When partisanship creates bad public policy
The Thursday Thoughts!
In 2005, then Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed the "Stand Your Ground" Bill into law to appease conservatives who felt it necessary to be "tough on crime."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
In the 17 years since, what's crystal clear to me is that the provision remains all too subjective and in many instances, its application is skewed along racial lines.
While variations of Stand Your Ground have been used thousands of times in the 36 states that have adopted the measure, when I look back on the editorial below that I wrote for the Capital Outlook newspaper after Florida became one of the first, it was clear to me then that the “Gun-Shine” State, and soon America, were heading straight into a legal tempest that would allow people to shoot first—and reflect later:
“Stand Your Ground is flawed public policy”
By Chuck Hobbs
Spring 2005
“As of this legislative session vigilante justice is set to return to Florida as the legislature has passed a bill that will allow citizens to shoot alleged attackers in their homes, cars, and public places if they fear that they are in danger. Governor Jeb Bush, lauding the efforts of his fellow Republicans, described the measure as ‘good, common sense anti-crime legislation.'
No sir, it is not...
One of my favorite classes during my studies at the University of Florida College of Law was ‘Jurisprudence,’ and its focus on the philosophical underpinnings of modern laws. Our professor, Stuart Cohn, often waxed eloquently about British Common Law, the primary foundation of the American legal system, and the provision which maintained that a man's home was his castle that could be defended with deadly force.
In time, American colonies and then states, including Florida, modified this concept to encourage an individual to retreat from serious threats and to exhaust all means to avoid conflict before using deadly force. That so-called "duty to retreat" is now dismantled per the Stand Your Ground law.
Like with most things political, we got here because the influential National Rifle Association strongly advocated changing the law under the guise of supporting self-defense, a principle that most Americans believe to be an inalienable right.
The problem is that the Florida legislature has failed to carefully consider the negative ramifications of allowing citizens to use their subjective beliefs to determine whether they are faced with a life or death situation. Thus, subjective factual mistakes, wholly evil intentions—or a combination of the two—could yield deadly results.
Think back to 2003 when Mark Drewes, a 16-year-old high school student in Palm Beach County, Florida, was playing a game called “Ding Dong Ditch” with his friends. The game consisted of the boys ringing the doorbells of their neighbors before taking off running. Tragically, Jay Levin, one of their neighbors, fatally shot Drewes in his back as he ran away; Levin told the police that he believed that his home was being robbed! Drewes’s senseless death, over what was essentially child's play, could be a harbinger of future ‘mistaken belief’ killings under this new Stand Your Ground law.
Stand Your Ground could also be made exponentially worse due to racial profiling. Black folks are painfully aware that misplaced racial fears often lead some whites to clutch their purses on elevators, or rapidly lock their car doors, when in the close proximity of Black men, women, and children. To further cement this point, socio-economic status does not protect a Black man or woman from being mistaken as a threat, either!
In fact, just a few months ago after a long day in court, I drove to go house hunting in the upscale Golden Eagle neighborhood here in Tallahassee. Despite being in my brand new Mercedes and being professionally dressed, the young white security guard at the entrance gate asked whether I had ‘come to steal anything?’ As one would imagine, the anger shot through my soul and while I didn't jump out of the car and get rowdy, the tone of my voice and sharpness of my words humbled him to the point that he apologized and claimed that he was only joking.
Now, imagine if this racist pseudo-cop had subjectively thought that my indignation and raised deep baritone voice made him feel threatened? Or, subjectively feared that the large Black man in the Mercedes, no matter how well dressed, was such a threat that he felt it necessary to pull his weapon and fire because he "feared for his life?" I would be dead, and he could be exonerated per Florida's Stand Your Ground law!
Further, in drafting this legislation, I wonder if any Republicans gave more than a cursory thought about road rage and how simple car accidents could lead to senseless murders under this law? I wonder if any legislators ever stopped to ponder the effect that this may have on racists who foolishly fear all Black people, or street gangs that now may be legally authorized to kill rival gang members?
In passing this legislation, I am convinced that our state leaders have undermined the duty to use good judgment prior to using deadly force; as a moderate Republican, I am not surprised by my conservative colleagues, but disappointed all the same. My disappointment stems from the fact that while humans are endowed with reasoning ability to separate us from other creatures that kill on instinct, this new law will only unleash the base instinct to kill at will, I fear..."
Even reading this old post now, I lament the losses of all of the victims, like Trayvon Martin, who died due to trigger happy vigilantes and police officers who were protected by Stand Your Ground or similar provisions.
Historical fact: Back in 2016, I represented Casey Cason (left), who was charged with murdering her best friend Alaina Szortyka (right) following a dispute over a young man that was seeing both of them. According to multiple witnesses, Szortyka came to Cason's home and began beating her badly; Cason stabbed Szortyka during the brawl with a kitchen knife. The Stand Your Ground motion that we filed was denied and we proceeded to trial, where an all-white jury acquitted Cason after nearly nine hours of deliberating.
What’s worse is knowing that even to this very day, that our Republican dominated Florida legislature and governor's mansion are filled by folks who believe that a conservative sound byte is better than rational judgment in the legislative process.
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