LOL, Armed Intruder Shot Homeowner Argues Stand Your Ground
Defense
While the country had its attention turned toward George
Zimmermans trial, an armed intruder in South Carolina attempted to
use the same legal defense that gained infamy in the early days of
the Zimmerman case.
Gregg Isaac began his trial last week for a confessed home
invasion in 2005, where he shot and killed Antonio Corbitt in front
of an 8-year-old child. After the trial judge originally denied
Isaacs motion that he could use deadly force under the states
version of Stand Your Ground law, the South Carolina Supreme Court
agreed to halt the proceedings and hear the case to determine a
procedural point.
The reason the Supreme Court will consider the case has to do
with exactly when a judge should hold a hearing to determine whether
the defendant is immune from going to trial and the defendants
right to immediately appeal; it will not tackle the substance of the
law, according to The State. If the Stand Your Ground hearing
determines the shooter was protecting himself in a place he had a
legal right to be, then the case never proceeds to a trial.
The states 2006 law is nearly identical to American
Legislative Exchange Council model legislation that states a person
not engaging in unlawful activity has no duty to retreat and has
the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force,
including deadly force.
Isaac almost certainly would not win with this argument. He did
not have a legal right to Corbitts apartment: He broke in with two
other men, and when the resident looked like he was going to pull
a gun from his pants Isaac shot him twice. Even though Isaac does
not have a credible chance to walk free under Stand Your Ground, the
South Carolina Supreme Court may decide he should get the hearing
that was previously denied where his lawyer will repeat the argument.
Once rejected, the case would move onto a murder trial.
While Isaacs case goes too far, other Stand Your Ground
defendants have succeeded on dubious legal claims authorized by the
statutes broadly permissive language. ProPublica has highlighted
some of the most notable Stand Your Ground cases that have led to
freedom from criminal prosecution: One man avoided prosecution for
shooting two men he suspected burglarized a neighbors home,
another killed a mentally disabled man who was unarmed, and yet
another was let off for chasing a burglar for more than a block.
Most famously, Zimmerman originally claimed he had immunity from
prosecution because Floridas Stand Your Ground allowed him to
pursue Trayvon Martin for looking suspicious. He dropped the claim,
and argued self-defense instead when he went to trial, but the jury
instructions contained Stand Your Ground language, and a juror
admitted it still played a role in their decision to acquit him of
all charges.
Empirical evidence also shows how the law perpetuates racial bias
in the justice system: A white shooter who kills a black victim is 11
times more likely to walk free than a black shooter who kills a white
victim.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder spoke out against Stand
Your Ground, saying, its time to question laws that senselessly
expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our
neighborhoods.
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