Posted on 03/25/2012 12:42:39 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The Justice Department should look into the “Stand Your Ground” laws that kept Florida police from arresting the man who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, New York’s senior senator said Sunday.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said he wrote the Justice Department asking them to expand their review of Martin’s death to include the impact of Florida’s and other states “Stand Your Ground” Laws.
“Stand Your Ground laws is a whole new concept,” Schumer told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Some people call it shoot first, ask questions later,” he said.
The laws generally grant immunity to anyone who uses deadly force, inside or outside of his home, if the shooter can reasonably claim he was defending himself.
“The laws all passed very, very quickly and I think the states who passed them, if they find the real facts, may decide to repeal them,” Schumer said, noting a survey of 13 cases by the Florida Sun-Sentinel that found 12 of the victims had not been armed.
Florida was the first of 21 states to pass such laws since 2005. The Sunshine State’s version allows police on the scene to decide whether they believe a shooter’s claims of self-defense.
In Trayvon Martin’s case, police have said they did the right thing by not charging 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a member of a citizens' watch, with the shooting.
Court-watchers say in other cases, cops make an arrest and then let the courts figure out if the use of deadly force was legally justified.
Schumer said he wants Justice officials to see whether these new laws “actually increase violence rather than decrease violence, and whether they actually prevent law enforcement from prosecuting cases where real crime has been committed.”
Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he had given up chasing the boy and he was returning to his truck. He had a bloody nose and blood on the back of his head, according to police.
Martin's family doubt Zimmerman's story and argue if the shooter was black there is no doubt he would have been arrested.
Police reports don't count.
Run the sheriff out of town if he doesn't agree with the mob.
Don't need no judge, jury, rule of law - just Jesse Jackson, Sharpton and the Black Panthers offering money for capture.
Is it ‘Dead or Alive’ yet - or is that next week?
FU Shumer.
Two sad things will come out of this case:
1. anti-gun folks will want to get rid of the stand your ground law.
2. pro-gun folks (of which I include myself), in defending “stand your ground”, will feel the need to defend Zimmerman. I think that may be a mistake. I think Zimmerman was actually advancing on the kid, and even the 911 dispatcher told him not to. I just hope that Florida law enforcement takes a closer look at Zimmerman’s claims.
Imagine yourself as a teenager walking home at night, and seeing some guy following you in his car. He continues to follow you even as you start running. The kids probably thinking Zimmerman’s a child molester trying to get him into his car, perhaps if Zimmerman catches up to him, he fights back. Then Zimmerman uses that as he justification for shooting the kid. This is as equally plausible as Zimmerman’s story. Unfortunately, both sides may have political motivation for attacking or defending what happened.
And then there is some people who lie about him.
IIRC, the judge had discretion in the matter. Almost the same scenario except the guy that stabbed the other guy to death had an illegal knife. He wasn't even charged for that.
You can google the case. It was disgusting.
Seriously, Chuckie doesn’t believe Martin had a right to defend himself against what he CORRECTLY perceived to be a threat against his life.
Chuckie, you might want to check what law was actually involved before you open your mouth and make ignorant statements. This had nothing to do with Stand Your Ground, but with justifiable self defence-
According to Florida Statute 776.032 :
776.032 Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use
of force.—
(1) A person who uses force as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s.943.10(14), who was acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person was a law enforcement officer. As used in this subsection, the term “criminal prosecution” includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant.
(2) A law enforcement agency may use standard procedures for investigating the use of force as described in subsection (1), but the agency may not arrest the person for using force unless it determines that there is probable cause that the force that was used was unlawful.
Excellent. I have now stolen this- sorry!
“Some people” = chuck the schmuck, dirty di feinstein, and Hildebeeste.
Perhaps this is the end game of all the fake outrage over this incident. The couldn’t attack the second amendment with ‘Fast and Furious’ so now they’ll try the racist approach.
Too bad that the “stand your ground” law wasn’t even a factor in this incident. When all the facts are presented, I think it’ll be clear that this was a simple case of self-defense on Zimmerman’s part. We ALL have that right, though the left hates that fact.
This law does not even apply in this case. J. Jackson was down here saying we need to ban guns. I guess the criminal Fast and Furious plan backfired for them so they are using this case to push banning guns. America says we are keeping our guns and we are buying lot more lately.
Chuck baby....STFU until you are a Florida member of Congress ....
Keep your nose in your own corrupted state
DEPOPULATE socialists/totalitarians from the body politic. FUCS
$hiite4brains Chuckie needs to be reviewed
Let’s stick to facts...We know the kid was beating the hell out of Zimmerman. His head was bleeding and he was seen (apparently by more than one person) beating on him...one of them called 9-11.
Except Martin didn’t have a gun. And Zimmerman wasn’t in a uniform or anything identifying himself as neighborhood watch.
There is no indication that Martin initiated the contact with Zimmerman, it appears that Zimmerman was following (stalking) Martin for enough time for several 911 calls to be made. He also knew the buzzwords to say on the 911 call, he’s acting strange, like he’s on drugs, he’s reaching into his waistband.
Martin has no criminal record we know of, wasn’t carrying a weapon, and wasn’t on drugs that we know of. To be honest, I’m not sure Zimmerman is that kind of guy I want “patrolling” in my neighborhood.
Geez....They buy them on the street every day....And Obama says “bring a knife”...
What prompted the kid, coming home from the store, to start beating on Zimmerman? The fact that Zimmerman was following him in his car, we don’t know if Zimmerman called him over. At some point, any kid is gonna fight back when he is scared enough. That doesn’t necessarily make if self defense for Zimmerman to shoot him. And by the way, Zimmerman was described as a “self appointed” neighborhood watch captain. Does that mean he was the only neighborhood watch guy, which makes him a cop wannabe.
Even the Guardian Angels wear identifying berets and jackets to identify themselves.
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