Trayvon's Law
To use the Stand Your Ground or "Castle" Doctrine laws only during home invasions and robberies.
This past February 2012, the United States of America was a vicarious witness to the unnecessary homicide and murder of Mr. Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old high school student in Sanford, FL. Though Mr Martin was by no means the first and has not been the last unnecessary homicide in this nation by police or by "neighborhood vigilantes," his case became high-profile due to the entire chase, attack and murder being recorded during the 9-1-1 call, one in which the alleged stalker and murder, a George Zimmerman, was specifically told to "stand down" and not pursue the young man, who was later found to be walking home carrying nothing more than a bag of Skittles and a canned iced tea.
The young man was committing no crime, harming no one and was not breaking into anyone's property at the time he was murdered.
In light of this and other atrocities involving two things: The unjust murders of African-American men in hate crimes, as well as against one another; and the gross overabundance of holocaust-type attacks aimed specifically at young black men, we petition Congress to draft and pass legislation called Trayvon's Law, which allows Stand Your Ground laws to apply only when there is a direct home invasion or robbery in place or in progress.
The law should be written to clearly state that "Stand Your Ground" does not apply to street pursuit(s) whereby the person shot and/or murdered or killed by any other weapon or lethal weapon is not in the act of committing a crime, or has abandoned the attempt and is no longer on or in the property they are suspected of breaking into; and it shall not be used to apply to situations where the suspected or alleged criminal is found to be unequally matched, i.e, has no lethal weapon in their own possession at the time of the incident.
If the victim is found to be unarmed, or there is no proof that the homicide was justifiable due to breaking into someone else's property for purposes of theft or harm or damage to the owner and/or persons on the premises or property, Stand Your Ground or Castling law does not, and cannot be, applied under the theory of "self-defense."
The law shall state that "self-defense" laws are defined differently and should remain that way based on their own merit; wherein the Stand Your Ground or "castle doctrine" shall not apply without justifiable proof or evidence that the victim was, in fact, invading a home or someone's personal property.
The young man was committing no crime, harming no one and was not breaking into anyone's property at the time he was murdered.
In light of this and other atrocities involving two things: The unjust murders of African-American men in hate crimes, as well as against one another; and the gross overabundance of holocaust-type attacks aimed specifically at young black men, we petition Congress to draft and pass legislation called Trayvon's Law, which allows Stand Your Ground laws to apply only when there is a direct home invasion or robbery in place or in progress.
The law should be written to clearly state that "Stand Your Ground" does not apply to street pursuit(s) whereby the person shot and/or murdered or killed by any other weapon or lethal weapon is not in the act of committing a crime, or has abandoned the attempt and is no longer on or in the property they are suspected of breaking into; and it shall not be used to apply to situations where the suspected or alleged criminal is found to be unequally matched, i.e, has no lethal weapon in their own possession at the time of the incident.
If the victim is found to be unarmed, or there is no proof that the homicide was justifiable due to breaking into someone else's property for purposes of theft or harm or damage to the owner and/or persons on the premises or property, Stand Your Ground or Castling law does not, and cannot be, applied under the theory of "self-defense."
The law shall state that "self-defense" laws are defined differently and should remain that way based on their own merit; wherein the Stand Your Ground or "castle doctrine" shall not apply without justifiable proof or evidence that the victim was, in fact, invading a home or someone's personal property.
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