A proposal to tweak the state’s self-defense law in response to Florida’s Trayvon Martin case was shelved Tuesday in a Senate committee.
Members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary B voted 4-2 to defer action on House Bill 1100 by state Rep. Roy Burrell, D-Shreveport.
Concerns that the proposal would muddy Louisiana criminal law doomed the proposal.
“I think it was kind of fixed, but that’s OK,” Burrell said afterward.
HB1100 was one of several bills filed by Louisiana legislators after a neighborhood watch volunteer fatally shot Martin in Florida. At issue in that case is whether the volunteer, George Zimmerman, sparked the confrontation by getting out of his car and chasing Martin.
Legislation by state Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, D-Baton Rouge, to rewrite Louisiana’s justifiable homicide law in the wake of the shooting controversy failed to advance out of a Senate committee earlier in the session.
Louisiana law has a “castle” doctrine that does not require someone to retreat before using force or violence when he is in a place where he has a duty to be.
Burrell wanted to give prosecutors and juries the flexibility to look at cases and consider pursuit in determining whether someone was an aggressor.
“I’m really trying to address a law that is not perfect,” Burrell said.
http://theadvocate.com/news/2901189-123/self-defense-billshelved-by-panel
⭕️Poply Buzzly🎈Kulture Knews 