I haven’t blogged about the CSGV for quite some time, mostly because they are irrelevant in the current debate. But their claim on the jury instructions, as you may imagine, fail to give the whole picture. The full jury instructions are posted online. You can find them here and here. There’s a lot more to the jury’s instructions than that. They, of course, fail to mention this would also be part of the instruction:
In deciding whether defendant was justified in the use of deadly force, you must judge [him] [her] by the circumstances by which [he] [she] was surrounded at the time the force was used. The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force. Based upon appearances, the defendant must have actually believed that the danger was real.
You can find exactly how the instructions changed in the Florida Supreme Court case showing here. What is also mentioned is that previously, retreat was only required when one could do so in complete safety. Zimmerman’s claim was that her was pinned to the ground. Either you believe it or you don’t. If you believe it, duty to retreat doesn’t come into play regardless, under current law or the old law.
UPDATE: You can find the exact and lengthy jury instructions here.
People are now protesting against “Stand Your Ground”. Zimmermans defense did not even invoke the protections under that law. They used standard justifications, under traditional self defense.
They are simply using a tragedy to push a gun control agenda, and take a tool away from victims.
What they want to do is make sure thugs are safer when robbing,assaulting, or attempting to cause other physical harm.
The Martin/Zimmerman confrontation is one tragedy. Why is the crime in Chicago different? 12 murders over the weekend , and where is the shock about them? They don’t fit into an expedient narrative that would have the public outraged. It appears its Black on Black crime, and mostly gang related, that wont sway public opinion.
There is a method to their madness. Many of those bashing ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws know that the Zimmerman defense did not rely on SYG. But, they’ve been building a narrative that SYG is an evil law. And, that this evil law allowed Zimmerman to shoot Martin (to stop him from pounding George’s head into the sidewalk — a fact seldom mentioned by the anti-SYG crowd). Their true goal is to gut common law self defense, but they can’t come out and say that right now.
It’s no different than blaming private sales for Newton or Aurora.
Just because Person X didn’t do Y in order for Z to happen doesn’t mean that we shouldn’d blame Y for Z.
CSGV fails to give full context.
Next up. Bears defecate in the woods and scientists discover water is wet.