By REP. STEVE MARTIN on Aug 4, 2013, at 2:27 AM Updated on 8/04/13 at 4:45 AM
Tell us what you think: Should Oklahoma reconsider its Stand Your Ground Law?
After George Zimmerman's acquittal on the charge of second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, the Obama administration used the verdict and the public's interest and outrage to inject both racial considerations and gun laws into the national conversation.
Specifically, Attorney General Eric Holder as well as President Obama brought into question the appropriateness of "Stand Your Ground" laws which, in some form, are found in the majority of states.
Almost immediately news services reported that some entertainers would boycott Florida and perhaps other states with Stand Your Ground laws.
Al Sharpton and other race-baiters quickly joined in the argument, and an Oklahoma legislator issued a press release that Oklahoma's Stand Your Ground Law should be reviewed.
Many of us find it both interesting and frustrating is that neither race (arguably) nor Stand Your Ground (absolutely) had anything to do with the death of Trayvon Martin or the trial of George Zimmerman.
It is difficult to imagine a legal code in which self-defense is not an accepted legal defense against a charge of homicide. It is the accepted law of nature that a being under threat of death or bodily harm may use potentially deadly force for the purpose of self-preservation.
Legal codes, such as the statutes of the state of Oklahoma are often loosely worded, leaving much to interpretation. Or, they may be more tightly written when it is the opinion of the Legislature that a more precise description of the expectations under the law is warranted.
Oklahoma's Stand Your Ground Law, a title not found in the statute, was passed by a Republican House, a Democratic Senate, and signed into law by a Democratic governor in 2006, when there was bi-partisan agreement that more precise definitions were needed in our laws regarding self-defense.
The most common thread and the reason for the term "stand your ground" in the laws found in Oklahoma and most of the country is the clarification that a law-abiding citizen need not seek retreat as the first remedy when being attacked or when in fear of being attacked, but may use force, including potentially deadly force as a remedy. Oklahoma's law is intended to be a defense for the victim of the attack against criminal prosecution or, in some cases, civil litigation so long as a number of specific circumstances are found to have existed.
In the Zimmerman trial the only scenario presented and supported to any extent by witnesses or other evidence is that Zimmerman was knocked off his feet and pinned to the sidewalk, receiving repeated blows, when he shot Martin.
You are free to speculate that something else happened, but that was the only scenario presented in court that had evidence in support.
Zimmerman could not choose to retreat. He had no ability to retreat. "Stand your ground" had no effect on the situation.
Remember that the law is a defense against a homicide or felony bodily injury charge and that the Zimmerman defense did not use it. There is no reason to be found within the Martin case for Stand Your Ground laws to be reviewed.
Oklahoma's Stand Your Ground Law is not a license to kill. The statute is quite specific about the circumstances under which the defense may be raised and the defense is certainly not always successful.
Oklahoma City pharmacist Jerome Ersland, after shooting and killing a suspect in a failed armed robbery of the pharmacy, was unable to convince jurors that the shooting was justified in the face of all elements of Oklahoma statutes. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The statute is not a gun law. All elements of the law refer to the use of force capable of inflicting death or bodily injury. The weapon used could be a gun, knife, baseball bat, or fist. The word pistol is used one time, simply to point out that if a pistol is the weapon, the issuance or non- issuance of a license is irrelevant.
Oklahoma's self-defense statutes are sound. From licensed carry to Stand Your Ground they are working as intended and providing Oklahomans with the ability to defend themselves. They should not be weakened in the face of political pressure from the Obama administration.
Reader Forum
The incarceration rate in Oklahoma is among the highest in the nation with approximately 26,000 people behind bars at any given time.
The Nov. 28, 2008, Tulsa World published my Readers Forum piece, "Antietam," in which I reported on a visit my then-8-year-old grandson, Stevie, and I made to Antietam battlefield in rural Maryland.
