Trayvon Martin, Stand Your Ground | featured news

George Zimmerman's attorneys stunned court observers today by deciding to skip a "Stand Your Ground" hearing slated for April that might have led to a dismissal of the charges in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.

George Zimmerman will seek to have second-degree murder charges dismissed under Florida's "stand your ground" law in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, his attorney said Thursday.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott is putting together a 17-member task force to look at the state law that allows someone to defend themselves.

Coca-Cola Co. has ended its membership in a conservative organization seen as the incubator for a string of new state laws on voting and a marketer of laws like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense statute.

In Trayvon Martin’s case, law was a license to kill... The relevant part of the statute says that “a person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked . . . has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm.”