Another Stand Your Ground Incident

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

Someone pointed this out elsewhere and it actually seems a plausible idea. Mainly because I find the disconnect between attempted murder and murder being a bit of a slam dunk if you convict for the first.

Apparently Florida allows you to try 1st Degree murder as both 1st and 2nd Degree, allowing a jury to fallback IF they can't all agree on the upper charge. But what someone threw out as a theory (and I thought wasn't bad) was that maybe some in the jury were dead set on a 1st Degree murder charge where others would only go for a 2nd. The jurors dug in and it resulted in a mistrial.

In the end, that's what this is. This trial will occur again with what is probably a less competant lawyer on the defenses side until the families money is exhausted.

[Gravekeeper]

In the end, that's what this is. This trial will occur again with what is probably a less competant lawyer on the defenses side until the families money is exhausted.

I can't say as I have a shred of sympathy there.

[mikoyan29]

It seems that first degree murder has a pretty high bar for it.

[Panacea]

It seems that first degree murder has a pretty high bar for it.

It's not first degree murder. No premeditation, no special circumstances. It's second degree murder.

The only good news is this jackass will be locked up for 60 some years on the other convictions. Appeals will likely fail. He's in his late 40's I believe; he'll never get out.

His response was "How is this happening?" He has no clue, no remorse. The judge will not be merciful.

[ebonyknight]

It's not first degree murder. No premeditation, no special circumstances. It's second degree murder.

The only good news is this jackass will be locked up for 60 some years on the other convictions. Appeals will likely fail. He's in his late 40's I believe; he'll never get out.

I don't know. I heard one legal pundit say that he has a decent chance on getting that overturned. Apparently (as with the GZ case) the prosecutor overcharged him with 1st degree, which is where the disagreement went (I believe it ended up 9-3, in favor of murder). He thinks she will overcharge again.

Attempted murder (I guess in that jurisdiction??) is harder to prove than murder. At least with murder there is actus rea. With attempted murder, apparently you have to have the intent to want to actually kill them. Not just scare them off or defend yourself. He thinks the fact that he never wanted to actually kill all three of them (the survivors), lends credence to this.

He may not get that 60 years on appeal.

Considering how other Florida cases have been handled, I am not too confident in Florida justice. Let's hope a special prosecutor is used for his murder retrial.......

[Mr. Anubite]

The Florida justice system is a bad joke. It looks like they value cars (this case) and ceilings (the Alexander case) over the lives of young black people.

[Andara Bledin]

I wouldn't use Alexander as an example. The woman is crazy cakes and is likely going back to jail again after her new trial. If she was truly an honestly afraid of the man, she wouldn't have gone straight back to his place the moment she was out on bail and assaulted him. Again.

That doesn't mean that the idea of mandatory sentences aren't stupid and about the worst thing out there; she's just a terrible sample case.

[Edward]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/floridas-st...ry?id=22543929

Although both cases ended with a bully getting away with murder, neither case used stand your ground.

The laws that need to be changed once again are not the ones in the spotlight.