My name is Latasha K. Davis and I am the sister of Calvin Davis. Please take a moment to watch this short video as I share with you who my brother is and what he means to our family and why we want to change the law.
Thank you.
Prior to the Stand Your Ground bill being passed in 2005 defendants with self defense claims had to prove that they used every reasonable means to retreat before using deadly force. Florida. Lawmakers seeing a flaw in this law set out to make a change.
Fl. Lawmakers believed the citizens of Fl. should have the right to stand their ground against any potential threat of bodily harm without the need to retreat and without the risk of incarceration.
The judges in Fl. cried out fearing the worse saying that if this proposed bill was allowed to pass it would open a flood gate of people dating back decade with claims that they themselves stood their ground in self defensed and should be exonerated. Instantly flooding the already crowded docket with cases to be re-examined.
Lawmakers feeling the judges had a valid point, but also feeling there was a dire need to pass the bill came to a middle ground with the judges. Passing the Stand Your Ground bill but making it non-retroactive. Meaning the bill would be applicable only to those making self defense claims after the signing of the bill. This was done knowing that there would eventually be protest from those currently serving time for standing their ground. Lawmakers however decided to pass what needed to be passed today and save the debate that they had to know would follow for a later date. 17 years later and still nothing has been done.
The time for change is now. In 2005 lawmakers saw a flaw in the way the law was being carried out in fl. and determinedly set out to correct that flaw. But what caused them to notice this flaw? What caused them to see that there was a need to make this change? Prior Cases! The cases that took place before 2005. Our cases! Our cases are the ones that provoked a change to the law, yet we’re the ones still suffering severe penalties behind bars because of the law.
Lawmakers changed the law to stop people from becoming incarcerated for standing their ground while defending themselves. Now they need to change the law to stop people from dying in prison who stood their ground while defending themselves.
Too often we see where other have been found justified on using the same or similar actions as we used in the same or similar situations. The only real difference being is we’ve been sentenced to die in prison.
Please! Don’t leave us here to die just to spare a few people a little extra world. The flood has dried-up. Please, Please open the gates.
Hello, my name is Calvin L. Davis Dept. of Corr. Number N06563. I was born on 10/09/77. On 12/17/99 at about 10:00 p.m. my life as well-as the lives of hundreds of others was changed forever.
This is my story. While attempting to leave the parking lot of a crowded post event gathering, I was abruptly cut off by another vehicle. The other vehicle sped upon the side of me before swerving in front of me causing me to slam on the brakes. I stopped short of hitting his driver’s side door by mere inches. The other vehicle driver just sat in his vehicle staring at me with a very odd stare. Dumbfounded by what had just occurred I sat in my vehicle staring at him in bewilderment. Wondering why he would possibly do what he had just done? We just sat there staring at one another for maybe 10 to 15 seconds before he finally pulled off going around the corner of the establishment. I stayed where I was for another 1 to 2 minutes while I and three friends who were in the car with me spoke with various other people who were all attempting to leave. Finally, I continued around the corner of the establishment only to find myself facing a roadblock of about 3 parked cars. I came to a stop approximately 20 to 25 ft. away from this roadblock. Noticing that one of the parked cars creating the roadblock was the one I just had an encounter with, I knew this was about to be trouble. I looked in my rear- view mirror and saw that traffic was already pulling up behind me preventing me from backing up.
Worried, not knowing why I was being target, I opened the driver’s side door and stood up between the door jam. Was met by aggressive posturing and shouts of “What’s up now” and” Yeah, what the fuck you gonna do now.” As these young men began to advance toward me, I reached back into the car and retrieved a firearm from behind the drivers seat. With the firearm in my hand pointed towards the ground, I stepped around to the front of the door so they could see I was now armed. My hope being that this would deter them from any further aggressive action. They halted their advancement and which I was truly grateful for, but they remained aggressive continuing to posture and yell threats. Such as “So what you got a gun.” We got guns to.” We continued back and forth for a while until someone known to both groups exited the crowd which had formed a semi-circle around our cars. He stepped into the clearing, stepping between us saying “Come on guys I know both of y’all. Y'all don’t do this.” He then turned to someone in the other group and said, “Come on man don’t do this.” The guy he addressed from the other group of young men (not the young man that eventually died) said “Alright it’s cool.” “we’re cool.” The guy from the other group then turned to me and said, “Everything Peace?” I looked at him nodded yeah and said “Yeah, everything peace.”
With a sign of relief that this ordeal was over, I put the gun in my front pocket and turned to get back in my car. That’s when a different young man from the other group (again – not the young man that died) started the arguing back up. As he did, he stepped further to the side of the group separating himself from the main body. I faced him but remained attentive to my surroundings. From my peripheral vision, I noticed someone sneaking up on me from behind.
From this point it seems that everything happened all at once. As I turned, a young man lunged at me pulling a small gun from under his shirt. When he lunged, I jumped back in shock while lifting the firearm that was gripped in my hand from my pocket. The young man from the other group that agreed to squash the ordeal tried reaching out to grab the assailant. Frantically I fired several shots at the assailant. Panicking from not knowing whether I was shooting him (or) if he was firing also and I was about to be shot. I just fired as fast as I could until eventually both young men fell away from me to the pavement. The assailant falling face forward. The other young man that attempted to stop him on his back. I stood there staring in horror and disbelief at what had just transpired. I can’t say if I stood there for 6 to 7 seconds or a full minute, but by the time sound, breath, and awareness returned to me the crowd had gone, and I was left alone standing over the two young men that had just fallen to the pavement. Suddenly, remembering that there were still members from the other group that were out there somewhere and would definitely try to killing me now, I jumped in my car and left.
As I said, in what seem a split second, blink of an eye, snap off a finger hundreds of lives were changed forever. A young man died. Another sent to prison for the rest of his life. Families and friends of both left devastated. And hundreds of people left distraught from an incident that they will never be able to erase from their minds.