Florida Task Force Looks For Changes In ‘Stand Your Ground’

Panel assembled by governor meets to examine controversial self-defense law

A task force created in the wake of the shooting death of Trayvon Martin meets Tuesday to begin examining Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

The panel’s meeting isn’t expected to include much more than housekeeping matters, the Associated Press reports. The group will meet in Tallahassee, Fla.

The meeting convenes as attorneys for George Zimmerman and Marissa Alexander prepare to mount self-defense cases applying the controversial self-defense law, although under different circumstances.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who created the Task Force On Citizen Safety and Protection after Martin’s death, said he has no “preconceived notions” on what the group will conclude. He does want the panel to “look at the Florida law that allows citizens to defend themselves with deadly force,” the AP reports.

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Zimmerman claims to have shot the 17-year-old unarmed Martin in self-defense, after the two scuffled in a Sanford, Fla. gated community two months ago. Alexander claimed self-defense when she fired a gun to defend herself against an attack from her abusive husband in their Jacksonville, Fla. home. No one was injured in that incident.

Zimmerman was been charged with second-degree murder in April, while a jury found Alexander guilty of three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon in March.

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