The Briefing Room

State Chapters => Florida => Topic started by: edpc on August 24, 2019, 02:15:29 pm

Title: Michael Drejka, who invoked 'stand your ground' defense in shooting of unarmed man, found guilty of
Post by: edpc on August 24, 2019, 02:15:29 pm
Michael Drejka, who invoked 'stand your ground' defense in shooting of unarmed man, found guilty of manslaughter originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The man accused of shooting a Florida father in front of his family in an argument over a handicap parking space outside a convenience store has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Michael Drejka had argued he acted in self-defense, and initially invoked the controversial "stand your ground" law that earned widespread attention during the trial of George Zimmerman in 2013. The jury came to its guilty decision late Friday after about six hours of deliberation.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/michael-drejka-invoked-stand-ground-defense-shooting-unarmed-025715170--abc-news-topstories.html (https://www.yahoo.com/gma/michael-drejka-invoked-stand-ground-defense-shooting-unarmed-025715170--abc-news-topstories.html)
Title: Re: Michael Drejka, who invoked 'stand your ground' defense in shooting of unarmed man, found guilty
Post by: PeteS in CA on August 24, 2019, 02:41:33 pm
Two elements stand out to me, as described in the news article:

* The guy who was killed did initiate the violence, BUT except for rare circumstances (e.g. a frail elderly person being shoved) shoving a guy to the ground is not deadly force; Drejka could, legally, have responded with proportional force, but not deadly force;

* Security video showed the guy who was killed stepped back when Drejka drew his gun; at that point Drejka could not, legally, have used ANY physical force.

This was a correct verdict, IMO. This case was unlike the Zimmerman case in that when Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, Martin was beating Zimmerman's head into the concrete sidewalk, which was deadly force.
Title: Re: Michael Drejka, who invoked 'stand your ground' defense in shooting of unarmed man, found guilty
Post by: edpc on August 24, 2019, 02:55:32 pm
Error 404 (Not Found)!!1 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=0WxLM0bBIAI#)


Between the 2:50 and 3:15 Mark is where he contradicts the video evidence, which is likely what sealed his conviction.
Title: Re: Michael Drejka, who invoked 'stand your ground' defense in shooting of unarmed man, found guilty
Post by: rustynail on August 24, 2019, 03:50:43 pm
Do not talk to the Police.