AG strongly criticizes stand-your-ground laws

[The Straight Story]

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday strongly criticized stand-your-ground laws that allow a person who believes he is in danger to use deadly force in self-defense.

Holder said he was concerned about the case of Trayvon Martin, in which George Zimmermann was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges, and said the Justice Department has an open investigation into what happened.

But he added: "Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation's attention, it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods."

In an address to an NAACP convention, Holder said it's time to question laws that "senselessly expand the concept of self-defense."

The attorney general said the country must take a hard look at laws that contribute to "more violence than they prevent."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ag-strongly-criticizes-stand-your-ground-laws

[Decoy of Fenris]

1. This wouldn't have even been an issue if the prosecution had done their damned jobs. n/t

[blm]

2. Except for one thing: SYG instructions to jury obliterate the laws regarding manslaughter.

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[Decoy of Fenris]

3. I don't have a beef with SYG. I do have a problem with the courts not applying it appropriately. n/t

[blm]

4. SYG is what is making it impossible for any other law to be applied appropriately.

No manslaughter laws can ever apply based in the instructions juries are given for Stand Your Ground.

Florida SYG jury instructions in GZ/TM case:
The danger facing George Zimmerman 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, George Zimmerman must have actually believed that the danger was real.

If George Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he reasonably believed that it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.