NAACP
John McNeil in an undated photo.
Now that George Zimmerman has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, we can expect to see an even greater focus on the "legalese," so to speak. His (new) attorney indicated that Zimmerman will plead not guilty to the 2nd-degree murder charge; by Florida law, per the state's standard jury instructions. that means special prosecutor Angela Corey is alleging that when he shot Trayvon, he did so with a "depraved mind," and "without regard to human life."
That indicates that Corey didn't buy Zimmerman's claims of self-defense in the shooting. It remains to be seen whether or not Zimmerman's defense in court will claim Florida's "stand your ground" law applies to him. Still, this is just the beginning, and it's likely that the NRA-backed Florida law and its dozens of legislative descendants, fathered in part by ALEC, will remain a front-page topic.
So while we're talking, it's worth chatting about the Georgia version, and black homeowner John McNeil (pictured at right).
It has been just over six years since McNeil and his wife hired Brian Epp's construction company to build them a house in Cobb County, Georgia. Epp, who was white, became "increasingly threatening" to the McNeils, and they closed on the house early simply to be rid of him, ordering him to stay off the property once his work was completed. Epp didn't comply, and that had fatal consequences.
Rania Khalek detailed the confrontation in Salon:
On Dec. 6, 2005, John McNeil’s 15-year-old son, La’Ron, notified his dad over the phone that a man he didn’t recognize was lurking in the backyard. When La’Ron told the man to leave, an argument broke out. McNeil was still on the phone and immediately recognized Epp’s voice. According to La’Ron’s testimony, Epp pointed a folding utility knife at La’Ron’s face and said, “[w]hy don’t you make me leave?” at which point McNeil told his son to go inside and wait while he called 911 and headed home.
According to McNeil’s testimony, when he pulled up to his house, Epp was next door grabbing something from his truck and stuffing it in his pocket. McNeil quickly grabbed his gun from the glove compartment in plain view of Epp who was coming at him “fast.” McNeil jumped out of the car and fired a warning shot at the ground insisting that Epp back off. Instead of retreating, Epp charged at McNeil while reaching for his pocket, so McNeil fired again, this time fatally striking Epp in the head. (Epp was found to have a folding knife in his pocket, although it was shut.)
It was over a year before the Cobb County District Attorney charged him with murder, and McNeil was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. A 2008 appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court upheld that conviction -- with Justice Leah Ward Sears dissenting -- despite the fact that the state, per Khalek's report, has both a "stand your ground" law that permits citizens to use deadly force “only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury,” as well as a Castle Doctrine law, which justifies the use of deadly force in defense of one’s home.
Civil rights activist Markel Hutchins has filed a lawsuit in Georgia seeking to strike the "stand your ground" law:
According to the suit, some courts have "accepted the race of a victim as evidence to establish the reasonableness of an individual’s fear in cases of justifiable homicide." Hutchins said in those circumstances the law does not equally protect him and other African Americans.
Judging by Hutchins' remarks, it seems he's trying to prevent more shooting victims, more Trayvon Martins. But if the law doesn't even equally protect people like John McNeil, shooting to protect their property, their loved ones, and themselves, it stands to question what good the law does at all.
More of what is on our radar this morning:
- Mitt Romney tried to co-opt "war on women" as a talking point for his benefit, and failed spectacularly. And I'm being kind.
- Fast-food chain Wendy's, which has funded conservative causes in the past, is now the latest to pull out of ALEC.
- Speaking of ALEC, can there be a progressive version?
- North Korea is about to test a long-range missile, and no one can seem to do much to stop it.
- Barney Frank calls Paul Ryan's budget a "scam."
- A new poll shows that for the first time, a majority of Republicans don't believe the war in Afghanistan is worth fighting.
- Will a failing private prison kill a Georgia town?
- Trayvon Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, were guests on a number of MSNBC programs last night after the charges were announced. In the video below, they talk to NBC News' Brian Williams on "Rock Center."
Just hours after Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey announced that George Zimmerman had been charged with second degree murder in the shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, Martin's parents and Zimmerman's newly-hired attorney spoke to Brian Williams. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin said that the arrest of Zimmerman helps fulfill their goal of having Zimmerman brought to justice. Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, said Zimmerman is "troubled by the charges."
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I am not at all surprised by this event. These "stand your ground" laws are not intended to protect Blacks from other races. These laws are intended to legalize the murder of Blacks by other races or even other Blacks. Who commits the act is of no consequence just as long as a Black is killed that is the goal. I know, I know, you might say that is a bit overly-simplistic, but you know Occam's razor, "the simplest explanation is probably the correct one."
Furthermore, as much as I personally would like nothing more than to live in a much longed for utopia, we (Blacks) need to understand one immutable truth, "You cannot talk someone into loving you. If love is not taught in the home don't expect it (love) to show up anywhere else."
I’m with Bill Cosby “Its not the race, its the gun” What if John McNeil did not have a gun on him? McNeil and Brian Epp would have been in a fist fight, the police were already called, they BOTH would have been taken to jail and a judge would have settled it! Men are much too emotional to own guns, let alone carry them, testosterone and guns do not mix. Better than half of the “stand your ground” incidents have taken place in bars!
Dahl - yeah, no. If Mr. McNeil had not had a gun, it's likely he would have been stabbed to death by Epp, or gravely wounded. He was, according to the 'stand your ground' law, in the right.
And yet he's in prison! birdofpray1 is correct - 'stand your ground' is a way to justify killing 'scary black men' by anyone who has an issue with them, period. The casual way that black men and boy's lives (and women and girls, too!) are taken in the US is revolting.
He could've escaped to the car, house, or street. In any case, the deadly weapon was still in the dead guy's pocket, so he was a little quick on the trigger there.
That said, charging at someone who already fired a warning shot is just plain stupid. (After allegedly threatening his son, no less!)
I agree with Birdofpray1. These laws aren't meant for everybody...they're meant only for the lily white people in this country. If the shooter in Florida had been black and the victim white, the shooter would have been arrested in a hot second and charged immediately, no questions asked.
Racism is alive and well in this country and it disgusts me. I am "lily white" and it disgusts me. And I'm sure that there are many, many other cases just like these. Guns? Get rid of them. Racists? Lock 'em all up. I'm sick and tired of this country behaving in this one-upper-class-is-best system of thought and action. I'm tired of minorities being taken advantage of.
I'm thrilled that Zimmerman is FINALLY in jail. I hope McNeil's lawyers prevail. I wouldn't hold my breath in Georgia, though...they did execute Troy Davis.
I told YOU the cops in Georgia are a bunch of stereotyping, hatin' ass BITCHES!! They have always stereotyped ME and have @!$%#ed with ME just for walking down the street and minding my own business. @!$%# ALL THE COPS IN GEORGIA!!!! BEEEYOOTCH!!! OBD
The racists don't appear to be white. I think its the black community that wants to make this a race issue and the coining of the "white hispanic" is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Do you even listen to yourselves? We elected a black president of the United States, the most powerful individual in the country so sholve your racism, it disgusts me. This is about "Stand your Ground" and this case would have never made the media at all if it was not about that and that alone. This was not the only person killed by a gun in the last 5 weeks. I am not happy with the media bias in this case.
Another case of law mis-applied:
The case I spoke of is Marissa Alexander... You can find it and read about it at JusticeForMarissa dot Blogspot dot com
I think a Florida case might be more helpful as then you would be looking at the same law and similiar type of case. I found this earlier this month when Charles Ogletree asked for someone to show a case with a black person in the same situation as Mr. Zimmermann.
Controversial stand your ground law that police
initially cited in their decision not to charge the man who shot and killed
17-year-old Trayvon Martin has been invoked at least 140 times statewide since
2005. A Tampa Bay Times survey,
compiled from Florida
newspapers and public records, shows that police and prosecutors continue to
apply the self defense law unevenly.
Defendant: Demarro Battle
Victim: Omar Bonilla
Case Details
Incident date: July 17, 2009
Location: During party at victim's home, 3670 Pearl St., in Fort Myers, Lee
County
What happened: Battle fatally shot Bonilla after an argument
at a party. Earlier in the dispute, Bonilla had fired his gun into the ground,
but then he ran inside his apartment, gave his gun to a friend and returned
unarmed to confront Battle.
Battle,
meanwhile, had retrieved his gun from his car and shot Bonilla.
The outcome: Battle was arrested and charged with second-degree
murder. But charges were dropped by the state attorney. "Under current Florida law the
defendant had no duty to retreat," assistant state attorney wrote.
Fatalities: 1
Weapon: gun
Investigating agency: Fort Myers Police
Defendant
Name: Demarro Battle Black male Age now: 24 Age at time of incident: 20
Victim Name: Omar Bonilla
Similar cases These cases where the stand your ground law was
invoked are similar to the Trayvon Martin case.
The stand your ground law wasn't passed in GA until 2006. This all took place in 2005. McNeil told the 911 operator “I’m at the property now and there’s the builder and I may get ready to whip his ass right now. So get the cops here now.” Can you imagine if this was on record in the Martin case? Furthermore McNeil had time to stop in his driveway, retrieve a gun from his glove compartment, take the gun out of its case, load it, exit from his car, and “argue loudly” with Epp for a few minutes before firing the first shot at him; and that McNeil lied to police when he claimed that he had shot Epp because Epp had “pulled a knife on him” during the confrontation (because other eyewitness testimony showed that Epp had no weapon in his hands at the time of the shooting, and further testimony showed that Epp’s knife was folded and in his pocket after he had been shot). McNeil suffered no injuries.....you need to get your facts straight and be more responsible in your reporting.
Two things; first, La'Ron was an adult male of 19years at the time of the shooting, see the Supreme Courts transcript.
The "threat" against La'Ron supposed to justify the shooting was from a "folded utility knife"... "pointed in his direction"; hardly an offensive weapon. Likely the same "utility knife" found "folded" in Epp's pocket later.
A "utility knife" is not a pocket knife but rather a common accessory for any building contractor which when fully extended is appx. one inch in length. I think the facts should remain clear.