TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The mother of Trayon Martin, along with state lawmakers, plan to hold a news conference on Wednesday morning to decry the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law and demand that the Florida Legislature repeal it.
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon’s mother, and family attorneys will join Democratic state Rep. Alan Williams, of Tallahassee, and Democratic state Senator Dwight Bullard, of Miami, to talk about the new legislation. HB 4009, introduced last week, would repeal certain provisions of the state’s self-defense statute.
The Stand Your Ground law passed in 2005, grants legal immunity to people who use deadly force if they reasonably believe their life is in danger.
The law drew worldwide media attention last year when 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a crime watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla. The volunteer, George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder. His trial is pending.
Zimmerman insists that he was jumped and pummeled by the 17-year-old Michael Krop High School junior, whom Zimmerman had followed after finding him suspicious.
In response to the shooting, Gov. Rick Scott created a 19-member task force to review the law. The task force, which spent six months traveling the state and taking public testimony, concluded there was no need to overhaul the controversial self-defense law.
Critics charged that the task force was dominated by Stand Your Ground law supporters.
The task force included two lawmakers who helped draft the law, along with two others who voted for it in 2005. Another lawmaker appointed to the panel was the chief sponsor of a NRA-backed law prohibiting doctors from asking patients about guns.
