Is it surprising that most stand your ground news comes from Florida? But not every case in which someone claims stand your ground laws ends in death or makes headlines. Many incidents are low-profile or domestic. Yet all of them could be considered life-threatening. Here are a few you may have never heard of:
August, 2013: 34-year-old Matthew Henkel said, “fuck Trayvon Martin…fuck you” – a month after George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting of Trayvon Martin – and claimed he was standing up for kids as he confronted and shot an African-American man, Jamal Dixon, in Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania.
Dixon, a 24-year-old college graduate and Iraq war veteran, was seriously injured but survived. He said he had his hands up when he was shot, then when he fell, Henkel shot him again.
Dixon who was outside his home, and had complained about kids hitting his car with a ball. Over a week later Henkel, a white man, was charged with aggravated assault. He claimed stand your ground immunity.
December 17, 2012: Michael Jock, 49, was in line behind Randall White, 52, at a Little Caesar’s pizza shop in St Petersburg, Florida, when White complained about slow service, shouting at the workers.
Jock told him to quiet down, they got into an argument, and White shoved Jock, who pulled out a .38 caliber gun and shot White, then fired again as they struggled. White survived two bullet wounds to the lower part of his body.
Jock told police he was justified, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and claimed stand your ground immunity, which was denied. After trial last year, Jock was sentenced to three years in prison and two years probation on September 24, 2013.
Sept. 08, 2011: 69-year-old Milton Bennett Ellis Jr. claimed he was sleeping in a wheelchair outside a vacant Hooter’s restaurant in St. Petersburg when he woke up to find 22-year-old Josephine Smith on top of him, screaming that she was a vampire.
He said she bit his face and lip. Witnesses called 911 saying they heard a woman screaming and a man shaking her and trying to quiet her.
When she was found intoxicated, bruised, and partly clothed, Smith said she didn’t remember what happened. She was charged with aggravated battery on an elderly person.
Her attorney claimed police arrested the wrong suspect – that Ellis was bitten as he held Smith to the ground and sexually assaulted her. Smith filed for stand your ground immunity, but was denied, and later pled guilty to a lesser charge of battery. She was sentenced to 12 months in jail.
Related articles
- Most Shocking Stand Your Ground Incidents Of 2013 (endstandyourground.wordpress.com)
- From Arizona To Florida, Stand Your Ground Ends In Manslaughter (endstandyourground.wordpress.com)
- Stand your ground: Who it helps, and hurts (msnbc.com)
End Stand Your Ground 
Reblogged this on Black Vitality.
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What a mess!
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I believe I have another story for your, ” Stand Your Ground Cases That Make Us Gawk”. This is my son, Gary Hembree who was shot 17 times in his own yard. The murderer dressed in full camo clothing and crawled across his yard, across the road into my son’s yard. He killed two men and shot another man 11 times but he survived. Do a search on You Tube for Gary Hembree or William Woodward. The actual shooting is on YouTube.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-killer-seeks-protection-stand-ground-article-1.1446535
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Your family is in our thoughts and prayers, thank you very much for visiting and commenting here. We are aware of the incident, have been following the case, will be watching as it progresses, and have a video of the shooting on this page: https://endstandyourground.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/stand-your-ground-in-action-dead-men-cant-talk/
If there is anything we can do for you here please let us know.
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When states adopted Stand-Your-Ground they opened the door to all kinds of abuses. Defending yourself from an intruder in your own home i very different from getting angry at someone, shooting them and then claiming Stand-Your-Ground. People are using Stand-Your-Ground rather than conflict resolution skills or going court.
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exactly
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Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
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It would make a better argument to end SYG if the cases cited were anything other than denials of failed, invalid attempts to claim the law’s very necessary protections for the right of self defense.
In other news, defense attorneys also have their clients frequently plead “Not Guilty” before trial, and many of those clients are then convicted because they are in fact guilty. Should we also do away with the option to plead “Not Guilty” under the logic of this article?
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Gawk indeed!! SMH …..
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lol, I was thinking ‘wtf?’
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What you mean?? LOL ..
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just chuckling at your smh – I had the same reaction..and wtf was a stronger response, especially to the vampire case.
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