IGX

A central Florida man accused of fatally shooting a suspected burglar Thursday told police he acted in self-defense after he was attacked, according to police documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

The documents suggest the state’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” statue could become a factor in the case, reports the paper. “Stand Your Ground” allows residents to respond with deadly force if they perceive their life to be in danger, but has been blasted by critics as encouraging a “shoot first” mentality.

The jury that ultimately acquitted neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the controversial shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin was instructed to consider the statute as they deliberated Zimmerman’s fate.

In this case. the alleged gunman, Claudius Smith, 33, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Ricardo Sanes, reports My Fox Orlando. Smith was reportedly inside his single-family home in Orlando Thursday when his girlfriend noticed a man on surveillance video "walking around his yard," wearing dark clothing, and then climbing over a fence into a nearby apartment complex.

According to the documents obtained by the Sentinel, Smith told police he had had recent problems with burglaries at his home and was “certain” the man seen on the surveillance video was responsible. Smith told police he jumped the fence into the apartment complex, armed with a handgun, and saw Sanes "looking into windows of apartments as he walked past them."

Smith said he pulled out his gun and confronted Sanes, grabbing Sanes’ hooded sweatshirt and trying to force him back to his house so he could call the police, reports the paper. Smith said Sanes "punched him in the mouth and grabbed for his gun."

Fearing Sanes was armed, Smith shot, reports the paper. Police did later find a handgun concealed in Sanes’ pants. However, investigators also reportedly discovered that Sanes was shot in the back, which could contradict Smith’s story.

Smith was detained at a home about four miles away after a manhunt, reports My Fox Orlando.

Kazuya Mishima wrote:Meh...another case of a citizen on patrol. Just like Zimmerman, please call the police and then allow them to show up and do their job before leaping into action. Somebody breaking into your home...somebody attacks you out of the blue for no reason? Blow their ass away and zero fucks given. Running around detaining people while yelling CITIZENS ARREST, CITIZENS ARREST ends up with exactly what we see here and the same thing we saw in the Zimmerman case...scuffle ensues, weapon is discharged, and somebody gets got.

When it all settled, I was left with no sympathy for Zimmerman, and I don't have much sympathy for Coolio, either.

What will be interesting to watch is whether or not the media picks up on this with as much zeal as Trayvon, and whether or not the Sharptons and Jacksons of the world will whip up "da peeplez" into a lathered frenzy with narratives of how young men of color are being hunted down in the streets. I imagine they won't say much about it just like they don't say much about the never ending cycle of nig-on-nig violence that plays out in Chicongo, Detoilet, LA, New Joizey, etc.

A Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in prison after firing a "warning shot" during an argument with her abusive husband has been released on bond while she awaits retrial under a controversial part of the state's self-defense law.

The case of Marissa Alexander, who was convicted of aggravated-assault with a deadly weapon, touched off a furor when her supporters compared it to the self-defense case of George Zimmerman, who was acquitted earlier this year of murdering an unarmed black teenager.

Although no one was injured in Alexander's case, the court gave her a 20-year prison sentence under the state's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines because she had fired a gun during the assault.

A state appeals court ruled in September that Alexander, who is black, deserved a new trial because the judge failed to properly instruct the Jacksonville, Florida jury about her self-defense argument. She was convicted in May 2012.

"This news is vindication for Marissa and all the women who have become criminalized for exercising their basic right to defend themselves and their children," Angie Nixon of Florida New Majority, a social justice organization, said of Alexander's release.

The case drew criticism from civil rights groups concerned about self-defense laws and mandatory minimum sentencing rules, but it received little attention outside north Florida until the Zimmerman case.

Zimmerman was arrested for killing Trayvon Martin in 2012 and was acquitted of murder and manslaughter in July 2013.

Under the so-called "Stand Your Ground" clause which was added to Florida's self-defense law in 2005, people who use deadly force to defend themselves from serious injury - rather than retreating to avoid confrontation - can be immune from prosecution.

Zimmerman never sought immunity under "Stand Your Ground," instead relying on a standard self-defense law.

Alexander's "Stand Your Ground" claim was rejected because she left the house during the confrontation to retrieve a gun from her car, returning to fire a shot near her husband Rico Gray's head.

A slightly built woman who stands 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 meter), Alexander said her 245-pound (111 kg) husband was about to attack her when she fired into a kitchen wall during the August 2010 incident. He had previously been convicted of domestic violence for attacking her.

Prosecutors said the shot endangered Gray. At the time, Alexander had an active restraining order against her husband and she carried a concealed weapons permit.

DrDonkeyLove wrote:A little bit of belated justice for a black woman defending herself in FL

A Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in prison after firing a "warning shot" during an argument with her abusive husband has been released on bond while she awaits retrial under a controversial part of the state's self-defense law.

The case of Marissa Alexander, who was convicted of aggravated-assault with a deadly weapon, touched off a furor when her supporters compared it to the self-defense case of George Zimmerman, who was acquitted earlier this year of murdering an unarmed black teenager.

Although no one was injured in Alexander's case, the court gave her a 20-year prison sentence under the state's mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines because she had fired a gun during the assault.

A state appeals court ruled in September that Alexander, who is black, deserved a new trial because the judge failed to properly instruct the Jacksonville, Florida jury about her self-defense argument. She was convicted in May 2012.

"This news is vindication for Marissa and all the women who have become criminalized for exercising their basic right to defend themselves and their children," Angie Nixon of Florida New Majority, a social justice organization, said of Alexander's release.

The case drew criticism from civil rights groups concerned about self-defense laws and mandatory minimum sentencing rules, but it received little attention outside north Florida until the Zimmerman case.

Zimmerman was arrested for killing Trayvon Martin in 2012 and was acquitted of murder and manslaughter in July 2013.

Under the so-called "Stand Your Ground" clause which was added to Florida's self-defense law in 2005, people who use deadly force to defend themselves from serious injury - rather than retreating to avoid confrontation - can be immune from prosecution.

Zimmerman never sought immunity under "Stand Your Ground," instead relying on a standard self-defense law.

Alexander's "Stand Your Ground" claim was rejected because she left the house during the confrontation to retrieve a gun from her car, returning to fire a shot near her husband Rico Gray's head.

A slightly built woman who stands 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 meter), Alexander said her 245-pound (111 kg) husband was about to attack her when she fired into a kitchen wall during the August 2010 incident. He had previously been convicted of domestic violence for attacking her.

Prosecutors said the shot endangered Gray. At the time, Alexander had an active restraining order against her husband and she carried a concealed weapons permit.

Turdacious wrote:

The accused man is on the left, the deceased man is on the right.