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Abigail Renteria
Ms. Ayik
WRIT 010
2/26/15
Rights to Your Ground
Man has the “right to bear arms,” and the “right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
These are two iconic portions of the American Bill of Rights. The first piece expresses every
man’s right to weaponry or defense. The latter piece refers to every man’s right to his own life.
No other man may take either right unjustly or unwarranted. 226 years ago, when these
segments were written, the idea of these conflicting seemed unimaginable. 226 years later, Stand
Your Ground has possibly become the modern confliction between “right to bear arms” and
“right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” The state-by-state law in itself is inexplicit and
inconclusive by practice. Lawyer and legal dictionary author Lloyd Duhaime defines Stand Your
Ground as “the belief that citizens have a right to expect absolute safety within their own homes
and to expel trespassers with deadly force.” The law ultimately was established and founded by
mature Supreme Court ruling and the core idea of self-defense. Currently, the law has lead to
severe cases involving former police brutality, civilian force, and fatalities. However, the law has
also anointed limited immunity to some cases when self-defense is used as a motive for harm or
lethalness. Stand Your Ground has evolved into a discussion over unwarranted force allocation
in situations of vague threats.
Even though, Stand Your Ground is a relatively new philosophy, beginning just 10 years
ago in Florida, the fundamental idea of protected by the law self-defense is not. Beard v. United
States, 1895, is one the premier instance when self-defense becomes defined. The case was a
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family feud over the inheritance of a cow. The feud developed into a brawl: threats turned into
promises, and shots were fired for trespassing. The significance of the case is seen in the
Supreme Court opinion affirming a self-defender “is not obliged to retreat, but may stand his
ground and defend himself with such means as are within his control; and so long as there is no
intent on his part to kill his antagonist, and no purpose of doing anything beyond what is
necessary to save his own life, is not guilty of murder.” Self-defense is vague in the opinion, but
prevalent. It is neither distinct nor clear. The opinion even uses “stand his ground.” which is
parallel to Stand Your Ground. The defendant was on his own land, whether the cow was his or
not, he was in fact standing his ground, his own ground. The defendant shooting the victim was
not considered “anything beyond what is necessary to save his own life.” He was merely
standing his ground as stated in the opinion.
Self-defense did not progress into Stand Your Ground immediately or rapidly. Selfdefense however did evolve into the Castle Doctrine first. Eventually, Stand Your Ground came
as a product of the two. The Castle Doctrine contrasts to Stand Your Ground by location and
position. Stand Your Ground is unspecified in where the utilizer is allowed to defend oneself.
The law states as long as the utilizer is within a place he or she has a right to be. In contrast, the
Castle Doctrine is location explicit. The law focuses on homes, and cars as places where legal
immunity is given in cases of extraordinary measures (Purves). In addition to these two laws
comes a third, duty to retreat. The law states the defendant will have no protection if lethality or
serious harm is certain to take place (Volokh). Through duty to retreat and the Castle Doctrine,
Stand Your Ground advanced from centrally self-defense.
Florida shaped the first Stand Your Ground style law in 2005 (Find Law). Many states
followed soon after. 17 states as of 2014 hold a Florida-like law or laws. 27 states possess a
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Castle Doctrine version. 6 states respect the duty to retreat (Winch). With the number of states
having some sort of statue involving self-defense so high, the number of anticipated conflicts
must also be considerably high.
Trayvon Martin, Chad Oulson, and Kelly Danahar are all recent fatalities linked to either
the Castle Doctrine or the Stand Your Ground law in their state. Kelly Danahar was hosting a
birthday party for his daughter and intimate friends. His neighbor, Raul Rodriguez, complained
formally to the local police several times about the noise coming from the party. When nothing
the noise continued to come from the party, Rodriguez took over the situation himself. He
showed up at Danahar’s home with a gun. After a one sided disagreement Rodriguez ends up
firing off his gun and shoots three members of the party: Ricky Johnson, Marshall Steston, and
Kelly Danahar. The fatal shooting left the father Danahar to bleed out. Rodriguez pleaded Texas’
Stand Your Ground law. He claimed he was only acting in self-defense. Rodriguez appealed
saying some of the guests were going to harm him. The plea did not affect the case. Raul
Rodriguez was sent to 40 years in prison (Stangeland). Trayvon Martin had a similar
circumstance, but a very different conclusion. The well-known story begins with the young man
walking home late from a connivance store in Florida. Martin was being followed by George
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin, who was
aimlessly walking down the street; so he contacted the police, who advised him not to follow
Martin. He ignored the recommendation by dispatch and continued to pursue. An argument
disentangled between Zimmerman and Martin soon after Martin discovered the neighborhood
watch volunteer following close behind. Then, Zimmerman fired his gun; the shot killed Martin
(Botelho). George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder, but was acquitted
recently. During his trial process, Florida’s own Stand Your Ground law was ready to be used in
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Zimmerman’s favor (Gonzalez). The statue can be easily used in a variety of cases. Lastly,
comes Chad Oulson. The middle-aged man sat in a Florida movie theatre texting during the
previews. He was messaging his daughter’s babysitter for the evening. Curtis Reeves, a retired
police officer, found the act of texting in the movie theatre to be rude and unnecessary. Reeves
commented to Oulson, and asked him to stop. The altercation began. The two argued, and things
were thrown according to witnesses. Reeves however reached for his gun and shot Oulson in the
theatre (Buie). The former police officer claimed the motion to be self-defense and Stand Your
Ground. The authorities for this case plan to throw out Reeve’s Stand Your Ground story.
Reeve’s trial has not taken place yet as of February 2015 (Almasy and Payne). The significance
of these three stories is not their tragic deaths, but is the aftermath of each trial. The outcome was
different whether it was acquisition, conviction, or still to be determined. In each case, the
defendant used Stand Your Ground.
Laws evolve from many sources, whether they are modern or historical. Stand Your
Ground is related to the Bill of Rights because of its controversy involving arms to defend life,
liberty and pursuit of happiness. The law has some relic behind it. Stand Your Ground comes
from self-defense ideals as well as the Castle Doctrine thinking. Yet, the law is a more modern
and controversial topic. Since its existence in 2005, the law has been used at least 130 times
(Tampa Bay Times). With Trayvon Martin, Chad Oulson, and Kelly Danahar a different trial and
ending was experienced. It is considerable that a different trial and ending would have been
experienced for the other 127 situations additionally. The adaption of the self-defense idea would
be ultimately responsible for the variations in outcomes. Nevertheless, these are not just laws
being discussed; fatalities are just inclusive as well. After all, they have nothing but rights to the
ground.
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Works Cited
Angione, Joe. "Stand Your Ground ... save Your Life - Watchdog Wire - Florida." Watchdog
Wire. Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, 01 Aug. 2013. Web. 24 Feb.
2015.
"Beard v. United States 158 U.S. 550 (1895)." Justia Law Supreme Court. Justia Law, n.d. Web.
24 Feb. 2015.
Botelho, Greg. "What Happened the Night Trayvon Martin Died - CNN.com." CNN. Cable
News Network, 23 May 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Buie, Lisa. "Pasco Man Claims Curtis Reeves Told Him to 'shut Up' in a Theater 8 Years Ago."
Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Bay Times, 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Duhaime, Lloyd. "Stand Your Ground Legal Definition:." Stand Your Ground Legal Definition.
Lloyd Duhaime, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Gonzalez, Robert. "George Zimmerman's Attorneys Won't Use "stand Your Ground" Defense."
CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Payne, Ed, and Steve Almasy. "Florida Theater Shooting: Couple Describes Encounter with
Curtis Reeves - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Feb.
2015.
Purves, Brendan. "Castle Doctrine from State to State." South Source. South University, n.d.
Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Stangeland, Brooke. "Self-Defense or Murder? What Drove Man to Kill Neighbor." ABC News.
ABC News Network, 14 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
"States That Have Stand Your Ground Laws - FindLaw." FindLaw. FindLaw, n.d. Web. 24 Feb.
2015.
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United States. Continental Congress. Extracts from the Votes and Proceedings of the American
Continental Congress Held at Philadelphia on the 5th of September 1774. Containing
the Bill of Rights, a List of Grievances, Occasional Resolves, the Association, an
Address to the People of Great-Britain, and a Memorial to the Inhabitants of the
British American Colonies. Published by Order of the Congress. By Benjamin Edes,
John Gill, Thomas Fleet, and John Fleet. Boston: Philadelphia, 1774. Print.
Volokh, Eugene. "Duty to Retreat and Stand Your Ground: Counting the States." The Volokh
Conspiracy. The Volokh Conspiracy, 17 July 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Winch, Graham. "Are You Living in a 'Stand Your Ground' State?" HLNtv.com. Time Warner
Company, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.