Don’t know whether you’ve seen this yet today:
LEXINGTON, SC — An attorney for the 18-year-old former Lexington High School student accused of stabbing to death a student at a rival school said Thursday his client will seek to invoke South Carolina’s “Stand Your Ground” law and not face murder charges.
At a bond hearing Thursday morning before Circuit Judge William Keesley, attorney Todd Rutherford said Kierin Dennis was in “fear for his life” and a “victim” rather than the aggressor in the death of Dutch Fork High School senior Da’Von Capers on Feb. 17 following a tension-filled high school basketball game between their two schools….
You may have last seen Rep. Rutherford in court action defending Rep. Ted Vick against a DUI charge, saying that the reason his client was walking so unsteadily was that he had a rock in his shoe. That made The Daily Mail. (OK, that’s the second time today the Mail has been invoked on this blog. It’s a steady job, but I want to be a paperback writer…)
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Sounds like Rep. Rutherford has our state’s laws in the crosshairs and is more concerned with scoring political points than he is with defending his client.
We have to stop with the Stand Your Ground business! It is license to kill for paranoids who carry weapons!
“Oh, no, son. That’s not the way it is. You kids have been nothin’ but punks. Sissified. So quick to pick up a gun. Too scared to take an ass-whipping. [Raises his fists] This is what makes you a man. When I was growing up, this was all the protection we needed. You win some, you lose some. But you live, you live to fight another day! Now you think you’re a man with a gun in your hands, don’t you?” -Mr. Jones in the movie “Friday”
Little Bill Daggett: Just hold it right there. Hold it…!
[Will Munny shoots and kills Skinny.]
Little Bill Daggett: Well, sir, you are a cowardly son of a b—-! You just shot an unarmed man!
Will Munny: Well, he should have armed himself…
Stand your ground? He buried the murder weapon in his neighbor’s yard. The guy who took a knife to Cook Out after the game is in the wrong. Period.
Why are we even debating such asinine projections as the “stand your ground” conceptualization anyway? It’s like trying to reason with a crazy person…
Lawyers argue lots of things on behalf of their clients. Rutherford’s job is to zealously advocate for his client, and that’s what he’s doing. If he’s not arguing every defense that he has a good-faith basis for, then he’s not doing his job.
Before we get all worked up about it, let’s let the Court make some determinations and see where things end up.
“…let’s let the [deciderers] make some [decides] and see where things end up.”
Here?
> Po-lice State, America 3/5ths – a -person Confederate- and or {worse!} > Nazi-America <
[…]
Agreed, Bryan. Todd is just doing his job.
It is the voters who are not.
Yes, But …
Did Todd Rutherford help pass SC’s stand your ground law? Is that not coming about as close to putting one’s career ahead of one’s elected office as we are likely to see. Stand your ground has made a bloody mess of right and wrong; something defense attorney’s must love, professionally speaking.
If someone like Shannon Scott is not convicted of murder, then something is seriously, fundamentally wrong with the law as written. That, ultimately is the voter’s responsibility to correct – but it is first the legislature’s failure to govern a civil society.
The Courts aren’t here to save us from what are arguably bad laws. (See, C.J. Roberts’ ruling on NFIB vs. HHS).
I was referring to Rutherford, although I believe the judge in the Scott case erred as well in accepting a broadening of an already broad allowance.
Hmm…given that I’m a short, elderly woman, arguably almost any man is capable of killing me with his bare hands. Given that fact, if a man makes a move or says something that I find threatening (or there’s no witness around to say otherwise) well, I have a little list, none of whom will ever be missed….
Hmmmm, if only there was an invention of some kind that could make a small, elderly woman the equal of a large man.
Anybody? Bueller…..Bueller….Bueller?
How about a 38 revolver?
They will never be missed.
On a “speaking out both sides of your mouth” note, Todd Rutherford was also the main speaker at the Trayvon Martin Rally in Columbia the other day.
From the news reports, it appears that Dennis wanted to put his life in danger by driving into the crowd. Dennis was looking for a fight!