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.
Except, from the description above, the use of slurs in public has long been held to be “Fighting Words” under 1st amendment law. His initial actions were not protected speech and are considered an act of violence.
Also, her walking over to confront him was not an invitation for assault. He provoked her, assaulted her, and she threatened to defend herself if he continued his assault. This is how these sorts of cases have been adjudicated for a long time. We will see if this one is, but it is how it should be.
If an insult is a violent act, then confrontation is escalating things. She wasn’t in danger when they were just being assholes from the other side of the street.
Kinda. Fighting words have been so narrowed as to be functionally meaningless. Cohen v Californa (I think?) basically said “emotions alone aren’t enough.”
Practically, fighting words have to rise to the level of being reasonably interpreted as an imminent threat to get outside of First Amendment protection.
In this case, sounds like the assholes yelled their slurs and kept moving, so that wouldn’t justify the use of force.