Nicole Flatow from Think Progress has been a guest on our show. She writes about the latest Stand Your Ground travesty in the travesty that we call Florida…
A Florida judge dismissed murder charges under the state’s Stand Your Ground law for a man who shot dead a mentally ill acquaintance after he told him he was going to beat him up.
Florida lawmakers have continued to reject moves to repeal or limit the law, and have instead advanced a bill this year to expand Stand Your Ground immunity to warning shots.
A week later, Wagner was doing work outside another unit when Elkins pulled up in his car and allegedly mumbled something about running Elkins over with his car, began to drive away, and then drove forward again to say he was going to beat him up. There is a dispute about whether Elkins had begun to get out of his car, with a witness testifying that Elkins was sitting in the car with the door closed when he was shot, but a blood splatter analysis suggesting the door was partially open. Wagner pulled a gun out of his car and shot him dead.