Argumentative Essay: Stand Your Ground Law

On July 15, 2013, in Jacksonville, FL Marissa Alexander was charged with aggravated assault with a “deadly” weapon and attempted murder. She was married to her husband, Rico Gray, and has an 11-year old daughter. Marissa stated that Rico has been abusive to her for a long period while they were together, and she put out a protective order on him. On August 1, 2010, Marissa and Rico were in an argument over a text message on her phone, and when she was trying to escape from him, he cornered her in the bathroom while calling her names, and stated, “If I can’t have you, no one can”. She was fortunate to escape from the corner and ran to her garage to get her gun out of her car. From that point, she warned her husband to leave her home and he …show more content…
This law states, “76.012 Use or threatened use of force in defense of person. (1) A person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force. (2) A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be”. If Zimmerman could shoot a young African-American male to death for walking home, and use Stand Your Ground law as a defense, why couldn’t Alexander? She was in her own home defending herself. She shot the gun above her husband, not at him. He physically put his hands on her and threatened her, and she felt as if her life was in danger, but unfortunately, the jury believed that she could have called the police and ran from it; sometimes it's not that easy to

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