Here's the first of two separate "stand your ground" Florida legal decisions ~ and I'll post my own reaction to both after ~ Sooz

Citing Stand Your Ground, Jury Acquits Man Who Killed Wife’s Lover
By Nicole Flatow on Jun 4, 2013 at 9:00 am

As trial approaches for the man who generated national controversy over Stand Your Ground laws when he shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on a Florida street, a jury has acquitted another man under Florida’s controversial law, after he shot dead a man he caught having sex with his wife.

Ralph Wald, a 70-year-old Vietnam veteran, walked into his home around midnight, and less than ten seconds later, fired three shots at Walter Conley, according to ABC News. He told the jury he thought Conley was raping his wife when he saw them having intercourse in his home. But during a 911 call, when the dispatcher asked Wald if the man was dead, Wald responded, “I hope so!” and refused to help the man. He asked for medical help for his wife, Johnna Flores, since he thought he accidentally shot her also. He said he didn’t recognize Conley even though he had been roommates with his wife prior to her relationship with Wald, lived next door to Wald, had tattoos of Flores on his neck and back, and worked for Flores at her fencing company.

Prosecutors argued that Wald, who suffered from erectile dysfunction, killed Conley in a jealous rage, pointing out that Wald used the word “fornicate” in reports to police, and never the word “rape.”

To acquit Wald under the state’s Stand Your Ground law, Wald had to prove only that he believed his wife was being raped. It doesn’t matter that he shot immediately without taking time to assess the situation, nor that he could have likely taken other measures short of firing three shots into Conley’s head and back. Stand Your Ground laws authorize the unfettered use of deadly force where someone fears assault, without even a duty to first attempt to retreat.

Studies have shown that Stand Your Ground laws are racially discriminatory, associated with higher homicide rates, and don’t deter crime. But even after outrage over Florida’s law in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death, attempts to repeal and change these NRA and ALEC-backed statutes have overwhelmingly failed.

Even without a Stand Your Ground law, there are other charges and defenses for heat-of-the-moment crimes like this one with significantly lesser punishment than premeditated murder. Stand Your Ground laws, by contrast, exonerate defendants who kill without hesitation from any criminal liability at all. And it encourages the sort of cowboy justice that might empower one to believe they could take punishment into their own hands — whether it be for adultery or some other wrong — under the guise of self-defense.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/04/2095821/citing-stand-your-ground-jury-acquits-man-who-killed-wifes-lover/

Here's the second decision ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating information in both the op and this one ~ Sooz

Florida Judge Rejected Stand Your Ground Defense For Black Woman Who Fired Warning Shot During Domestic Violence
By Nicole Flatow on Jun 5, 2013 at 1:30 pm

In the months leading up to the trial of the Florida man who sparked national controversy over state Stand Your Ground laws when he shot dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, several defendants have escaped criminal liability for deadly shootings under the law. Just last week, a Florida jury acquitted a man who killed his wife’s lover in his home after firing three shots into his head and back. But just months after Trayvon’s death, Florida’s notorious Stand Your Ground law did not spare Marissa Alexander, who fired a mere warning shot into the wall during a violent incident with her husband.

Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year, after a judge rejected her Stand Your Ground defense and a jury convicted her on three counts of aggravated assault. Alexander’s husband was arrested twice before on misdemeanor battery charges against other women. But authorities said Alexander initiated the 2010 incident and pointed the gun at her husband and two step-sons before firing the warning shot into the ceiling.

Alexander would not have needed a Stand Your Ground law to defend her action. While that law goes so far as to authorize unfettered deadly force in self-defense without a duty to retreat, Alexander used significantly lesser force that would fall under a typical self-defense claim. But the judge’s failure to allow the claim comports with studies that have shown the ALEC and NRA-backed laws are discriminatory and applied arbitrarily. Last week, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission voted to undertake an in-depth investigation into racial bias in Stand Your Ground laws, the first such investigation by the agency in decades.

In the meantime, laws that allow deadly force without any duty to retreat remain the law in at least 21 states, and efforts to repeal or alter the laws have failed thus far. And in spite of outcry from the NAACP and others, Alexander remains in prison.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/05/2108171/florida-judge-rejected-stand-your-ground-defense-for-black-woman-who-fired-warning-shot-during-domestic-violence/

I don't really have the words to describe my reaction other than being rabidly angry ~ the 2d post's comment that "... studies that have shown the ALEC and NRA-backed laws are discriminatory and applied arbitrarily" identifies the difference in these two cases as being simply and clearly black vs white ~

Sooz