Latest Stand Your Ground in SC

[kelcarry]

A judge has thrown out a murder charge against a N. Charleston woman who fatally stabbed a former roommate on 6/2 based on SYG. Police report states the confrontation had stopped when she armed herself with a knife, she had no significant injuries, she had lied in an attempt to cover up the events that transpired and she fled the scene following the stabbing. Solicitor, who was following up on murder charge based on police report, said "her (the judge) ruling was understandable under the facts of the case"--huh? Why was the solicitor even bringing the charges? Why did she "back off" and agree with the judge? You should realize that the judge is a woman, and from what I can perceive, the story is missing one item--the race of the woman, who I have no doubt and stand to be corrected, is black. The story is also missing any further comments or outrage about SYG from the most vocal of detractors in this community. What do I get from this story?--women and race can trump murder under SYG.

 

[GlassWolf]

The shooting I posted a link to recently wherein the murdereer we had to deal with while working security was found guilty was also a court case of stand your ground. After the Zimmerman trial, the defendant changed his plea to use SYG as his defense. He failed, and got an 85 year sentence.
SYG shouldn't even need to be a "law." If you're confronted with a threat of death of grievous bodily harm, you should have the right to defend yourself without being forced to try outrunning the assailant or his own gun first. Duty to retreat is retarded on a level that's nearly unfathomable. That said, there's always someone out there looking for a way to cheat the system and use a good law for bad ends.

 

[kelcarry]

The shooting I posted a link to recently wherein the murdereer we had to deal with while working security was found guilty was also a court case of stand your ground. After the Zimmerman trial, the defendant changed his plea to use SYG as his defense. He failed, and got an 85 year sentence.
SYG shouldn't even need to be a "law." If you're confronted with a threat of death of grievous bodily harm, you should have the right to defend yourself without being forced to try outrunning the assailant or his own gun first. Duty to retreat is retarded on a level that's nearly unfathomable. That said, there's always someone out there looking for a way to cheat the system and use a good law for bad ends.

Absolutely agree with you. Imminent danger, no matter what else is pertinent, is still the precursor to using deadly force. Just because you "FEEL' threatened is ridiculous. The entire family dynamic on this story is absolutely crazy---the woman , who just had a baby,was living at the home with her boyfriend, her boyfriend's mother, and the fellow who died, who was the mother's common-law husband--got all that? What gets me on this one is the fact, (from what I read which is not necessarily every fact in the case) that the police report seems to point to murder based on all the evidence and the initial events that led up to that point had subsided, and yet the "woman" judge seemed to excuse the police report and the Solicitor, of course, just kissed her yada yada, not to mention the fact that (yes I guess you can call me an old racist) the lady was black. Not sure about the judge's color but there seems to be no outrage at this point and probably will never be--after all this is black on black--can only imagine what this would have been if the woman was white.

 

[mappow]

KELCARRY, I would check with Scarlett Wilsons office for the facts if in fact she prosecuted this case. Scarlett is a fine person, great lawyer and fantastic Solicitor. I've met her on more then a few occasions and she STANDS for Justice. Please let us know how it goes.

 

[GlassWolf]

Absolutely agree with you. Imminent danger, no matter what else is pertinent, is still the precursor to using deadly force. Just because you "FEEL' threatened is ridiculous. The entire family dynamic on this story is absolutely crazy

This is a good reason not to rely on "zero tolerance" policies. Every case is different and deserves to be viewed and judged based on it's own merits.
That said, "feeling threatened" is a gray area, but there are issues with re-wording it, such as requiring proof that you were threatened. That's not always possible, or even relevant to a case. I still agree with a need to feel threatened, and most times, the law works the way it's meant to work. The problem is that in any case, you have to rely on the defendant's common sense and ability to judge a situation, and make a rational and proper decision, and even that isn't always possible when threatened and frightened. This discussion can get very complicated very quickly.
Heck, I've had to be in court for 4 shooting cases within the last month alone due to the security company, and myself and others being directly or indirectly involved in shootings or defending against them. Mind you, those are only the ones we caught. We get shot at on a weekly basis by these idiots at 4am, drunk, and stupid and ticked off because we won't let them into a club.
The typical answer is to go back to their car, drunkenly drive off shooting into the air, or worse, at the club and the security/bouncers, or whomever they are fighting with in the parking lot.

 

[kelcarry]

KELCARRY, I would check with Scarlett Wilsons office for the facts if in fact she prosecuted this case. Scarlett is a fine person, great lawyer and fantastic Solicitor. I've met her on more then a few occasions and she STANDS for Justice. Please let us know how it goes.

I agree that Ms. Wilson is a fine prosecutor. If you think she is going to criticize the judge after this terrible decision that tells the police they are full of manure, you are kidding yourself. Their report at the scene, unless everything I have read is totally inaccurate, this woman murdered this piece of crap. If I were Wilson, I would have done the same thing and would rather stay on the side of the judicial system then worry about a police report that makes a case for murder--this guy was, as I said, not worth worrying about and I am sure this lady was scared. Scared does not, however, equate to killing someone.

 

[FN1910]

I do not know any of the details of this case other than what has been reported here but I do know that there has not been any law that I know of that has been more intentionally confused than the SYG law. The media has made the SYG law into the scapegoat for every thing under the sun lately and the general public has no idea how the law actually reads or how it applies. I constantly read about someone that wither is using the SYG law or is being reported to be able to use it in cases where there is no possible way it applies. It got a big boost from the Zimmerman case as the supposedly "Shoot First" law and the fact that he never used it or that it was not part of his defense seldom if ever reported.

The SYG and CD laws are great and as someone posted should not have to be a law but be reasonable. Every little shooting, stabbing or fight does not reach the criteria of these laws.

 

[Nightmare45]

First of all avoid conflict if at all possible, if while trying to leave, threat continues, all bets are off.