Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Will we see a "Stand Your Ground" defense in the Rush St. Shooting?

In an article regarding alleged Rush St. shooter, Zachary Finneren's, arraignment yesterday, several Mlive commentors have brought up Michigan's "Stand Your Ground" law. Take, for example, InFastAndOutSlow:
"An altercation followed and Finneren took out his pistol and fired two shots", police said. An investigation may reveal that Finneren was merely standing his ground.

780.972 Use of deadly force by individual not engaged in commission of crime; conditions. Sec. 2. (1) An individual who has not or is not engaged in the commission of a crime at the time he or she uses deadly force may use deadly force against another individual anywhere he or she has the legal right to be with no duty to retreat if either of the following applies:
(a) The individual honestly and reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the imminent death of or imminent great bodily harm to himself or herself or to another individual. (b) The individual honestly and reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the imminent sexual assault of himself or herself or of another individual.
(2) An individual who has not or is not engaged in the commission of a crime at the time he or she uses force other than deadly force may use force other than deadly force against another individual anywhere he or she has the legal right to be with no duty to retreat if he or she honestly and reasonably believes that the use of that force is necessary to defend himself or herself or another individual from the imminent unlawful use of force by another individual.
History: 2006, Act 309, Eff. Oct. 1, 2006.

The story of the night's events goes something like this:
Police said Monday Finneren was confronted by the Illinois man and other men after Finneren was making aggressive advances toward a woman in their group. An altercation followed and Finneren took out his pistol and fired two shots, police said.
The "Stand Your Ground" argument seems to turn on whether Finneren was in commission of a crime at the time of the shooting. In Michigan it is illegal to cary your firearm into an establishment that primarily serves alcohol.

Thanks to two off duty paramedics, who were celebrating a birthday at Rush St. and the quick response of local first responders, the victim is in critical but stable condition. It is also fortunate that nobody at Rush St. was more seriously injured in the events on the morning of October 27th. Hopefully, this will fly under the radar of the national media and we can get on living our lives and avoiding Rush St.

6 comments:

  1. I have nothing constructive to say about the shooting itself; however, on my one trip to Rush Street (bachelorette party, not my choice) I felt like I had been transported back in time to my college years (15+ years ago), being sandwiched in between sweaty, frantically grinding students while the music was so loud one had to scream into the ear of the person next to you to be heard. I'm too old for that shit.

    Then some kid popped a huge boner on the dance floor after grinding on some girl's butt and I couldn't help it, I started laughing out loud...

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  2. @Sun, I've never been to Rush Street, so I appreciate your description of the venue.

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  3. To the readers and writers: I was in the group of people that the shooter attacked. I was one foot away. The verbiage in the article states "an altercation occurred." However, the altercation was the shooter punched a party in our group, then pushed the victim, and then pulled out a gun. There was no violent action towards the shooter. The "altercation" was purely the shooter on the offensive. So, stand your ground all you want, there was no force needed to defend himself when he was never on the defensive.

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  4. @ Anonymous...if what you say is true, please go to the police and give your statement. I pray that ALL of the truth come out and that every person involved is brought to justice. I do feel sorry for the "victim", but I also feel sorry for everyone else in the venue that unfortunately experienced this horrific thing. Please keep in mind that the "suspected shooter" has family and friends that they may read your posts. Considering the anguish they are going through as well!

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  5. *Consider not Considering (in last sentence)

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  6. It seems early to speculate? White men do pretty well with the stand your ground defense?

    On another note, yesterday I spent time going through Infastoutslow's profile because I was being an angry liberal and he compared Obamacare to slavery. Can we dismiss him on that? Please? Let's dismiss people who compare slavery to anything other than slavery?

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