As a former federal prosecutor and a former attorney general, I want to talk about the Trayvon Martin story because it disturbs me as a prosecutor, and it deeply disturbs me as a mother of a teenage son. Let me say a word first as a prosecutor.
You've heard of this story -- Cenk Uygur, Keith Olbermann and others in the news media have covered this -- Trayvon Martin was the 17-year-old Florida high school football player who was shot and killed last month. He was visiting with his father and family friend in a gated community. He was walking back to the home from a convenience store in the rain in the early evening three weeks ago, carrying skittles and a can of iced tea.
Trayvon's killer, George Zimmerman, was the volunteer "watchman" for the gated community. That night, as Zimmerman followed Trayvon, he called 911 because he thought the teenager in the hoodie was suspicious. Zimmerman is 28-years-old, a criminal justice major, who had called the Sanford police department 46 times since he took on the role as guardian for the community.
Zimmerman claims that in shooting Trayvon he acted in self-defense based upon a 2005 law called "Stand Your Ground."
Here's what the law says:
A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity, and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
This law is part of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)'s cluster of pro-NRA bills that shot through legislatures in the past few years. Florida's law was the first and 17 states now have a version of this law, many with virtually identical language.
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