NATIONAL
June 26, 2012 | By Molly Hennessy-Fiske
HOUSTON -- Attorneys for a Houston-area man convicted of murder despite claiming self-defense under Texas' version of a "stand-your-ground" law were expected to present more character witnesses Tuesday as jurors consider his sentence. Raul Rodriguez, 46, was convicted of murder June 13 and faces up to life in prison for the 2010 killing of neighbor Kelly Danaher, 36, an elementary school teacher. Among those expected to testify Tuesday is Rodriguez's wife. Rodriguez, a retired Houston-area firefighter living in Huffman, an unincorporated area 30 miles northeast of Houston, had gone to Danaher's home to complain about the noise coming from a party.
NATIONAL
June 12, 2012 | By Rene Lynch
Trayvon Martin's parents appeared before a task force in Florida on Tuesday to denounce the way the state's controversial "stand your ground" law can be used to protect aggressors. Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton believe that's what happened in the case of their son, who was unarmed when he was shot and killed in February by a neighborhood watch volunteer. "They need to amend these laws," Fulton said, according to the Orlando Sentinel, which was covering the task force hearing.
NATIONAL
March 28, 2012 | By Dalina Castellanos
When a burglar carrying a bag of stolen car stereos swung it at Greyston Garcia's head, Garcia swung back with his fist - in which he clutched a kitchen knife. Garcia recovered the bag, which held his own stereo, and went home thinking he'd seen the burglar run away uninjured. But the burglar later died and, months after the Jan. 25, 2011, confrontation, Garcia was facing a second-degree murder charge in a Miami-Dade County courtroom. Garcia claimed self-defense, citing Florida's 7-year-old “stand your ground” law, which is also at the center of the Trayvon Martin shooting case.
OPINION
March 26, 2012
Harder than it looks Re " Making connections ," Column One, March 21 Making connections by teaching elders to use computers is a wonderful idea. However, I seriously object to the "sensitivity training" given to the university students in preparation for their teaching experience. Simulations - using props such as earplugs, gloves, tape and diapers - do not provide a sense of the "lived experience" of being older. Many in the disability community reject these simulations as demeaning.
NATIONAL
March 25, 2012 | By Tina Susman and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
It has been called "obscene," "stupid" and the "right-to-commit-murder law. " It has also been credited with protecting people like Sarah McKinley, a young widow who killed a knife-wielding man after he broke into her Oklahoma home. Opinions about so-called "stand your ground" legislation - at the center of the Trayvon Martin killing in Sanford, Fla. - are as vastly different as the cases in which it has been invoked since Florida in 2005 became the first state to adopt such a statute.
NATIONAL
March 22, 2012 | By Tina Susman and Michael Muskal
Bill Lee temporarily stepped down Thursday as police chief of Sanford, Fla., in the wake of complaints about how he handled the case of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch officer. At a televised news conference, Lee announced that he was stepping aside because his leadership has become a distraction and had overshadowed the events of Feb. 26, when Martin, 17, was shot by George Zimmerman. “As a former homicide investigator, a career law enforcement officer and a father, I am keenly aware of the emotions associated with this tragic death of a child,” said Lee, who took the top police spot in May after his predecessor was pushed out because of another racially charged scandal.