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the lower court should have allowed Hawthorne drove away. the jury to consider the Castle Doctrine The jury didn’t see it that way; it acquitdefense. “Thomas was entitled to a jury in- ted Pannu of both charges. struction that properly covered his theory Smith said after the trial that he believed of defense under the Castle Doctrine,” Chief Judge L. Joseph Lee wrote in the decision. Thomas went to trial a second time on the charge last April. The court declared a mistrial and scheduled another trial for August. That third trial ended much the same as the second, with a hung jury and no decision. Despite state lawmakers’ attempt in 2006 People can invoke Mississippi’s Castle Doctrine from inside to make the Castle Docor in the immediate vicinity of a vehicle, a dwelling or a place of business. trine less ambiguous and more black and white, gray areas still exist, often leaving the determination of justifiable or the jury’s perceptions of crime in Jackson afunjustifiable homicide up to police, juries fected the decision. People fear being robbed and judges. and killed, he said, and he believed the jury For example, in August 2008, the same was trying to send a message that such bemonth Thomas shot and killed Harris, Sa- havior would not be tolerated. brinder Pannu shot and killed James HawDays after Pannu shot Hawthorne, thorne, 15, outside the J & S Food Mart on on Aug. 25, 2008, Terrance Prior entered a Medgar Evers Boulevard in Jackson. Haw- convenience store on Robinson Road wearthorne had stolen a case of beer and was in ing a mask and carrying a gun and robbed a car pulling away when Pannu shot and the store. killed him. After he left the building, the clerk Hinds County District Attorney Robert chased Prior, and shot and killed him. In Shuler Smith prosecuted Pannu for murder that case, law enforcement refused to press and for firing his weapon into an occupied charges against the shooter, citing the Castle vehicle. Smith argued that neither Pannu’s Doctrine. Authorities did not release the life nor anyone else’s life was in danger as shooter’s name.
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lorida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which received widespread media coverage after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin Feb. 26, 2012, is similar to Mississippi’s Castle Doctrine, with one major difference: location doesn’t matter. The law, Title XLVI, Ch. 776.012 of Florida law, a person can use deadly force and does not have the duty to retreat if “[h]e or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.” This provision allows a person to use defensive deadly force just about anywhere he or she feels threatened. The second provision of the law sets up the defense of one’s home, work or vehicle, much like Mississippi’s Castle Doctrine. The Florida law became a model for legislation that the American Legislative Exchange Council has promoted across the country. ALEC is a group made up of legislators, corporate organizations and lobbyists, including the National Rifle Association and Walmart, the nation’s leading gun retailer. In August 2005, NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer asked legislators and lobbyists at a meeting of ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task Force to adopt Florida’s stand-your-ground law as model legislation for other states. At the time, Walmart co-chaired the Criminal Justice Task Force, which accepted the NRA’s pitch. To date, more than two dozen states have adopted similar legislation that originated with ALEC and the NRA.
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