Much is being made of Florida's so-called ‘Stand Your Ground Law’ and its effect on the Sanford, Fla., police's ability to charge George Zimmerman with the shooting murder of young Trayvon Martin, but I think this is a red herring; whether or not Mr. Zimmerman was justified in firing his gun, as he says, in self-defense, his right to stand his ground rather than to flee as the first resort is irrelevant to his future as a free man.
Recently in Minnesota, a man snatched a purse from a lady in the parking lot of the Cub Foods — a warehouse-style grocery store — at 26th and Lake Street in South Minneapolis. (This is not the worst neighborhood in town, but it is not a place I like to visit at night.) A ‘Good Samaritan’ pursued the snatcher into an alley at which point the snatcher pulled a knife and Mr. Samaritan pulled — and used — his legally-carried firearm, to the fatal end of the snatcher. Minnesota does not have a stand-your-ground law and in fact the burden of proof is on the person who claims self-defense, but the Hennepin County prosecutor, who is a left-leaning Democrat (this is Minnesota!), declined to prosecute. What mattered was not the ‘Good Samaritan's’ decision to pursue even though he was armed, but the fact that he did not initiate the violence, either in the parking lot or in the alley. Rather, he responded with deadly force only when suddenly confronted with an imminent and unavoidable threat of death or grave bodily injury to himself. He had a duty to retreat had such been feasible, but in the event it wasn't.
Although Florida's stand-your-ground law could hypothetically strengthen Mr. Zimmerman's case, the pivotal legal questions are really, as in Minneapolis, whether he was the assailant or the victim and whether — here we go again — he reasonably felt that he was in imminent and unavoidable danger of death or grave bodily injury. And here is where the case becomes interesting:
The protests come the day after an anonymous witness to Martin's death claimed that he [Martin] may have attacked Zimmerman before the shooting at a gated community in Florida.
The witness, known only as John, told Sanford police that he saw Martin on top of George Zimmerman shortly before the fatal shot that has led to a national outcry….
I had heard previously, from a news source I evaluated as reasonably reliable (I now wish I'd noted the source for the record), that Mr. Zimmerman was found on the ground, next to young Mr. Martin's body, bleeding from the head. If this is true (and ‘John's’ testimony is certainly helpful here), then Mr. Zimmerman has a clear case for self-defense no matter any questions of ‘standing his ground’ or the burden of proof. (Update 3/26/2012: News today strongly supports the police's decision not to arrest or charge Mr. Zimmerman.) As the neighborhood watch guy, he certainly was within reason — the advice of a 911 operator notwithstanding — to look into the presence, in his gated neighborhood, of a hooded someone he didn't know. If that person — Mr. Martin — then attacked him so violently that he — Mr. Zimmerman — had reasonable cause to fear for his life or even grave bodily injury, then even with the burden of proof on Mr. Zimmerman, he is in the clear. (This assumes that Mr. Zimmerman did not wield his firearm before he was attacked.) Bashing someone's head into the ground counts, legally and in reality, as deadly force and thus, if he can't escape, the bashee may respond with deadly force, even with a gun if necessary. (And, from a non-technical standpoint, I'd much rather be judged by twelve than carried by six. I'm sure the six would prefer this, too.) The Stand Your Ground Law is beside the point.
But if Mr. Zimmerman doesn't show any signs of such an injury and Mr. Martin was otherwise unarmed, then Mr. Zimmerman is in a world of trouble even if the burden of proof is on the prosecutor. On these facts, the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law is no help to Mr. Zimmerman. Again, it is simply a red herring, a bauble to amuse journalists and other anti-gun activists.
(No I am not a lawyer. My advice: Before you carry a gun in public, take a proper class including instruction on the laws in your state. Trust me: Even if your state doesn't require it, you want to take that class.)
