Standing Her Ground Against Stand Your Ground
NEW YORK,NY – Trayvon Martin‘s mother Sybrina Fulton appeared on Al Sharpton‘s MSNBC program to defend her testimony in the Senate today. She believes that Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) doesn’t understand the stand your ground laws. She says that Cruz is, “not aware of the real law and how it affects us as a community.” She added, “I have a real problem when teenagers are supposed to walk to the store for a drink and candy.” Fulton believes that, “something needs to be fixed.”
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Cruz had disputed today that “stand your ground” was relevant to the Martin case, because it was not ultimately used by the defense to clear George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon.
Fulton stated that indeed the case was a “stand your ground” case until the defense dropped that tactic. She talked about how the jury was given instructions about how “stand your ground” works.
“The subject of this hearing, the stand your ground laws… was not a defense that Mr. Zimmerman raised, so this entire hearing, the topic of this hearing is not the issue on which that trial turned,” Cruz said.
The Texas senator also refuted charges that the laws were racist when he pointed out pointed to how then state senator Barack Obama (D-IL) co-sponsored an expansion of Illinois law providing civil immunity for those who use justifiable force to those who defend themselves.
‘Stand your ground’ exists in 22 states and generally provides citizens the right to use deadly force if deadly force is being brought against them, rather than retreating. Forty-six states have adopted the castle doctrine, which covers home invasions and claims that a person has no duty to retreat whatsoever if their home is under siege.
