A Florida woman who shot her mother is using Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law to claim self-defense.
Shireeka Wilson says she needed to defend herself against her mother Valerie Rushing, who approached her at a convenience store in November 2011. Footage from a surveillance camera at the T&S Food Mart shows Rushing walking into the store apparently looking for her daughter. When Wilson walked towards her mother, Rushing attacked her, according to USA Today.
Stand Your Ground allows people to use deadly force, if needed, during an attack in which they feel their life is being threatened or the attack will cause great bodily harm to them.
“[Rushing] said that she had planned to kill Shireeka,” said attorney Rhonda Peoples-Waters. “Or she at least told Shireeka that she was going to kill her.”
Wilson subsequently shot Rushing in the neck, and she has survived. Rushing later asked to have all charges dropped against her daughter, but the state denied the request. Rushing admitted she went to Wilson’s job to seriously cause harm to her.
[Image: Shutterstock]
The Stand Your Ground law has been widely contested after being used as a defense in the George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn cases in which Black youths were the victims. However, these types of laws haven’t offered much protection for Black people seeking to defend themselves. Marissa Alexander, a black woman who was facing 20 years in jail for firing a warning shot at her abusive ex-husband, was not allowed to use Stand Your Ground as her defense.
A push has been made to tweak the wording of the laws to prevent murders like Trayvon Martin’s and Jordan Davis’ from reoccurring. Several lawmakers and advocates have proposed their assistance
Wilson was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. A judge is expected to make a ruling within the next few days to determine Wilson’s fate.