Stand your ground was key in Martin case
I disagree with the Free Press page editorial of August 6, 2013: “Just For the Record/Stand Your Ground Law Not A Factor In Acquittal.”
Stand your ground was much a part of the language used by the judge when giving final instructions to the jurors in the George Zimmerman trial. If was both officially and unofficially very much a part of the trial itself. In essence, it conveyed Trayvon Martin had every duty to retreat, although he was the one being cased and stalked by a stranger, and George Zimmerman had every right to “stand his ground”, although he was doing the casing, stalking, confronting and engaging of Martin.
This would suggest that every individual who should ever find him/herself being stalked and confronted by a mugger, rapists, serial killer, child predator and decide to put up a fight must weight the chance of going from being considered the victim to aggressor who deserved to lose his/her life if they’re killed by their assailant in the process of fighting back. If that is correct, and that is the law in other states as this writer suggests, the Georgia female hiker who was abducted, held for four days by Gary Hilton, tortured, then murdered and decapitated, went from being victim to aggressor when she used her martial arts skills in a fight for her life, but lost in the end. The writer of this piece is saying Hilton would have been justified in using deadly force the moment the hiker fought back and likely gained the upper hand at some point, regardless if he was the initial aggressor.
BRENDA WASHINGTON
VW union would be a benefit to our city
I don’t know how much more ignorance about Labor Unions I can stand. Even Senator Corker! Blaming unions for Detroit’s bankruptcy is lunacy. This has been well documented.