlanta The sentence of life in prison without parole for an armed white man who killed an unarmed black teenager during an argument over loud hip-hop music in Jacksonville, Fla., demonstrates that our justice system works, said Judge Russell Healey at a Friday hearing.

Earlier this year, another jury failed to reach consensus on whether Michael Dunn, a 40-something computer engineer, murdered 17-year-old Jordan Davis, resulting in a mistrial. That jury did agree that Dunn was guilty of attempted murder for continuing to shoot into a fleeing SUV full of people.

The shooting fueled an ongoing debate over a new breed of self-defense laws, adopted in nearly half of all US states, which make it easier for armed individuals to kill in self-defense in public places.

Florida was the first state to make that change in 2005, and the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 was the most famous test of that law. The unarmed teenager was shot and killed after being pursued in the dark by a neighborhood watch captain named George Zimmerman. In that case, the judge instructed the jury that, under the law, someone who reasonably believes their life is at stake doesnt have to retreat from a situation before retaliating with deadly force.

Judge Healey cited Floridas stand your ground law in his sentencing Friday, saying the measure has been misunderstood and suggesting that Dunns actions exemplifies that our society seems to have lost its way. We should remember that theres nothing wrong with retreating and deescalating the situation.

Mr. Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013, based on the fact that Martin punched Zimmerman after being pursued. The verdict sparked protests and attempts to change the stand your ground laws, which so far have proved unsuccessful. But the decision in the Dunn case, at least to some legal experts, suggests that Americans more broadly may be eyeing the implications of the laws more deeply.

Dunns guilty verdict and sentence of life in prison also comes a month after a tearful judge sentenced Detroit resident Theodore Wafer to at least 17 years in prison for shooting an unarmed black teenager, Renisha McBride, who had banged on his door in the early morning hours. Mr. Wafer said in his defense that he was scared for his life before firing through a screen door, killing Ms. McBride.

An unjustified fear is never an excuse to take someone's life, Judge Dana Hathaway said in that September sentencing.

The stakes were even higher in the Dunn case, given the earlier mistrial on murder charges and Floridas stature as a pro-gun, pro-self defense state, argues Donald Jones, a law professor at the University of Miami.

Professor Jones says that the ruling also fits into a broader cultural debate about the worth of young black men, an issue that has exploded into rowdy protests in Ferguson, Mo., after the police shooting of teenager Michael Brown on Aug. 9.

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Michael Dunn loud-music life sentence: a corrective on stand your ground laws?

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Just miles from where the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin launched a national debate over stand your ground laws, a federal commission is holding a hearing on whether there are racial disparities in the application of the law.

The U.S. Civil Rights Commission on Friday will hold the hearing in Orlando's tourist district, about 30 miles from the Sanford gated community where the 17-year-old Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman.

The stand your ground law says people who are not involved in illegal activity have the right to use force -- even deadly force -- if they reasonably believe it's necessary to avoid death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense. He was acquitted of any crime at his trial last year.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Experts have told a federal civil rights commission evaluating racial disparities in "stand your ground" laws that they benefited whites more than blacks, that they were unnecessary and that they caused minority men to live in fear.

But one dissenter, an African-American lawmaker from South Carolina, made the case that the law benefited black defendants by putting in place an extra hurdle toward arrest by police officers who may have hidden racial biases. Rep. Todd Rutherford's voice was in the minority Friday among the more than a dozen experts who testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

"Stand-your-ground" laws provide that an individual has no duty to retreat from any place they may rightfully be and may use any level of force, including lethal, if they reasonably believe they face an imminent and immediate threat of serious bodily harm or death.

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U.S. Civil Rights Commission Holds Hearing on Stand Your Ground Laws

News Release: Associated Press October 17, 2014

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Just miles from where the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin launched a national debate over stand your ground laws, a federal commission is holding a hearing on whether there are racial disparities in the application of the law.

The U.S. Civil Rights Commission on Friday will hold the hearing in Orlando's tourist district, about 30 miles from the Sanford gated community where the 17-year-old Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman.

The stand your ground law says people who are not involved in illegal activity have the right to use force -- even deadly force -- if they reasonably believe it's necessary to avoid death or great bodily harm.

Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense. He was acquitted of any crime at his trial last year.

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US Commission Weighs in on Stand Your Ground

You'd think that abused women who fight back would be ideal candidates to invoke the state's "stand your ground" law.

But you would be wrong.

Right now, Whitlee Jones is trying to use the "S.C. Protection of Persons and Property Act" to get immunity from prosecution for killing her boyfriend. Jones says she stabbed Eric Lee in November 2012 when he tried to stop her from leaving her home - just hours after witnesses say they saw him dragging her through their North Charleston neighborhood by the hair.

They were fighting over a cellphone.

Earlier this month, a judge granted Jones immunity from prosecution through the stand your ground law.

But the 9th Circuit Solicitor's Office has appealed that ruling, and based on the reaction in some circles you would think they had declared war on all abused women.

That's a little harsh.

Sure, there is reason to be sensitive here, seeing as how South Carolina has a serious problem with violence against women. But it is a vast oversimplification - not to mention wrong - to claim prosecutors (especially Scarlett Wilson, a woman) have something against abused women.

Fact is, the Legislature was about as clear as mud in its rush to pass some flavor-of-the-month law that basically allows you to shoot anyone who looks at you cross-eyed in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

So long as you claim you felt threatened.

Read more here:
Does "stand your ground" apply in all domestic abuse cases?