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.
Yup.
I think the case comes down to: would she have crossed the street if she didn’t have a gun?
If she would have crossed the street without a gun, then legitimately not hearing what they said seems valid.
If she wouldn’t have crossed the street without a gun, kinda sounds like she wanted a reason to use it.
The same people who call Rittenhouse a hero apply a different standard here.
Those people are brainwashed and we expect them to have double standards. There IS some discussion to be had in this case amongst reasonable people.
When I first read about this, it was presented as:
Trans person existing outside bar Shoved to the ground Draws weapon, does not fire Trans person faces charges
The above situation definitely sounds like a “stand your ground” type of situation, and I thought it was ridiculous that she was charged.
Inserting “crossed the street to confront the person yelling slurs” (while admirable) could be understood by reasonable people to fall under “initiated the confrontation”.
I use the word confront, because that’s what I would be crossing the street to do. I don’t think I would be “trying to understand the situation”.
It’s interesting that you mentioned Rittenhouse because part of what makes him guilty in my mind is that he clearly went out if his way looking for trouble. This is my big issue with “stand your ground” vs “castle doctrine” in general. Did this person go out of their way looking for trouble? That’s what the judge has to decide.
I think she should be able to press charges for assault though, the guy shoved her to the ground, why shouldn’t he be charged too? He’s definitely not innocent in this situation especially since everyone agrees he started the while confrontation by yelling slurs.
Another thing that’s interesting about this to me is that IF the charges are thrown out under “stand your ground”, are we saying that she WOULD have been justified using deadly force here? I think if she had actually shot the guy we’d be having a different discussion.