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The stand your ground law took effect July 1 as part of sweeping firearms legislation signed by former Gov. Terry Branstad.

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An Iowa man accused of fatally shooting an attacker has been released and granted immunity under Iowa's new stand your groundlaw.

The court ruling filed Monday ordered the release of Kevin Duane Staley, 39, of Red Oak, who was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday. Staley acknowledged shootingDevin Alexander Davis, 27, of Villisca, on Oct. 11 near downtown Red Oak.

The new law says law-abiding people don't have to retreat before using deadly force if they believe they're in danger, even if they are wrong in estimating the danger they face.

District Judge James Heckerman said in his order that Staley was ambushed in an alley by two men wearing hoodies and bandannas as they screamed and ran toward him. Staley pulled his registered handgun after he was knocked down and shot Davis.Both attackers ran off, and Davis collapsed and died a few moments later. A knife was later found near Davis' body.

"A reasonable person being attacked in a dark alley by masked men would believe their life to be in jeopardy," Heckerman wrote in his order.

Staley's lawyer, DeShawne Bird-Sell, called the outcome "exactly in line with what the Legislature put in place" andpraised Heckerman for having "enough guts to actually rule" on the stand your ground issue.

"This is the very first of its kind in Iowa, the very first ruling," she said. "So I think it was groundbreaking."

Mark Swanson, an assistant Montgomery County attorney, called Staley's case "a great test case for this new statute" and said he doesn't believe his office will appeal.

"If youre legally carrying a concealed weapon and youre jumped in an alley, it probably tells you that you can shoot somebody," he said.

Swanson said prosecutors weren't aware of the statute when they began working on the case.

"It's brand new," he said. "We're just a small county. We haven't had this issue."

Heckerman said in his order that Iowa has not developed procedures to determine "stand your ground" immunity since the law took effect last July, so he relied onprecedent in other states, primarily Florida, which has had a stand your groundlaw in effect since 2005.

He found Staley had acted in accordance with the law, based upon a preponderance of the evidence standard.

Bird-Sell agreed that Iowa law is not clear onhow to raise the issue of immunity under stand your ground.

"No, absolutely not," she said. "The Legislature has determined that this is our statute; however, they give you no implementation of the statute when they write this law."

In other states that have stand your ground laws, Bird-Sell said, it has taken years for procedure to be established through case law or through legislative revision.

"Alabama went through and actually legislated what the procedure is," she said.

She said it would be helpful for the Legislature to revisit the statute to clarify what procedures to follow, but added that many legislators aren't familiar with how pretrial procedures work and that someone familiar with Iowa's criminal law system should be involved in drafting such arevision.

For instance, Bird-Sell said, many Iowans, including attorneys and police officers, don't realize that thelaw allows defendants to claim complete immunity from prosecution rather than simply claiming self-defense at trial, which they could already do under existing law.

Heckerman's approach of holding a pretrial evidentiary hearingon stand your groundimmunity differed from the procedure followed in another Iowa case where the defendant used a stand your ground defense.

In that case, Johnson County District Court Judge Paul Miller chose to let Lamar C. Wilson's case go to trial rather than holding a pretrial evidentiary hearing, as Wilson's lawyers requested. Miller said such a hearing could give a defendant "a preview of the state's case against him."

Wilson was convicted earlier this month of voluntary manslaughter, intimidation with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault for fatally shooting one man and injuring two others onIowa City's pedestrian mall. But even after being convicted, Wilson could still receive immunity under stand your ground and be released if Miller rules in his favor. A hearing to decide the issuewill be held next week in Johnson County.

A judge last year ruledthat the defense was not valid for a Des Moines woman accused of killing her stepfather because the slaying occurred before the law took effect.

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Iowa 'stand your ground' law prompts release of slaying ...

The state of Iowa is fairly new to the Stand Your Ground game. It only recently passed the law, which simply states that there is no duty to retreat from an attacker prior to using lethal force.

Now, it seems the law will get its first test. Unfortunately for one man, it has entered the realm of the bizarre in how its being applied(emphasis mine).

Prior to Gov. Terry Branstad signing the SYG bill passed inApril 2017by the legislature into law, Iowans needed to make a reasonable effortto retreatfrom a perceived danger before using deadly force, unless they were in their homes or reasonably believed themselves to be in immediate danger of death or severe injury.

The facts in the Ped Mall shooting case werent in dispute. Wilson admitted shooting the three men who confronted him on the Ped Mall in the earlier hours of Aug. 27. The prosecution did not dispute that those three men were armed. But in a pre-trial hearing, Judge Paul Miller ruled that whether the SYG law applied in Wilsons case would only be considered in a post-conviction hearing, if he was convicted.

Since the legislature did not specify at what stage in a criminal proceeding a SYG defense should apply, Miller relied on the 1989Iowa Supreme Court rulinginState v. Kingto make his decision. In that case, the defendant claimed a state law providing immunity to anyone reporting a case of child abuse should apply to her, because even though she was the person who injured the child, she was also the person who brought the child to the doctor for treatment. The trial court judge in that case ruled that the immunity claim would not be considered until after the jurys verdict. The state Supreme Court upheld that decision.

Im sorry, but thats just weird.

If the facts are as presented here, it sounds like a slam-dunk case of self-defense. After all, if three armed men confront me, Im not likely to assume theyre merely there because they want to invite me to afternoon tea.

As the original source linked above noted, there is a profound inconsistency in how Stand Your Ground laws are applied. Sometimes law enforcement uses the law to not forward the case to a prosecutor, other times prosecutors use it to justify not prosecuting, and so on. Theres no real rhyme or reason.

Of course, theres a reason for that profound inconsistency.

When an investigator looks at the facts, he may easily be able to tell that its an instance of Stand Your Ground and that theres no reason to forward the case. In others, the investigator may not be so sure and will send it on so an actual attorney can take a look. Still, other times, judges see where a case should never have come to trial, so they dismiss it.

Even non-Stand Your Ground related self-defense cases go through similar inconsistencies.

That said, having a trial first andthen a hearing to determine if a Stand Your Ground law applies goes beyond the ridiculous. Why waste taxpayer money on a trial when a hearing may invalidate it in the first place? Why not have the hearing first so as to avoid the hassle of a trial if its determined to apply to the defendant?

Honestly, this makes no sense at all. Absolutely none.

See more here:
Iowa's First Test Of 'Stand Your Ground' Law Enters Realm ...

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WEST PALM BEACH (CBSMiami) A deputy, previously charged with manslaughter, could soon be back on patrol.

This after an appeals court upheld the dismissal of a manslaughter charge against BSO Deputy Peter Peraza for shooting and killingJermaine McBean who was holding an air rifle.

The court had been trying to decide whether Floridas Stand Your Ground law was applied correctly in the case.

As far as Deputy Peraza is concerned, based upon my review of the opinion, its game over for him. In other words, I believe that hes prevailed, said Perazas attorneyEric Schwartzreich.

Investigators say McBean, was carrying an unloaded air rifle into his Oakland Park apartment complex back in 2013 when Deputy Peraza shot and killed him.

In this undated photo provided by Jennifer Young, Jermaine McBean, left, with his grandmother Sylvia McDonald pose for a photo at Jermaines graduation from Pace University. Jermaine McBean was shot by a sheriffs deputy while carrying an air rifle in 2013. (Source: AP)

Perazas attorney said his client was trying to defend himself when he shot at McBean and that stand your ground applies since he gets the same protection as everyone else.

Deputy Peraza should have never been charged and the men and women that wear the uniform need to know that based upon this ruling they can go out there and keep our community safe and do their job, saidSchwartzreich.

A law enforcement officer is a person as defined in the stand your ground statue. As a result of that, law enforcement officers are allowed to defend themselves, said well-known South Florida attorney David Weinstein.

Prosecutors argued that stand your ground wasnt meant to apply to police officers.

The attorney for the McBean family said they are devastated and still want a jury to decide whether hes guilty or innocent.

The family has been sad since day one. All theyve wanted in this case is for Peraza to have a day in court before a jury in which a jury can hear all of the evidence for and against him, said McBeans family attorney David Schoen. Whatever the cause was for what he did that day, he took a life unlawfully.

McBean, who was a computer engineer, suffered from bi-polar disease and was taking medication. His family believes he bought the air rifle on a whim on that fateful day.

His family said he was wearing earbuds listening to music, and likely never heard the commands to drop his air rifle.

Deputy Peraza said he feared for his life when he opened fire.

McBeans family maintains he never pointed the air gun at anyone.

Their job is to protect the citizens and you dont shoot someone before hes really, actually pointing it at you which didnt happen, said McBeans mother Jennifer Young.

The appeals court also wants Floridas Supreme Court to determine if cops can use stand your ground defense.

More:
Court: 'Stand Your Ground' Law Applies To Deputy Who Killed Man - CBS Miami

OTTUMWA A district court judge has ruled Venhure Tsegay will not be allowed to use Iowas stand your ground law as a defense at his murder trial.

Tsegay is accused of shooting and killing a 16-year-old last fall. Tsegays attorney has filed papers indicating he will use a claim of self defense at trial, and had filed further papers requesting that the law, which went into effect July 1, be retroactively applied to Tsegays pending case.

The court didnt accept that argument. Judge Lucy Gamon said Iowa law applies prospectively, to future cases only, unless the legislature specifically intends a change to be applied retrospectively. Gamon noted the legislators did not do so in this case.

The Iowa legislature did not specify that the stand your ground law was to apply retrospectively. Thus, the Court presumes that the legislature meant the law to apply prospectively only, Gamon wrote.

Gamons ruling bars the defense from using a stand your ground strategy for the time being, but this may not be the final word on the subject. The defense has filed a reply asking that Gamon reconsider. That filing says Gamons ruling did not take into account exceptions to the presumption laws should apply only to future cases.

Other filings in the case indicate the defense has begun the process of deposing witnesses.

Tsegays trial is currently set for mid-October, though delays are common in murder cases. Tsegay faces a life sentence if convicted.

In other area cases:

The defense in the arson and assault case against Michael Heady, Sr., has sought a continuance. The filing says all sides agree on the request. Heady was shot by police after allegedly setting a house on fire in 2016, firing into it, and pointing a rifle at officers.

The city has applied to the court for inspection of Larry Clabaughs property on North Court Street, a site that was the subject of a court fight earlier this year. Clabaugh sought to use the property for a massive car auction. Neighbors and the city objected. The city also accused Clabaugh of multiple violations of city code.

The new filing says Clabaugh has continued to violate municipal ordinances and new violations have also occurred requiring citations. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 11.

Gregory Hawks charge of assault causing serious injury was dismissed as part of a plea bargain that saw him enter an Alford plea to assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. An Alford plea does not admit guilt, but accepts that there is enough evidence to likely result in such a verdict.

Hawk received a one-year suspended prison sentence on that charge. It will run concurrently with a five-year suspended prison sentence and five years probation on a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

A charge of possessing contraband, specifically a sharpened stick and several other items, has been added to Armando Levyas case. He already faced charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse and assault with the intent to commit sexual abuse.

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Court disallows 'stand your ground' defense - Ottumwacourier

Bradenton Herald

Already charged with murder, Eugene Matthews is now being sued Bradenton Herald Matthews has not denied shooting his gun but his attorney has argued in court that he has a defense based on Florida's Stand Your Ground law because the Rawsons came onto his property unannounced after dark, broke through his locked gate and kicked ...

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Already charged with murder, Eugene Matthews is now being sued - Bradenton Herald