Wyoming’s “Stand Your Ground” law says you don’t have to run from a confrontation before defending yourself. That is what Rihanna Kelver and her counsel are asking a Laramie judge to consider as they seek protection from prosecution in a felony case stemming from a confrontation outside the Crowbar.
I can’t find the actual video, but the descriptions I can find of the video will make it difficult to rely on self defense and stand your ground, per the language of the law in Wyoming.
She could be considered by a judge or jury the “initial aggressor” by approaching the three men, which negates stand your ground in WY. Or the guys could be considered the initial aggressors as they were yelling slurs at her. The video descriptions say she was walking toward them with her hand near her hip as if ready to pull a weapon, but the descriptions also say you can’t see where she was keeping the gun (it was found afterward in her bag… after she told the police she pulled a knife not a gun, and no knife was found).
The descriptions I’ve read (again, I haven’t found the video yet) say that the dude pushed her down and to the side as part of his walking forward motion and continued walking forward away from her. After she hit the ground she pulled her gun, while they were walking away from her.
Counterpoints:
It was a three on one situation while she was on the ground. That’s scary shit for anyone.
She didn’t shoot the gun at all, just pulled it to let it be known that the situation has changed and she is afraid enough to use it. She testified she pointed the gun at him briefly, so that is almost as dangerous as actually pulling the trigger.
Yeah, I do feel bad for her, but if a group of people are insulting you from a distance, approaching them is the exact opposite of the right thing to do.
If I’m in the woods and I see a bear that starts huffing at me, approaching it is a really bad move (bears do that to tell you to fuck off).
And turn the situation around:
Some dude is standing outside a country-western bar when 3 black women start calling him a racist redneck. He runs over there to start shit, and they push him to the ground. How angry would we be if he pulled a gun on them in that moment?