{"id":74520,"date":"2021-11-20T18:48:31","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T00:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=74520"},"modified":"2021-11-20T19:00:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T01:00:51","slug":"74520","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=74520","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The author is a Harvard Professor, so you can see the low level that a university education has sunk to, when you have teachers who so openly lie. And what&#8217;s amazing is that they still lie in the age of the internet where just a little searching can find the facts of a matter.<\/p>\n<p>While I have had my problems in the past in conversation with Attorney Branca on a gun control related subject (in reference to the definition of a &#8216;bullet core&#8217; in relation to M855 &#8216;green tip&#8217; ammo and federal law definitions of &#8216;armor piercing&#8217; handgun ammo),<strong><em> his video reply to this article is on point.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6NKzjziAa94\" width=\"600\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/flaglerlive.com\/170298\/rittenhouse-acquitted\/\">Rittenhouse Verdict Flies in the Face of Legal Standards for Self-Defense<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a two-week trial that reignited debate over self-defense laws across the nation,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2021\/11\/19\/us\/kyle-rittenhouse-trial\">a Wisconsin jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse<\/a>\u00a0for shooting three people, two fatally, during a racial justice protest in Kenosha.<\/p>\n<div id=\"\u201dcontent-desktop\u201d\">\n<p>The Wisconsin jury believed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/wisconsin-shootings-homicide-kenosha-jacob-blake-620ad5801a29c986b658f6a74d3f9649\">Rittenhouse\u2019s claims that he feared for his life and acted in self-defense<\/a>\u00a0after he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2021\/11\/rittenhouse-testified-he-drove-himself-to-kenosha-without-weapon\/\">drove about 20 miles from his home in Antioch, Illinois \u2013 picking up an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in Kenosha<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 in what he claimed was an effort to protect property during violent protests.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/nov\/06\/racial-tensions-kenosha-police-shot-jacob-blake\">The lakeside city of 100,000 was the scene of chaotic demonstrations<\/a> after a white police officer shot Jacob Blake, an unarmed, 29-year-old black man, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.<\/p>\n<p>In delivering its verdict, a Wisconsin jury decided that Rittenhouse\u2019s conduct was justified, even though the prosecution argued that he provoked the violent encounter and, therefore, should not be able to find refuge in the self-defense doctrine.<\/p>\n<p>As\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-kenosha-46770144a2673b7e8414dfc0c5aff9a9\">prosecutor Thomas Binger said in his closing argument<\/a>: \u201cWhen the defendant provokes this incident, he loses the right to self-defense. You cannot claim self-defense against a danger you create.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Wisconsin jury disagreed, and its decision may portend a similar outcome in another high-profile case in Georgia, where three white men are on trial for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52623151\">shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery<\/a>\u00a0after they claimed the Black man was a suspect in a rash of robberies.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/11\/13\/us\/rittenhouse-arbery-self-defense.html\">Like Rittenhouse, the three men claimed they were acting in self-defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/11\/13\/us\/rittenhouse-arbery-self-defense.html\">Self-defense arguments are often raised<\/a>\u00a0during trials involving loss of life. Juries are then asked to determine whether a defendant\u2019s conduct is justified by principles of self-defense or whether the offender is criminally liable for homicide.<\/p>\n<p>Complicating matters is that each state has its own distinct homicide and self-defense laws. Some states observe the controversial \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground.aspx\">stand your ground<\/a>\u201d doctrine, as in Georgia \u2013 or not, as in Wisconsin \u2013 further clouding the public\u2019s understanding on what constitutes an appropriate use of deadly force.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flagl-422279354\" class=\"flagl-random-content-2\">\n<div class=\"unslider\">\n<div id=\"flagl-slider-10375\" class=\"custom-slider flagl-slider-566933854 flagl-slider unslider-horizontal\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 28px; font-weight: 900;\">Five elements of self-defense<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>As a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hls.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/10870\/Sullivan\">professor of criminal law<\/a>, I teach my students that the law of self-defense in America proceeds from an important concept: Human life is sacred, and the law will justify the taking of human life only in narrowly defined circumstances.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flagl-1186460888\" class=\"flagl-random-hammock\">\n<div class=\"unslider\">\n<div id=\"flagl-slider-10428\" class=\"custom-slider flagl-slider-709823391 flagl-slider unslider-horizontal\">\n<p>The law of self-defense holds that a person who is not the aggressor is justified in using deadly force against an adversary when he reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. This is the standard that every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground.aspx\">state uses to define self-defense<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To determine whether this standard is met, the law looks at five central concepts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>First, the use of force must be proportionate to the force employed by the aggressor. If the aggressor lightly punches the victim in the arm, for example, the victim cannot use deadly force in response. It\u2019s not proportional.<\/p>\n<p>Second, the use of self-defense is limited to imminent harm. The threat by the aggressor must be immediate. For instance, a person who is assaulted cannot leave the scene, plan revenge later and conduct vigilante justice by killing the initial aggressor.<\/p>\n<p>Third, the person\u2019s assessment of whether he is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury must be reasonable, meaning that a supposed \u201creasonable person\u201d would consider the threat to be sufficiently dangerous to put him in fear of death or serious bodily injury. A person\u2019s own subjective view of this fear is not enough to satisfy the standard for self-defense.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flagl-1350512618\" class=\"flagl-random-content-3\">\n<div class=\"unslider\">\n<div id=\"flagl-slider-10376\" class=\"custom-slider flagl-slider-1796974928 flagl-slider unslider-horizontal\">\n<p>Fourth, the law does not permit a first aggressor to benefit from a self-defense justification. Only those with \u201cclean hands\u201d can benefit from this justification and avoid criminal liability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Finally, a person has a duty to retreat before using deadly force, as long as it can be done safely. This reaffirms the law\u2019s belief in the sanctity of human life and ensures that deadly force is an option of last resort.<\/p>\n<div id=\"flagl-176865321\" class=\"flagl-random-content-4\">\n<div class=\"unslider\">\n<div id=\"flagl-slider-10377\" class=\"custom-slider flagl-slider-1949672796 flagl-slider unslider-horizontal\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 28px; font-weight: 900;\">\u2018Stand your ground\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/criminal\/criminal-law-basics\/states-that-have-stand-your-ground-laws.html\">proliferation of states that have adopted \u201cstand your ground\u201d laws<\/a>\u00a0in recent years has complicated the analysis of self-defense involving the duty to retreat.<\/p>\n<p>Dating back to early Anglo-American law, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordhandbooks.com\/view\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199935352.001.0001\/oxfordhb-9780199935352-e-5\">duty to retreat<\/a>\u00a0has been subject to an important exception historically called the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/research\/civil-and-criminal-justice\/self-defense-and-stand-your-ground.aspx\">castle doctrine<\/a>\u201d: A person has no duty to retreat in his home. This principle emerged from the 17th-century maxim that a \u201cman\u2019s home is his castle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The \u201ccastle doctrine\u201d permits the use of lethal force in self-defense without imposing a duty to retreat in the home. Over time, states began to expand the non-retreat rule to spaces outside of the home.<br \/>\n\u201cStand your ground\u201d laws came under national scrutiny during the trial of George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the 2012 shooting death of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2013\/06\/05\/us\/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts\/index.html\">Trayvon Martin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In that case, Martin, 17, was walking home after buying Skittles from a nearby convenience store. At the time, Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer who called police after spotting Martin. Despite being told by the 911 operator to remain in his car until officers arrived, Zimmerman instead confronted Martin.<\/p>\n<p>It remains unclear whether a fight ensued, who was the aggressor and whether Zimmerman had injuries consistent with his claims of being beaten up by Martin. Zimmerman was the sole survivor; Martin, who was unarmed, died from a gunshot wound.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thetwo-way\/2012\/03\/19\/148937626\/trayvon-martin-killing-puts-stand-your-ground-law-in-spotlight\">In the Zimmerman<\/a>\u00a0case, for example, under traditional self-defense law, the combination of first-aggressor limitation and duty to retreat would not have allowed Zimmerman to follow Martin around and kill him without being liable for murder.<\/p>\n<p>But, in a stand-your-ground state such as Florida, Zimmerman had a lawful right to patrol the neighborhood near Martin\u2019s home. As a result, during his trial, all Zimmerman had to prove was that he was in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury.<\/p>\n<p>In Wisconsin, Rittenhouse was also able to put in evidence that he was in reasonable fear of death. \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything wrong,\u201d Rittenhouse testified. \u201cI defended myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Rittenhouse was not reasonably in fear for his safety. This represents a high bar for the prosecution. They were unable to surmount it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1596 jetpack-lazy-image jetpack-lazy-image--handled\" title=\"divider\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/flaglerlive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/divider.jpg?resize=88%2C6\" alt=\"\" width=\"88\" height=\"6\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-lazy-loaded=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>Ronald Sullivan is Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The author is a Harvard Professor, so you can see the low level that a university education has sunk to, when you have teachers who so openly lie. And what&#8217;s amazing is that they still lie in the age of the internet where just a little searching can find the facts of a matter. While &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=74520\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,64,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crap-for-brains","category-deceit","category-education-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74520"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74524,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74520\/revisions\/74524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}