Causes.com
| 4.20.23
Two Teens Shot in Another ‘Stand Your Ground’ and ‘Shoot First’ Case
Want to see stand your ground and shoot first laws repealed? Contact your representatives.
Updated April 20, 2023
- In another "stand your ground" case, two teenage cheerleaders were shot in Texas earlier this week for accidentally getting into the wrong vehicle. The girls, Heather Roth and Peyton Washington, were struck after beginning to enter a car they thought was theirs in a grocery store parking lot. One remains hospitalized in critical condition, while the other was treated and released on the scene.
- The suspect, 25-year-old Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., opened fire on the victims before exchanging words or asking questions — similar to the actions of Andrew Lester, who shot 16-year-old Ralph Yarl in Missouri for mistakenly knocking on his door, and Kevin Monahan, who shot and killed 20-year-old Kailyn Gillis for accidentally turning into his driveway in upstate New York.
- Gun reform activists are ramping up rallies in light of these high-profile gun violence cases where the armed suspects act according to Shoot First Laws — deciding to shoot first and ask questions later.
What’s the story?
- The shootings of Ralph Yarl, a Black teen in Kansas City, and Kaylin Gillis, a young white woman in upstate New York, have dug up scrutiny of the “stand your ground” self-defense laws.
- Both young people were shot for mistakenly appearing at the wrong addresses.
- Investigators of Yarl’s case are considering whether or not 84-year-old Andrew Lester, the man who shot 16-year-old Yarl, was acting in self-defense, which sparked outrage and protests. While the prosecutors announced that Lester was charged with armed assault, the man is still using stand your ground laws to defend himself in court.
What are stand your ground laws?
- Stand your ground laws are based on the principle of the “castle doctrine,” which gives individuals the right to use reasonable, even deadly, force to protect themselves against someone on their property. Stand your ground laws are an extension of this rule, saying people have the right to stand their ground during an attack and have no duty to retreat. This solidifies the right to kill a person if one believes they pose a grave threat.
- The self-defense law became hotly debated in 2012 when George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a Black 17-year-old walking from his father’s home to a local convenience store. Zimmerman said he felt threatened by the teen, who was unarmed. A Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman on account of the stand your ground laws.
The impact of stand your ground laws
- By the time of Martin’s death, 24 states had enacted versions of stand your ground. Now, 38 states have similar legislation, according to a Reveal investigation in 2022. However, public support for the laws seems to be in decline.
- Another analysis from last year found that these laws were linked to an 8-11% increase in yearly homicide rates, and that in 79% of cases where the laws could be applied, the person could have retreated to avoid confrontation.
- Additionally, these self-defense regulations have a huge racial disparity — Black people are much more likely to be killed by white people claiming to act in self-defense. Expert Caroline Light, Harvard senior lecturer, said:
“We have so much data showing these laws do not make us safer. And in fact, they authorize so much unnecessary violence that disproportionately harms Black and brown people.”
- Many also argue that stand your ground laws encourage a violent culture. A law professor at the University of Florida, Kenneth Nunn, said:
“The presence of a ‘stand your ground’ law in the public’s mind generally means, all you have to say is, ‘I was in fear for my life,’ and no charges will be brought, and I think a lot of police officers tend to believe that, too.”
- Thaddeus Hoffmeister, a professor of law at the University of Dayton, said:
“The legacy of ‘stand your ground’ is this wild west mentality that everything can be resolved with guns.”
Missouri’s stand your ground laws
- Missouri has especially strong stand your ground legislation, which critics call a “shoot first law.” It claims that people can use deadly force and have no duty to retreat if they “reasonably believe” it was necessary to prevent their own death or when someone attempts to enter their home, which is what Lester is using for his defense.
- However, state policy director of the Giffords Law Center, Ari Freilich, reminded the public that the law does not permit shooting someone for simply ringing your doorbell. He continued talking about the case, saying:
“[It fits] the pattern we’ve seen over and over again of racist fear intersecting with really widespread unvetted firearm access, combining in our country to make gun violence the leading cause of death by far for young Black men.”
What’s next?
- Critics are urging political leaders to repeal stand your ground laws as it continues to help white people and harm Black communities. Rev Vernon Howard, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City, said:
“Black people are still suffering from laws in this country that are not moral and not just – and ‘stand your ground,’ as it is applied to Black people, is one of them…There’s a lack of protection for Black life and equal justice under the law.”
Want to see stand your ground laws repealed? Contact your representatives.
-Jamie Epstein
(Photo credit: Flickr/Willie Stark)
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That is nothing billionaires are not making enough money so they are lobbying against child labor law, if the child live long enough?
The GOP has turned America into a shooting gallery.
I will be" standing my ground" at the ballot box with the hope of removing all Congress members who refuse to vote on gun reforms and take money from the NRA. Please join me.
Human beings with traces of paranoia in their psychological make-up have no business owning any type of firearm. It's one of the main reasons I support background checks and pschological screenings before being allowed to purchase a gun.
I was brought up to "think before I acted" which eliminates the need for "stand your ground" attitude. The "puppet masters" controlling our politicians have done more damage to our society than is necessary unless they are doing so to control the masses to be their "slaves". Reminds me of a saying my mother used to use on me, "Don't do as I do. Do as I say." Which never did make much sense to me except for the fact that it was experience talking. So why didn't they do something to change it? There is always room for improvement in each and every one of us. This is a "personal choice" which they haven't tried to take away from us YET. But they are obviously working on it.
"Shoot first, ask questions afterwards" is nothing more than asking for trouble. I believe that if someone tries to prevent me from doing anything, I have the right to "stand my ground" as long as I am harming no one else by what ever I am doing at the time. It still doesn't give them the right to shoot me over it. Common sense is a commodity lacking in this day and age and we have no one to blame but our own stupidity for electing arse kissing politicians into office.
Stand your ground laws are dangerous and cause people to shoot without good cause. It is one thing to defend yourself when you are in your own home or when there is no alternative but there are too many cases where people shoot when there is no actual danger. People are acting on irrational fears or when they could avoid the conflict entirely. Combined with guns everywhere, stand your ground laws are a death sentence far too often. It is also apparent that Stand your Ground Laws are being used by racists and bigots to justify killing those they hate. These laws should be wiped from the books.
Stand Your Ground is pure BS. If someone breaks into your home, that is one thing. But ringing your door bell, getting the wrong driveway, mistake a wrong vehicle. That is pure murder. Even if thieves were to steal your vehicle, you have insurance. This gun violence is crucifiing good law biding gun owners. This is nothing more than attorneys making money off gun violence. These are pure out and out murder cases. Stand Your Ground should be abolished.
While the Kansas City shooting of Ralph Yarl might have had "a racial component" as the police said, it's pretty clear that all these incidents have something else in common: men with no tolerance for young people and use their guns.
The guns and their owners are the problem.
Years ago a man was charged for murder for killing a person who was stealing his car and using it as a weapon.
This occurred in Florida.
The person stealing the car was a white teenager. Again the teenager was trying to run the owner over with his car. The owner was in the military and I believed he was an officer. They used the military training against the owner. The prosecutor said the military taught the owner how to kill. Yes, the owner was black.
20/20 did a news report about the stand your ground law in Florida about 20 years ago. I have been against this law every since.
I have had people knocking on my door but never pointed a gun at them I just tell them to go away.
People need to use their words and ask questions.
Unfortunately the castle doctrine to protect one's home if someone enters has been modified to apply outside the home and no longer requires a person to retreat along with there being more guns than people has made people more aggressive in situations involving conflict. A summary of states' Stand your Ground Laws from National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL):
"The common law principle of “castle doctrine” says that individuals have the right to use reasonable force, including deadly force, to protect themselves against an intruder in their home. This principle has been codified and expanded by state legislatures."
"In the 1980s, a handful of state laws (nicknamed “make my day” laws) addressed immunity from prosecution in use of deadly force against another who unlawfully and forcibly enters a person’s residence. In 2005, Florida passed a law related to castle doctrine, expanding on that premise with “stand your ground” language related to self-defense and duty to retreat. Florida’s law states “a person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”
-28 states and Puerto Rico - no duty to retreat from an attacker in any place in which one is lawfully present. (AL, AK, AZ, AR, FL, GA, ID, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MI, MS, MO, MT, NV, NH, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV WY).
-10 of those states include language stating one may “stand his or her ground.” (AL, FL, GA, ID, KS, KY, LA, OK, PA, SC)
-8 states (CA, CO, IL, NM, OR, VA, VT, WA) permit the use of deadly force in self-defense through judicial decisions or jury instructions.
-"Pennsylvania's law, amended in 2011, distinguishes use of deadly force outside one’s home or vehicle. It provides that in such locations one cannot use deadly force unless he has reasonable belief of imminent death or injury, and either he or she cannot retreat in safety or the attacker displays or uses a lethal weapon."
-"Idaho’s law, passed in 2018, expanded the definition of justifiable homicide to include not only defending one’s home against an intruder, but also defending one’s place of employment or an occupied vehicle."
-23 states have self defense laws to provide civil immunity. (AZ, AR, CO,, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MI, MT, NH, NC, ND, OK, OH, PA, SC, TN, WV, WI).
-6 states (HI, MI, NE, NJ, ND, TN) have statutes assert that civil remedies are unaffected by criminal provisions of self-defense law.
-"In 2018, the Ohio House and Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto of House Bill 228. The bill places the burden of disproving a self-defense claim on the prosecution."
-16 states (AZ, AR, CA, FL, KS, KY, LA, MI, NC, ND, OK, PA, RI, SC, WI, WY) have replaced the common law “reasonable person” standard, which placed the burden on the defendant to show that their defensive action were reasonable, with a “presumption of reasonableness,” or “presumption of fear,” which shifts the burden of proof to the prosecutor to prove a negative.
https://www.ncsl.org/civil-and-criminal-justice/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground
What’s going on with all the wrong-place wrong-time shootings? Everyone seems to be asking
DUH?
is america that stupid?
its simple ... have gun will use!
how are you going to monitor milions with anger and other issues - frustration, joblessness, poverty, health, road rage, etc
NOTHING will change until guns are out of the picture
there is NO such thing as a 'good guy' with a gun
however sheer stupidity prevails and you can't recall a bullet or count to 10
These laws have always been flawed, because "self defense" is a subjective standard and some people obviously feel threatened by the slightest glance, let alone a gesture or a reach for a weapon.
The standard to prove self defense needs to be very high, as nobody should be killed just for asking for help or making a wrong turn. Old white men cannot get away with shooting anyone they want just because they have a gun in their home.
And maybe at a certain age you need to prove your mental competence to hold onto that gun.
CAUSES says, "Want to see 'stand your ground' laws repealed? Contact your representatives." Colorado doesn't have a specific "stand your ground" statute per se, but the State Supreme Court has upheld the "stand your ground" concept under provisions of certain other statutes. Me? Given the flagrant abuses to which such laws in other states have lead to horrific situations and deaths, I'm quite opposed to them. My US Senators might be sympathetic to overturning such laws (I hope they'd at least listen to the argument), but my Rep? Do pigs fly? I suspect he'd want to see such laws cast in concrete all over the land.
https://www.shouselaw.com/co/blog/laws/is-colorado-a-stand-your-ground-state/
Too many guns makes killing another living person too easy.
Stand Your Ground Laws make too many sketchy shootings legal.
I wish more people could spend just one shift in a Level One Trauma Center so they could see the horrible destruction bullets do to the human body--other human beings!
I've treated such wounds.
It was too too easy for the person to shoot those patients. It took a highly skilled team of medical specialists hours and intense and dufficult work to save their lives.
And too often they fail to save the victims' lives!