Stand your ground a dangerous smoke screen that should be repealed in Ohio

Due to the complexity of the law, non-lawyers might misunderstand what Ohio self-defense law was before “stand your ground” became the law as the result of the passage of Senate Bill 175, and what self-defense law is now.

That was apparent from an April 5 Dispatch article on the enactment of the new law.

Before April 11, self-defense law did not require “a person to attempt to retreat in public before firing a weapon.”

Years ago the Ohio Supreme Court held that there was no obligation to retreat when an individual was in public and being assaulted — if his/her life was in imminent danger.  Stand your ground is a “solution” that creates an imagined, nonexistent problem.

Stand your ground does change “the standard for using lethal force.”

More:Dayton mayor unhappy as Gov. Mike DeWine signs ‘stand your ground’ legislation into law

Ohio common law had been that self-defense was available only if the defendant had a bona fide belief that she was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and that her only means of escape was the use of force.

In contrast, stand your ground provides that deadly force or great bodily harm does not have to be threatened to use deadly force in response — any threat to a residence or safety can be sufficient.

Stand your ground eases the standard for permitted use of deadly force.

Under stand your ground, a defendant does not have “to be able to articulate why” he or she shot someone.