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| Attorney General Eric Holder delivers the keynote address at the annual NAACP convention, Tuesday, July 16, 2013, in Orlando, Fla. |
ORLANDO, Fla.
(AP) -- Stand-your-ground laws that allow a person who believes he is
in danger to use deadly force in self-defense "sow dangerous conflict"
and need to be reassessed, Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday in
assailing the statutes that exist in many states.
Holder said he was concerned about the Trayvon Martin slaying case in which Florida's stand-your-ground law played a part.
But
he added: "Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation's
attention, it's time to question laws that senselessly expand the
concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our
neighborhoods."
George Zimmerman was acquitted
over the weekend of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in
Martin's 2012 death in Sanford, Fla. Holder said the Justice Department
has an open investigation into what he called Monday the "tragic,
unnecessary shooting death" of the unarmed Miami 17-year-old.
He
urged the nation then to speak honestly about complicated and
emotionally charged issues. A day later, he seemed to shift away from
the specific case to one of those issues - the debate over
stand-your-ground.
"There has always been a
legal defense for using deadly force if - and the `if' is important - no
safe retreat is available," Holder told the NAACP.
The
country must take a hard look at laws that contribute to "more violence
than they prevent," Holder said during a speech before an NAACP
convention in Orlando, about 20 miles from the courthouse where
Zimmerman was cleared of the charges three days earlier. Such laws "try
to fix something that was never broken," he said.
Martin's
shooting shined a light on Florida's stand-your-ground and similar laws
around the nation. Most say a person has no duty to retreat if he is
attacked in a place he has a right to be and can meet force with force
if he fears death or great bodily harm.
Sanford's
police chief cited the law as his reason for not initially arresting
Zimmerman in February 2012. Zimmerman told police Martin was beating him
up during the confrontation and that he feared he would be killed.
Though
stand-your-ground was never raised during trial, Judge Debra Nelson
included a provision about the law in the instructions that allowed
jurors to consider it as a legitimate defense.
"But
we must examine laws that take this further by eliminating the
common-sense and age-old requirement that people who feel threatened
have a duty to retreat, outside their home, if they can do so safely,"
Holder said.
The defense skipped a chance to
ask that Zimmerman have a stand-your-ground hearing before trial. If the
judge had decided there was enough evidence that Zimmerman acted in
self-defense, she could have tossed out the case before a jury heard it.
"Stand-your-ground
laws license vigilantism and we should all worry about that," said
Benjamin Jealous, the NAACP's president and CEO, after Holder's speech.
Holder
on Tuesday only briefly touched on a possible federal civil rights case
being brought against Zimmerman. And legal experts say such a case
would be a difficult challenge.
Prosecutors
would have to prove that Zimmerman was motivated by racial animosity to
kill Martin. The teen was on his way back to his father's fiancee's
house after going to a store when the neighborhood watch volunteer saw
him and followed him in the community of about 50,000, which is about
one-third black.
Civil rights leader Al
Sharpton, who has been one of the most vocal champions of a federal
investigation, acknowledged Tuesday there are possible legal hurdles.
Still, he said "there is also a blatant civil rights question of does
Trayvon Martin and the Trayvon Martins of this country have the civil
right to go home."
Saturday's acquittal has
inspired "Justice For Trayvon" protests around the nation. Most have
been peaceful, although vandalism and violence happened in Los Angeles.
Dozens
of protesters carrying signs demanding justice for Martin crammed into
the lobby of Florida Gov. Rick Scott's office Tuesday and refused to
leave until the governor either met with them or called lawmakers back
to Tallahassee to address issues like the state's stand-your-ground law.
Many planned to spend the night in the Capitol building.
Despite the challenges of bringing a federal civil rights case, some NAACP members said they wanted swift action.
Tony
Hickerson, an NAACP member from Seattle, said he would be disappointed
if he doesn't see the Justice Department taking action within a month.
"I
heard what he (Holder) said, and I don't question his sincerity, but
I'd like to see swift action in this case, and I haven't seen that yet,"
said Hickerson. "His words were eloquent but I need to see some action
before I get enthusiastic."
Added Hickerson, "This is a very obvious case. How much thinking do you have to do?"
In
his comments referencing the Zimmerman case, Holder offered a story
from his own personal experience - describing how when he was a young
black man his father had told him how to interact with the police, what
to say and how to conduct himself if he was ever stopped or confronted
in a way he thought was unwarranted.
"I'm sure
my father felt certain - at the time - that my parents' generation
would be the last that had to worry about such things for their
children," Holder told the NAACP convention. "Trayvon's death last
spring caused me to sit down to have a conversation with my own
15-year-old son, like my dad did with me. This was a father-son
tradition I hoped would not need to be handed down."
