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.
Kinda. Fighting words have been so narrowed as to be functionally meaningless. Cohen v Californa (I think?) basically said “emotions alone aren’t enough.”
Practically, fighting words have to rise to the level of being reasonably interpreted as an imminent threat to get outside of First Amendment protection.
In this case, sounds like the assholes yelled their slurs and kept moving, so that wouldn’t justify the use of force.