Fmr. detective: Illegal to kill dogs but not black kids in Florida

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story

A former homicide detective says that with the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, Florida has made it legal to kill black kids like Trayvon Martin but not dogs.

Former Washington, D.C. Police Department homicide investigator Rod Wheeler, now a Fox News contributor, explained on Tuesday that the “Stand Your Ground” law was really the “Make My Day” law, referring to a scene where Dirty Harry — played by Clint Eastwood — threatens to kill a man robbing a diner instead of retreating.

“The police department in [Sanford, Florida] oppose that law,” Wheeler told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. “What that law is saying in the state of Florida — and look at the case law — you can actually shoot a dog. It happens all the time. You can shoot a kill a dog and get arrested and put in jail, but if you kill a kid — and especially a black kid in Florida — you can walk away. That’s what that law means.”

As head of neighborhood watch for The Retreat at Twin Lakes, George Zimmerman had called police in February to report 17-year-old Martin as a suspicious person, but by the time the officers arrived, the young man was already dead.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/20/fmr-detective-illegal-to-kill-dogs-but-not-black-kids-in-florida/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29

[Tippy]

1. This makes me not only sad to think this is what my granchildrens

world is going to be.....

[Major Nikon]

2. These laws allow the gun nuts like Zimmerman to keep us safe from the gun nuts

At least that's the gun nut backwards logic they are using to pass these laws.

[abelenkpe]

10. +1 nt

[SunSeeker]

3. Chilling.

It is safer to be a dog than an African American in Florida. That grand jury better indict Zimmerman.

[kdmorris]

11. He would have to be arrested first... no indictment with no arrest...n/t

[qb]

4. Florida needs to be put on probation and ordered into remedial civil rights training.

Beyond the heartbreaking tragedy, the situation is really pathetic.

[harun]

7. Florida has elected some real garbage. Garbage in, Garbage out.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. I agree.

[Harriety]

5. This awful bill was vetoed by our govoner in Minnesota

and I think it should be looked at again in the other states who thought it was a good idea for people to carry and shoot when they suspected someone was up to no good. While I trust a great many people to use a gun responsibly, there are some who would use it to do just what this man did. He stalked an innocent young man who looked suspicious to him because of the color of his skin, followed him, and gunned him down. He should be in jail. Any the people involved in not jailing him should be fired.

My girlfriend tried to tell me that we needed this type of law here in Minnesota because last year a woman that she knew was broken into and she had a gun and was able to shoot one of the perpetrators and therefore protected herself. I said that was totally different and explained how if this law was passed, someone could use a gun and shoot someone they saw on the street that just looked suspicious to them. She still disagreed with me and said it was obvious to her that I just did not like guns.

Frustrated, and trying to curb my anger, I then started singing "Just call me Annie Oakley, Annie, Annie Oakley, Queen of the wild west, show. With a hey giddy up and a bang... bang....bang, riding and shooting is my game." She then thought it would be great then if we both got guns... Oh, well. Sometimes they just won't listen. But I am very happy Governor Dayton did veto this gun law that had been proposed by our Republican Legislator.

[qb]

6. Thanks for the reminder. Without the few votes that put Mark Dayton over the top...

we'd be a lot worse off.
Never believe that your vote doesn't matter.

[eqfan592]

13. Umm, what?!?!

"and I think it should be looked at again in the other states who thought it was a good idea for people to carry and shoot when they suspected someone was up to no good." Find me a state where it is legal to just shoot somebody because you "suspected the was up to no good." That's not legal in Florida, not in Indiana where I live, and not anywhere to my knowledge.

[amandabeech]

15. This law really encourages gun battles in the parking lots of Targets and grocery stores.

I too believe that most people can be responsible gun owners, and bills that protect folks using fireams in reasonable self defense, such as being backed into a bedroom at home by an armed intruder, are appropriate and in force in several sates.

But this bill is just encouraging mayhem.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. I'm very happy to see this kind of attention

showered on Florida.

There is a lot here that needs correcting.

[eqfan592]

12. I'm sorry, but what a load of horse crap.

This detective is either ignorant of the law or is intentionally misrepresenting it. I'd like to expect more from DU'ers when it comes to doing their homework on this sort of thing, but history seems to keep repeating itself when it comes to this particular issue.

A grand jury is being convened and if the evidence doesn't support a self defense case then Zimmerman will go on trial for murder. This only serves to underscore how the law in Florida is not the sort of "legal murder" that some people on these forums want us to believe it is. The case history just doesn't support that conclusion, period.

[csziggy]

14. The seven year history of the 'Stand your Ground Law' indicates that it permits

Killing for no reason.

The trouble with Florida's 'stand your ground' law
A Times Editorial
In Print:: Tuesday, March 20, 2012

<SNIP>

The Florida Legislature passed the law in 2005 at the behest of the National Rifle Association but over the staunch objections of law enforcement. The law allows the use of deadly force when a person is in a place he has a right to be and feels reasonably threatened with serious harm. Opponents dubbed it the "shoot first" law because people have no duty to attempt to retreat from a threat of violence even if they could do so safely. History has borne them out.

Since the law went into effect, reports of justifiable homicides have tripled, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It has been used to absolve violence resulting from road rage, barroom arguments and even a gang gunfight. In 2008, two gangs in Tallahassee got into a shootout where a 15-year-old boy was killed. The charges were dismissed by a judge citing the "stand your ground" law.

In a high-profile Tampa Bay case, Trevor Dooley is using "stand your ground" as his legal defense, claiming that he was entitled to shoot and kill David James, his Valrico neighbor, during an argument over skateboarding on a basketball court. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ashley Moody will consider Dooley's motion to dismiss the charges against him on April 26.

More: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1220845.ece

Now read this next article and tell me this was a justified shooting. Dooley was flashing a gun after starting a confrontation, then shot his neighbor through the heart when his neighbor objected to Dooley showing a gun.

Witnesses dispute Trevor Dooley's 'Stand Your Ground' claim in Valrico shooting

By John Barry, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Dec 14, 2011 08:09 PM

Read the entire article: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/witnesses-dispute-trevor-dooleys-stand-your-ground-claim-in-valrico/1206308

The 'stand your ground' law is a very bad law and is being used to excuse bad behavior. This law needs to go unless we want to live in a Mad Max world.

[amandabeech]

16. What other states have this abomination of a law.

They are ones to avoid.

[csziggy]

17. I'm not sure

The one it is based on, the "castle" one, is pretty common. Florida was one of the first to come up with this perverse variation.

I hope the flap over the Trayvon Martin death will get it thrown out. It would be ideal if it were declared somehow unconstitutional so ALL the variations will be voided at the same time.

[amandabeech]

18. This is not a constitutional matter.

It arises from the castle doctrine which was (and is) a part of English Common Law. Many states have much better versions, such as a person having no duty to retreat from one's own dwelling. One may "make a stand" in one's dining room against an armed or extremely aggressive intruder. That I can handle.

The Common Law has been written down, or codified, here in the U.S. The only way to get it off the books is to have the legislature remove it.

Perhaps this young man will not have died in vain, but his death will be the spark that causes the legislature to repeal this law and no other legislature to enact it.

[Kennah]

19. No, Florida was not first

Some also at times claim Florida was the first state with Shall Issue carry. Ten states were ahead of Florida.

Here in Washington, we have stand your ground in caselaw, not statute.

[Omaha Steve]

20. K&R!