Wyoming’s “Stand Your Ground” law says you don’t have to run from a confrontation before defending yourself. That is what Rihanna Kelver and her counsel are asking a Laramie judge to consider as they seek protection from prosecution in a felony case stemming from a confrontation outside the Crowbar.
Always good to live in a Stand Your Ground state. It’s ridiculous that some states can convict you of felonies for defending your life, just because the judge believed you had the option to run from your attacker. Luckily, that is fewer and fewer states every year.
Edit: From the comments below, sounds like Stand Your Ground isn’t relevant in this situation, as she was not being threatened with death or grievous bodily harm. My comment here should therefore be read as a completely standalone item, and not something that is relevant to this article at all.
Is this policy “Stand Your Ground” or “Gay Panic Defense”? The state claims she was the aggressor because she was heckled while crossing the street. Then the “victim” was allowed to shove her, continue until he was on top of her, and only retreat when he was presented with deadly force. At no point does the DA admit she feared for her life.
If the state rules in favor of Durham, “Stand Your Ground” doesn’t mean shit. It remains within the domain of the prosecutor’s office to choose to prosecute one class of people and abide another, entirely based on their personal prejudices.
You got the order of events wrong. She was heckled, then she crossed the street and approached them. That’s why Stand Your Ground will likely not hold up.
If they had approached her, this would be a different story. But witness statements said she had her hand on her hip like she was ready to draw as she approached.
Plus, she drew the gun as they were leaving. The guy who shoved her was shoving her out of the way as they were walking past. Brandishing a weapon while someone is leaving isn’t standing your ground.
Then she initially said in her report that she pulled a knife, which she didn’t have in her possession when the cops showed up.
This case definitely isn’t cut and dry.
She claims she pulled the gun as Durham was standing over her threatening her life.
She really hurt her credibility by lying about pulling a knife instead of a gun.