http://www.tampabay.com/news/public...s-some-shocking-outcomes-depending-on/1233133
An excerpt:
- Defendants claiming "stand your ground" are more likely to prevail if the victim is black. Seventy-three percent of those who killed a black person faced no penalty compared to 59 percent of those who killed a white.
- People often go free under "stand your ground" in cases that seem to make a mockery of what lawmakers intended. One man
killed two unarmed people and walked out of jail. Another
shot a man as he lay on the ground. Others went free after shooting their victims in the back.In nearly a third of the cases the
Times analyzed, defendants initiated the fight, shot an unarmed person or pursued their victim — and still went free.
- Similar cases can have opposite outcomes. Depending on who decided their cases, some drug dealers claiming self-defense have gone to prison while others have been set free. The same holds true for killers who left a fight, only to arm themselves and return. Shoot someone from your doorway? Fire on a fleeing burglar? Your case can swing on different interpretations of the law by prosecutors, judge or jury.