05-11-2012, 11:43 PM
I don't have a problem with the stand your ground law in principal but it seems clear to me that it's too open to interpretation and not well defined.
Valrico, FL (CNN/WFLA/WTFS/WTSP) - Outrage over last month's shooting death of an unarmed teen in Florida has put a new focus on the state's "Stand Your Ground" law. The widow of a man shot dead in front of his daughter, says it is a free pass for murder.
When David James, an Iraq War veteran, escaped combat in the Middle East unscathed, his wife Kanina breathed a sigh of relief.
"I would worry about him but I thought he'd be safe here," she said.
Kanina was wrong; and now wants to know why Trevor Dooley, a 71-year-old retired bus driver, shot her husband in broad daylight, right in front of their eight-year-old daughter. Dooley claims it was self defense. Kanina James calls it murder.
"What person brings a gun to a park when there's children? I mean, he killed my husband. He could've just talked to him," James said.
Whether or not Trevor Dooley fired in self-defense is at the heart of this case. Also central to the story is Dooley's defense-Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law-which allows a person to stand their ground and use deadly force if they fear someone could seriously harm them.
Here's what witnesses said happened on that September Sunday in 2010. Forty-one-year-old David James was playing basketball with his daughter when witnesses said Dooley, who lived right across the street, started yelling at a teenager who was skateboarding, to get off the court. That's when witnesses said James intervened.
James yelled back to Dooley, asking him to show where any sign said no skateboarding. Dooley then crossed the street to the park to confront James.
A tennis player at the park, Michael Whitt, testified things turned ugly when Dooley reached for his waistband. Whitt said James then lunged at Dooley. The two men struggled on the ground before James was shot once through the heart. On the 911 call, Whitt is heard trying to help.
More...
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/311679/...for-murder
WTH? This should have been fisticuffs in the park...not a shooting incident.
Valrico, FL (CNN/WFLA/WTFS/WTSP) - Outrage over last month's shooting death of an unarmed teen in Florida has put a new focus on the state's "Stand Your Ground" law. The widow of a man shot dead in front of his daughter, says it is a free pass for murder.
When David James, an Iraq War veteran, escaped combat in the Middle East unscathed, his wife Kanina breathed a sigh of relief.
"I would worry about him but I thought he'd be safe here," she said.
Kanina was wrong; and now wants to know why Trevor Dooley, a 71-year-old retired bus driver, shot her husband in broad daylight, right in front of their eight-year-old daughter. Dooley claims it was self defense. Kanina James calls it murder.
"What person brings a gun to a park when there's children? I mean, he killed my husband. He could've just talked to him," James said.
Whether or not Trevor Dooley fired in self-defense is at the heart of this case. Also central to the story is Dooley's defense-Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law-which allows a person to stand their ground and use deadly force if they fear someone could seriously harm them.
Here's what witnesses said happened on that September Sunday in 2010. Forty-one-year-old David James was playing basketball with his daughter when witnesses said Dooley, who lived right across the street, started yelling at a teenager who was skateboarding, to get off the court. That's when witnesses said James intervened.
James yelled back to Dooley, asking him to show where any sign said no skateboarding. Dooley then crossed the street to the park to confront James.
A tennis player at the park, Michael Whitt, testified things turned ugly when Dooley reached for his waistband. Whitt said James then lunged at Dooley. The two men struggled on the ground before James was shot once through the heart. On the 911 call, Whitt is heard trying to help.
More...
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/311679/...for-murder
WTH? This should have been fisticuffs in the park...not a shooting incident.