In North Carolina, we were taught that SYG doesn't apply if you started the altercation.
However, if you started it and attempted to retreat, but the opponent will not let you drop the argument, it is considered a new incident and SYG may apply.
I have never understood SYG, maybe you can explain it to me.
In your home, there is an obvious aggressor and an obvious defender.
On the street, s*** starts all kinds of ways. If you are carrying, that still does not mean that you ought to walk into obvious trouble. In fact, I’ve always been taught that, when you are carrying, you should go the extra mile to stay out of trouble.
When trouble finds you, that’s different. But does SYG mean that, if you start a fight you can’t finish that you have deadly force as a backup? That doesn’t seem right.
“does SYG mean that, if you start a fight you can’t finish that you have deadly force as a backup?”
No. You are the one ground would be stood against.
In context, consider the legal concept of “felony murder”: you commit a felony, somebody dies as a consequence (heart attack from the stress, gets run over by accident, somebody shoots your co-conspirator, whatever), you are guilty of murder. Same idea re: SYG - you commit a felony, things get out of hand, someone finds reason to threaten you, you don’t get SYG because you are the threat or origin thereof.
IANAL.
In North Carolina, we were taught that SYG doesn't apply if you started the altercation.
However, if you started it and attempted to retreat, but the opponent will not let you drop the argument, it is considered a new incident and SYG may apply.
Not necessarily. What the law gives the homeowner is a presumption that the use of force was justified, but the presumption is rebuttable.
-- But does SYG mean that, if you start a fight you can't finish that you have deadly force as a backup? --
"It depends." Under Florida law, see FS 776.041 - Use of force by aggressor.
The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:If you start a fistfight, intending to bruise your opponent, and your opponent escalates to baseball bat, samurai sword or handgun, you are allowed to defend your life.(1) Is attempting to commit, committing, or escaping after the commission of, a forcible felony; or
(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:
(a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or
(b) In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.