"Stand Your Ground" Laws, A Brief History

The George Zimmerman trial may be over, but clearly the debate over race and law
enforcement rages on. At the center of the debate is Florida's "stand your ground law."
Here at Nevada Law Group, John E. Cereso, Esq. and his team have seen many cases
where race was at play but, unlike Florida, Nevada does not have such laws as "stand
your ground."

To understand the law it's helpful to take a look at its origin. Looking forward it stands to
reason that this is not the last time we are going to be discussing the controversial law.
Stand your ground laws are based on an old common-law doctrine. The old “castle
doctrine” held that someone attacked in his or her own home had no “duty to retreat”
before using deadly force to repel an attack. The main idea behind the law was to
protect home owners, who in the event of attack, had literally no where to run. It was
intended to shield innocent people forced to use deadly force from later being charged
with a crime.  There are some limitations on this, for example, you may only use the
force required and not excessive force depending on the situation.

The common law recognizes two kinds of self-defense. Justifiable homicide and
chance-medley. The first protected a defendant who was attacked. The doctrine
evolved from questions about the legal guilt of an executioner. After all, the hangman
or the axman intentionally takes a life. But he was “justified,” medieval courts held,
because the king ordered him to do it. The second “chance-medley” provision was
meant to protect a person in the event that a quarrel got out of hand and escalated to
the point where they had to use deadly force. A sort of kill or be killed scenario. When
the laws were adapted in the United States, their focus shifted from jurisdiction of the
King to individual protection.

In today’s world, we generally refer to self-defense or defense of others. For example,
if someone in a bar gets into an argument with you and begins to hit you, you have the
right to defend yourself, but, you have a duty to retreat if you are able (i.e. leave the
bar), and you may only use the necessary force to protect yourself, so, you can’t pull a
knife or a gun on a guy who is hitting you only using his fists. That having been said, if
the guy is pummeling you, necessary force might include a weapon to stop the attack.
Defense of others is the treated the same as self-defense, in that it places you in the
shoes of the person being attacked.

Over the past few years gun rights advocates have been very successful at convincing
policy-makers to broaden the law to include instances outside the home. Florida's
statute now states that 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.” A person who uses deadly force “is immune from criminal prosecution and civil
action for the use of such force.” As you can see from a simple plane reading of such a
stand your ground law, it dramatically changes when and where a person can use force
against another.  While “defending your castle” is one thing, the “stand your ground”
laws are another level entirely and invite problems and passions to govern behavior in a
way that generally society feels is wrong.

Here for all of your legal needs,
John E. Cereso, Esq.
Nevada Law Group, John Cereso
Practicing in Family Law

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