JACKSON, Miss. – “Stand Your Ground” is a Florida law that came up several times during the George Zimmerman Trial, it has to do with protecting yourself using deadly force in self-defense. In Mississippi’s justifiable homicide laws there are two sections that are similar to “Stand Your Ground,” the “Castle Doctrine” and “No Duty to Retreat.” To prove either, you must first prove self-defense.
According to Ole Miss Law Professor, Phillip Broadhead. self-defense consists of three things: the other person has to be the aggressor, they have to have some design or intention to do you great bodily harm or death, and they have to have the means by which to do you this great bodily harm or death.
“You cannot provoke someone and then use deadly force against them,” said Broadhead.
After you have established self defense, the “Castle Doctrine” allows you to use deadly force to defend yourself if you are in your own home, vehicle, or place of business.
In “No Duty to Retreat” you can use deadly force to defend yourself no matter where you are, as long as it is somewhere you are lawfully allowed to be and you are not doing anything illegal.
“The only difference between the two statues is, in Florida it says you have the right to stand your ground. Mississippi state doesn’t say that, but it goes a little further in the sense that the jury is allowed to be instructed by the judge that you can’t consider that the person did not try to retreat in your deliberations.”
You can check out Mississippi’s Justifiable Homicide laws here http://www.mscode.com/free/statutes/97/003/0015.htm
