A jury in Texas has found
That a shooter is now prison-bound
Forty years, said the judge,
Cos the man wouldn’t budge—
You can’t always, it seems, stand your ground.
Headline: US man given 40 years in ‘stand your ground’ murder case
Raul Rodriguez, from Texas, shot teacher Kelly Danaher after an argument about a noisy party.
He had argued that a state law known as “stand your ground” allowed him to shoot the 36-year-old.
A similar defence is also being used by a Florida neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot dead unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February.
Who knows what effect Texas might have on Florida?
Assuming the victim here was white…
Yep, he was white. So hispanic guy shoots white guy = 40 years. Hispanic guy shoots black kid, he’s just standing his ground.
Give Florida a chance. The sense I’ve been getting from the news lately is that things are not going to go easy for George Zimmerman. Yes, one small-town sheriff was too lenient, but outrage from the populace swiftly put him out of office and put George in jail. Many of my friends and family, as well as I, have concealed carry permits. We had to learn a lot of rules and regulations. None of us think that Mr. Zimmerman’s actions are covered by the allowable use rules, stand-your-ground not withstanding. You cannot harass someone until they fight back, shoot them and then call it self-defense. His lawyers will try to get him off but I think his chances are slim.
In both cases the person that killed pursued the victim – they left their home and went to confront them. They weren’t approached by the victim. I think Zimmerman needs to be tried in court. He wasn’t standing his ground, he was pursuing Martin.
The Zimmerman/Martin case hasn’t had as much time to be resolved.