Florida Black Man Denied Stand Your Ground Defense

A Florida judge ruled today that an elderly black man charged in the shooting death of his neighbor couldn't use the now infamous STAND YOUR GROUND defense made so by the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. WTF, yo!! This will be the second time in a week where the controversial law did not provide any protection for the defendant. Today's ruling dealt with the manslaughter case against Trevor Dooley. The defendant willingly admitted to shooting David James in 2010 after a dispute over a teen's right to skateboard on a local basketball court escalated and turned physical. Tampa, Florida news reports that Dooley only shot James, who was defending the teen's right to skateboard because he feared for his own safety after the argument became aggressive and James threatened Dooley. Dooley did have his weapons' permit concealed on his person. A circuit judge apparently said fuck that and ruled that "the evidence suggests that it was not until Dooley "reached for and pulled out his weapon—indicating an intent to escalate from an argument to violence—that Mr. James exerted and used physical force against Defendant." Today's ruling comes only three days after Marissa Alexander, a black woman in Jacksonville, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for three counts of aggravated assault. Alexander's lawyer cited the Stand Your Ground law in her defense, arguing that she fired warning shots to protect herself during a confrontation with her husband. But a judge ruled last year that the law didn't apply because Alexander wasn't in genuine fear for her safety when she fired the gun, according to the Los Angeles Times. Local news station WJXT explains that was because "she left the room, got a gun and returned to confront him." Alexander's sentencing was quickly criticized by Rep. Corrine Brown, a Democratic congresswoman who represents the Jacksonville area. "I have lived here all my life," she said Friday. "And clearly [there] was no justice in this courtroom." Both Dooley and Alexander's respective cases come as the Stand Your Ground law, which allows people to basically kill other people they have a perceived notion mean to do them harm takes center stage in the wake of the February shooting death of Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot and killed the Florida teen, has claimed he did so only in self-defense. He has since been charged with second-degree murder. It still however remains to be seen whether or not this is a case of justice finally catching up to the waning moral compass of the legal system and negating these laws like Stand you Ground or if this is just another case of social & legal inequality.