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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Florida became the first state with a law that spells out that prosecutors, and not defendants, have the burden of proof in pretrial stand your ground hearings when Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday.

The measure was among 16 bills that Scott signed, including a bill that gives students and school employees a broader right to express their religious viewpoint in schools.

The stand your ground bill was fought by prosecutors who say it will make their job more difficult to convict people who commit acts of violence and claim self-defense.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that defendants have to prove in pretrial hearings that they were defending themselves in order to avoid prosecution on charges for a violent act.

That led Republicans to seek to shift that burden. They argued that it protects a defendants constitutional right that presumes they are innocent until proven guilty. But opponents said it will embolden people to shoot to kill, and then claim self-defense knowing that the only witness against them can no longer testify.

Only four of the other 21 states with stand your ground laws mention burden of proof Alabama, Colorado, Georgia and South Carolina and all place it on defendants.

Many states have long invoked the castle doctrine, allowing people to use deadly force to defend themselves in their own homes.

Florida changed that in 2005, so that even outside a home, a person has no duty to retreat and can stand his or her ground anywhere they are legally allowed to be. Other states followed suit, and stand your ground defenses became much more common in pre-trial immunity hearings and during trials.

The 2012 killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman opened a debate about the limits of self-defense, and it hasnt let up since Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder after jurors received instructions on Floridas stand your ground law.

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Florida law shifts burden of proof in 'stand your ground' - News Talk Florida

by: Jeff Levkulich Updated: Jun 9, 2017 - 7:43 PM

The man convicted last year of trying to kill George Zimmerman will be back in a Seminole County courtroom next week.

Matthew Apperson filed a motion asking the judge to correct errors he claims were made with the sentence he received.

The motion asks the judge to correct the sentence on count three, which is aggravated assault with a firearm.

Even if he wins, it will have no effect on his prison sentence, unless his case is overturned on appeal.

Apperson was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years behind bars in October on a charge of second-degree attempted murder stemming from a 2015 road rage incident with Zimmerman on Lake Mary Boulevard.

Apperson claimed throughout the trial that he was defending himself.

He is also serving 15 years on a charge of shooting into an occupied vehicle and aggravated assault with a firearm.

According to a 77-page motion, Apperson accused the court of sentencing errors in regard to those two charges.

"It's important in any prosecution that the court gets it right," said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.

Sheaffer said that even if the judge corrects Apperson's sentencing guidelines on counts two and three, it will have little impact on his overall sentencing, because his sentences are running concurrently.

"The only way this is going to make any difference is if he wins his appeal on the attempted murder charge. Otherwise he is going to be serving that mandatory 20-year sentence on that charge," Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer added that if Apperson hits a home run with his legal hurdles, he could knock a year and a half off his sentence for the lesser charges.

The case is still pending.

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Man who shot at George Zimmerman files motion claiming judge made errors in sentencing - WFTV Orlando

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) Florida became the first state with a law that spells out that prosecutors, and not defendants, have the burden of proof in pretrial stand your ground hearings when Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday.

The measure was among 16 bills that Scott signed, including a bill that gives students and school employees a broader right to express their religious viewpoint in schools.

The stand your ground bill was fought by prosecutors who say it will make their job more difficult to convict people who commit acts of violence and claim self-defense.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that defendants have to prove in pretrial hearings that they were defending themselves in order to avoid prosecution on charges for a violent act.

That led Republicans to seek to shift that burden. They argued that it protects a defendants constitutional right that presumes they are innocent until proven guilty. But opponents said it will embolden people to shoot to kill, and then claim self-defense knowing that the only witness against them can no longer testify.

Only four of the other 21 states with stand your ground laws mention burden of proof Alabama, Colorado, Georgia and South Carolina and all place it on defendants.

Many states have long invoked the castle doctrine, allowing people to use deadly force to defend themselves in their own homes.

Florida changed that in 2005, so that even outside a home, a person has no duty to retreat and can stand his or her ground anywhere they are legally allowed to be. Other states followed suit, and stand your ground defenses became much more common in pre-trial immunity hearings and during trials.

The 2012 killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman opened a debate about the limits of self-defense, and it hasnt let up since Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder after jurors received instructions on Floridas stand your ground law.

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Florida law shifts burden of proof in 'stand your ground' - WTOP

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Florida Governor Rick Scott signed amended "stand your ground" legislation on Friday, making it easier for defendants in the state to successfully claim they were protecting themselves when they commit violence.

Previously, the law required defendants to prove that they were using force in self-defense. The new law shifts the burden of proof in pretrial hearings to prosecutors, rather than defendants, to prove whether force was used lawfully.

Supporters of stand your ground laws, including the National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, see the legislation as bolstering civilians' right to protect themselves.

Florida's self-defense law was initially passed in 2005, and inspired similar laws in other states. It removes the legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation and allows the use of deadly force when a person feels greatly threatened.

Opponents have said the amended law will embolden gun owners to shoot first, citing the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in the Orlando area, which spurred national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The neighborhood watchman who killed him, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder after the state's stand your ground law was included in jury instructions.

Scott, a Republican, signed the amended legislation into law along with a spate of other measures passed this week in a special session of the state's legislature. The measure was largely passed by party-line vote in the legislature.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Editing by Patrick Enright and Lisa Shumaker)

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Florida governor signs bolstered 'stand your ground' law - Reuters

Sanya Gragg, a University of Memphis grad, has penned a book titled, "Momma, Did You Hear the News?" which shows black children what to do in police encounters.(Photo: Photo of book cover provided by Sanya Gragg)

Its been a minute since Sanya Whittaker Gragg was in Memphis.

A Nashville native, Gragg graduated with a marketing degree from the University of Memphis in 1992, during a time when she was pretty much insulated from the crack cocaine epidemic that raged around her and propelled Memphis murder rate to highs that are now being repeated.

But it was a text from her son in 2012 that made Gragg realize that the collateral damage from that epidemic the presumption by some law enforcement officers and vigilantes that all black men were prone to criminality and dangerousness could also get him killed.

When George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, my son Avery sent me a text saying, OK, mom, now Im scared,' said Gragg, referring to 2012 when Zimmerman, a self-appointed watchman, stalked Martin as he walked home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., and wound up fatally shooting him after Martin confronted him about following him.

What happened to Trayvon made it real for him.

It made it real for Gragg, as well.

As did the fatal shootings of other unarmed African-American men one of the most recent being in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband, Tulsa University athletic director Derrick Gragg, Avery, who is now 20, Phillip-Raymond, 16, and her 3-year-old daughter, Saniyah.

Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby fatally shot unarmed Terence Crutcher last September during a traffic stop after he didnt respond to commands to stop.

Shelby said she feared for her life. A jury didnt quite buy that, but acquitted her of manslaughter anyway.

Thats why Gragg, torn between her instincts as a mother to protect her sons and her anger at the injustice of them dying at the hands of police or others who might interpret their appearance or actions as threatening, decided to write a book to help black boys live to fight another day.

Her book, titled Momma, Did You Hear the News? explains how to do that.

Through the voice of 10-year-old Avery, named after her oldest son, Gragg shows the anxieties of black boys after they hear of police shootings, and explains, in an easy way, what they can do to avoid becoming a casualty of police overreaction and stereotype.

One boy was eating SkittlesDad, I like to eat them too! Another played his music loud. Just like I sometimes do, reads part of the book.

To reduce that anxiety, Gragg introduced a mantra that she calls, Memorize The 5. The five being:

A-Always Use Your Manners

L-Listen and Comply

I-In Control of Your Emotions

V-Visible Hands Always

E-Explain Everything

Graggs book, which was released in April, was number one in Amazons hot new childrens book releases for a while. It now ranks 32 among Amazons 100 best sellers for childrens books that deal with violence.

Im surprised that its having that kind of success, Gragg said. But thats why I did it from the perspective of a 10-year-old

Ive been talking to my boys about this forevermy fear is that someone is going to see them, and have this preconceived notion of who they are, and they are going to wind up dead.

Graggs fear is justified. And her advice is wise and practical and along the lines of laying down safety rules for children.

But while its great that the University of Memphis can boast of a graduate who wrote a book that will help children deal with one of the most pressing issues of today, it still belies a disturbing reality.

The reality is that Gragg should be writing childrens books about the birds and the bees, or the joys of cooking or reading or exploring a museum.

But because of crimes connected to the drug trade and the stereotypes of black men that have been spawned by it in the 1990s the problem was racial profiling and police stopping black men in luxury cars she had to write a book instructing youths like her sons on how to protect themselves against those who are supposed to be protecting them.

Thats unfair.

But she had to do it because following these rules can make the difference between boys like Avery and Phillip-Raymond coming home to their loved ones in a car or their loved ones coming to see them in a coffin.

I see it as the same as them wearing a seatbelt, Gragg said. It may be uncomfortable, and even somewhat humiliating, but at the end of the day, it will save your life.

All I want is for them to come home alive.

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University of Memphis grad pens book to show black youths how not to get killed by police - The Commercial Appeal