Debate Surrounds 'Stand Your Ground' After Teen's Death
DETROIT (CBS) - The Travyon Martin case has ignited a whirlwind of heated discussion around the "Stand Your Ground" law in Stanford, Florida. What a lot of people may not know is that Michigan also has a Stand Your Ground law.
Speaking to Talkradio 1270 host Charlie Langton, local firearms expert Rick Ector said he's been hearing all kinds of incorrect interpretations of Stand Your Ground.
"If you saw someone and for whatever reason you felt threatened, without a valid justification, you could just pull your gun out and just blow somebody away. Those characterizations of the law are totally inaccurate and totally false," Ector said.
Ector said that Michigan's Stand Your Ground law applies,"As long as you're somewhere you have a legal right to be, and you have both a reasonable and honest belief that you're and facing an imminent threat of great bodily harm or death, sexual assault, or death, you have a right to defend yourself with a duty to retreat," he said.
Ector said some of the phrasing in Michigan's law is different from Florida's, but the principle is the same.
Controversy surrounding the law comes after the 17-year-old Martin, unarmed, was gunned down by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who was charged more than 40 days after Martin's death, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
For complete coverage of the Trayvon Martin case, visit our sister site, CBSMiami.com.
