Can the Stand Your Ground Law work if you are black?

[HipChick]

So it seems that the Stand Your Ground does not protect you from prosecution if you are black....

The Black shooter was arrested and is now on trial awaiting the judges decision on a manslaughter charge.

Now we see what happens when a Black Man kills a White Man then asserts "Self Defense". He has to prove it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/22/1076889/-Black-Shooter-of-White-Victim-in-Florida-Claimed-Stand-Your-Ground-still-went-to-Court



Kuch, a 69-year-old black school bus driver emerged from his house to shoo away a kid who was skateboarding on the neighborhood basketball court. David James, a 41-year-old white Iraq war veteran who was playing hoops with his 8-year-old daughter, piped up in defense of the teenager: Where’s the sign that says no skateboarding?

Trevor Dooley turned away, saying, “I’m not here to fight with you.”

“Don’t walk away from me,” James said. “I’m not done with you yet.”

Seconds later, James was on top of Dooley, according to testimony at a court hearing. During the scuffle, Dooley reached into his right front pants pocket, pulled out his handgun and fired into James’s chest.

James fell back. In seconds, he was dead.Dooley was arrested

In court, a lawyer asked Dooley, “Why did you shoot him?”

“He was killing me,” Dooley said. “He was choking me to death, and he was about to take away the gun from me.”

A prosecutor asked if James had threatened Dooley.

“If you saw a bull coming at you, is that threatening?” Dooley replied.

“Yes or no? I’m asking the questions, sir.”

“He was charging me. Is that a threat? I don’t know.”

Dooley has been charged with manslaughter but is seeking to have the charge dismissed because he felt threatened and stood his ground. A hearing is set for next week.

[teddy51]

1. Well this case will be very interesting indeed! This will expose a double standard and hopefully

bring this F'ed up law to light in all 26 States that currently have it.

[mactime]

2. Doesn't everybody want Zimmerman to be charged?

I don't understand the complaint here. Dooley is using SYG as his defense and wants the charge dismissed and so will Zimmerman.
Also note "Dooley was not arrested on the spot as several of the witness statements were conflicting. ", this happened 18 months ago. If anything, the wheels of justice seem to be moving faster in the Zimmerman case

[McCamy Taylor]

3. No, we want this dumb as shit law repealed.

This is basically an "OK to lynch" law.

[mactime]

4. The article

is more of an attempt to make it sound like only whites can use the SYG law.

[HipChick]

9. +100..

[HipChick]

6. He was arrested 48hrs after the shooting took place..

[The Magistrate]

10. Of Course, Ma'am: After All, He Did Kill A White Man....

The law is the law, you know.

[Cleita]

5. Of course not or any shade of brown. Maybe if you were a woman.

Other than that I doubt it. There is a standard, not really a law, that is already in place that you can claim you were in fear of your life. However, you have to prove it in court. This is where the STG law is so bizarre. No one is making Zimmerman prove what he did in front of a judge and jury.

[krispos42]

15. He's not in front of a judge or jury because the cops didn't want to investigate.

Without a real investigation, the prosecutors can't file charges.

The problem with always having to prove it in court is that it is generally hideously intrusive, expensive, and time-consuming because of legal fees. So the open-and shut kind of stuff should be just that... open and shut. No criminal charges, no civil charges.

I just really don't want people going "it's not worth it to defend myself; medical bills are cheaper than legal bills".


The Martin/Zimmerman case is far from open-and-shut. The cops, from what I can tell, simply used the Stand Your Ground law as an excuse to hose the blood off the street and get a donut in lieu of actually investigating anything.

Here's a post I wrote just a few minutes ago about it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=532351

From my point of view, the facts of the case were enough to nullify the provisions of being self-defense at all, much less Stand Your Ground. Zimmerman, as the aggressor, was not committing self-defense! And as the aggressor, the principle of SYG doesn't apply.

MARTIN was the victim. HE was defending himself. SYG protects HIM when he defends himself against people like Zimmerman.

If the cops are corrupt or stupid or lazy or racist, then the existence of SYG is irrelevant because they will always find an excuse.

[brewens]

7. It works exactly the same except that they will question you

on a few things. What are you doin" out there at night? Where'd you git that gun? Confiscate gun and check ballistics to see if it might have been used in any crime. Haul your ass in for questioning and check your story thoroughly. Other than a couple things, exactly the same as Zimmerman.

[Egalitarian Thug]

8. Seriously? This is why I'm just hiding all the SYG threads. We have this gigantic blind spot

here in America. Otherwise completely sane and reasonable people will argue, even to the point of violence, trying to deny that this is a racist society.

Are black people always right? Of course not, in fact, I'd say it's about 50 - 50 at best, but that doesn't negate or excuse the fact that we, as a society, do not like black people. And unlike other demographics we don't like, we don't like black people for no other reason than that they are black.

[Kalidurga]

11. James Kuch was surely wrong for shooting Dooley.

And because he is black he will probably be convicted. Zimmerman was wrong for shooting Trayvon, but because Trayvon is black he may or may not be convicted. I think if Trayvon had been white well he wouldn't have been shot, but a white victim seems to get a lot more attention from the police.

[HipChick]

12. This...

[nanabugg]

13. With what just happened in Tulsa it seems that any black man will be "standing his

ground when facing any white man." Black men have a right to fear almost any white man and especially white police. These laws need to be overturned by SCOTUS or at least all state governors.

[Zax2me]

14. Yes. It already has -

Remember the black father who shot and killed some white kids that were ' coming to the house to 'get' his son'?
He was not procesuted.