Rep. Jason Murphey
In
a blog Sunday Rep. Jason Murphey stated what seems pretty obvious: Oklahoma’s Legislature will soon be meeting in special session to deal with lawsuit reform, but it won’t be repealing the state’s State Your Ground Law anytime soon.
On Stand Your Ground he makes a political point and a policy one.
Politically, there isn’t any support to repeal the law, which allows anyone who is not breaking the law to use deadly force to defend themselves or others without regard to the old common law requirement to try to flee the situation -- they can stand their ground.
“Based on my first-hand observations in the Legislature, please know that the majority of Oklahoma policy makers remain solidly committed to the important concept of ... 'stand your ground’ law...,” Murphey wrote.
I can back that up. I’d guess a vote on Stand Your Ground repeal would fail by a vote of about 91-10, perhaps a bigger margin. While one legislator -- Rep. Mike Shelton, D-Oklahoma City -- has called for a study of repeal, it's very hard to imagine that one getting any traction.
Murphey also points out that there isn’t a lot of evidence that the law has led to any dangerous abuse in the state. He combines that point with a similar conclusion about the state’s concealed-carry law:
“There simply isn't evidence to suggest these laws have not worked. The concealed carry law has been in place for approximately 15 years and the ‘stand your ground’ law for about seven. Throughout this time critics have been hard pressed to point to abuses. To the contrary, subsequent bills have expanded the purview of these laws. Concealed carry licensees can now open carry and the ‘stand your ground’ law has been expanded to apply in the workplace.”
I’d say that’s right. I can’t think of any case where the Stand Your Ground Law has been used in Oklahoma, much less abused. The high-profile Ersland pharmacy shooting was not a Stand Your Ground case, although some have described it as such, and even if it were, it couldn’t be described as a case where the law failed by those who oppose the law, because Ersland was convicted.
Last month, the Tulsa World editorial page ran side-by-side op/ed pieces on Stand Your Ground: One (by Rep. Steve Martin, R-Bartlesville) supporting the law, one (by Rev. Ray Owens of Tulsa's Metropolitan Baptist Church) calling for its repeal. You can read them
here and
here.
As part of the background work on that, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater told me that self-defense cases are unusual in general and Stand Your Ground cases are even rarer.
Prosecutors examine every homicide case and don't file charges if self-defense is clear, Prater said.
In cases that are charged, defendants can make self defense claims, but the Stand Your Ground element is rarely involved, he said.
"They really are rare," he said.
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