WWSB ABC 7 | New Stand Your Ground Law Makes It Easier to Claim Self Defense ... WWSB ABC 7 SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB)--Florida is the first state in the nation to change it's stand your ground law, now shifting the burden of proof in pre-trial hearings to the ... |
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New Stand Your Ground Law Makes It Easier to Claim Self Defense ... - WWSB ABC 7
Now, theyve really done it. Floridas gun-happy, National Rifle Association-controlled Legislature has turned an already dangerous, unpopular law into an unmitigated disaster.
Its nothing short of legislative malpractice. Floridas infamous stand your ground law with a long-running, well-documented history of flagrant misuse has now been elevated into a virtual license to kill.
Already weighted heavily in favor of trigger-happy shooters (freed of any duty to retreat), new changes to the law will not only increase shootings but discourage legitimate prosecutions.
Previously, shooters charged with a crime bear in mind, many acts of self-defense never result in criminal charges could obtain immunity at a pretrial hearing if they were able to show, by a preponderance of the evidence (the lowest evidentiary standard), that the shooting was justified.
Now, thats been turned upside down. Bent on giving shooters an even better shot at immunity, lawmakers have mandated that the government, in pretrial hearings, must demonstrate the exact opposite; namely, that defendants self-defense claim is totally meritless. And, they must do so pursuant to a decidedly higher evidentiary standard (clear and convincing evidence).
Phil Archer, the state attorney for Floridas Space Coast counties, rightfully accuses lawmakers of being anti-law enforcement. In effect, [i]ts saying [they] dont trust law enforcement either at the arresting stage or filing stage, and that state attorneys dont understand a self-defense case, Archer told the Washington Post.
Archer and other prosecutors not only foresee a dramatic increase in pretrial hearings because the revised law virtually guarantees that every defense attorney will, instinctively, seek immunity they also anticipate fewer prosecutions being pursued in the first instance. (Key note: The law applies to a wide array of violent acts, including domestic violence, perpetrated with guns or other lethal weapons.)
Indeed, as University of California at Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler pointed out to the Post: (Floridas) new revised stand-your-ground law may really inhibit the proper functioning of the judicial system. Its an extraordinary departure, because no other criminal defendant gets the benefit of a (full-fledged) trial before a trial, in which prosecutors must prove the necessity of a subsequent trial (to weigh actual guilt).
But, for law-abiding Floridians, the risk goes beyond such legal niceties. With legislators making it far easier for those prone to violence to escape punishment, being on guard against angry gun-toting enforcers is no longer the exclusive concern of those living in marginalized neighborhoods.
In fact, everyday activities like driving a car (think road rage), attending a raucous sporting event or political rally, waiting in an over-crowded airport line, lingering outside an ice cream parlor, sitting in a suburban movie theater, getting gas at a convenience store, or just walking home from a convenience store can quickly turn deadly, if someone with a gun suddenly becomes agitated. The last four examples, of course, depict the locale of actual stand your ground cases in Florida.
Unnecessarily hyperbolic? Perhaps. I just think Florida lawmakers have acted in an exceedingly reckless fashion needlessly endangering the lives of everyone living in and visiting our state. Theyve bolstered an already indefensible law, without public support, and in open defiance of a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that specifically rejected the perverse approach theyve now adopted.
Its totally outrageous. Instead of protecting citizens with sensible, yet limited gun-control measures something that, contrary to the fallacious, fanatical claims of Second Amendment absolutists, is fully permissible under both the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court rulings Florida lawmakers seem intent on emboldening citizens to solve disputes with guns. And, of course, this comes on top of the state continuing to issue record numbers of concealed weapons permits and the legislature continuing to expand the public places where guns can be taken.
If this revised law, as anticipated, results in a substantial spike in stand your ground cases, allowing more miscreants (and vigilante types) to be shielded from prosecution again, not to be confused with citizens having legitimate self-defense claims (who are rarely charged) its not going too far to say that Florida lawmakers will have real blood on their hands. I hope Im way off base, but the history of this misguided, ill-conceived law suggests otherwise.
Carl Ramey, a retired communications attorney and monthly contributor to The Sun, lives in Gainesville.
Excerpt from:
Carl Ramey: On guard against stand your ground - Gainesville Sun
Bob Irwin highlights the latest self defense and other shootings of the week. Read them and see what went wrong, what went right and what we can learn from self defense with a gun.
USA -(Ammoland.com)- The Associated Press reported March 13, 2017, The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of two men who were charged with aggravated battery but said they were acting in self-defense in stabbing or shooting others.
The high courts ruling Friday rejected a tougher rule for determining when someone can avoid prosecution under the states 2006 Stand Your Ground law.
The Kansas Court of Appeals had ruled in each case that when someone seeks to avoid prosecution on self-defense grounds, a trial-court judge must view evidence in the light most favorable for the prosecution in deciding whether a case goes to trial.
The Supreme Court said the judge must weigh evidence impartially.
Background info: The Las Vegas Review Journal published an Associated Press Story this week that reads in part:
Florida doesn't just want to let people stand their ground, it also wants to make the state prove they didn't commit violence in self-defense before taking them to trial.
Only four of the 22 or more states with stand your ground type laws mention this burden of proof. Alabama, Colorado, Georgia & South Carolina all place the burden on defendants.
Bob Irwin, Las Vegas
About Bob Irwin
Bob is retired after 30 years of ownership of The Gun Store & Indoor Range in Las Vegas. He continues his 2A issues show Fired Up with Bob Irwinon YouTube and on KSHP 1400 AM radio (Sunday mornings at 9 a.m.) As a firearm instructor of Concealed Firearm Applicants, Armed Security Officer and Law Enforcement Academies over his career, Bob appears frequently as an expert witness for firearm & use of force cases in Federal, State and local courts.
Excerpt from:
Burden Of Proof and Stand Your Ground - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News
BAY COUNTY, Fla. - On June 9th, Governor Scott signed sixteen bills in to law. Two of the bills modify the "Stand your Ground" law.
The Self-Defense Immunity bill doesn't change the concept of stand your ground, but what it does is affect the procedure for how it's presented and defended. The phrase "clear and convincing" in the bill is a higher standard of proof but not the same level of proof that prosecutors must clear at trial. The procedure will make it much easier for the defense because they don't have to present as much evidence, whereas the prosecution has a higher burden initially.
"As a prosecutor, what it means is the things that we've been taking to trial...will not get to trial. You know, if we go the way it's going now, with "clear and convincing", a judge could very well say you know I've heard a lot of stuff but I'm not clearly convinced about anything. So therefore the immunity attaches at which point we'd have to take an appeal" said State Attorney, Glenn Hess.
The bills go into effect on July 1st.
The rest is here:
New Bills Modify Stand Your Ground Law - My Panhandle
A Florida appeals court is considering whether to uphold a Broward circuit judges dismissal of a manslaughter charge against a Broward Sheriffs deputy who fatally shot a man armed with an unloaded air rifle, or to send the case to trial.
A grand jury indicted Deputy Peter Peraza, 38, for manslaughter in the death of computer engineer Jermaine McBean, 33. The sheriffs office suspended Peraza after his arrest.
McBean carried a realistic-looking rifle while walking along North Dixie Highway in Oakland Park and onto the grounds of his apartment complex on July 31, 2013, and Peraza shot and killed him.
Defense attorney Eric Schwartzreich has argued that Peraza opened fire when McBean turned toward him and other deputies and seemed to be raising the rifle as if to shoot it at them while tenants used a nearby swimming pool.
McBeans family said he could not have heard deputies orders to drop the weapon because he was wearing ear buds.
During a hearing, Broward Circuit Judge Michael Usan accepted Perazas defense that Floridas stand your ground law -- which allows the use of deadly force to stop an imminent threat -- applied to the deputys actions. Usan dismissed the manslaughter charge on July 27, 2016 and the case did not go to trial.
On Tuesday morning, three judges with the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach heard arguments by Melanie Dale Surber, senior assistant attorney general, who seeks to overturn Usans ruling.
The trial court in this case erred as a matter of law when it found that the defendant could proceed under the stand your ground statute, Surber said. Another law that gives police immunity should have been used in Perazas defense, she said.
She also argued there were facts surrounding the case that were in dispute, including a witnesss testimony that McBean did not remove the gun that was resting on his shoulders before he was shot, which she said required review by a jury.
Surber also faulted Usans consideration of McBeans mental health history and hospitalization before his death, because Peraza was not aware of McBeans health at the time of the shooting.
Eric Schwartzreich, Perazas lawyer, said the stand your ground law describes all people and applies to police officers, too.
He called McBeans health history reputation evidence that was given in response to prosecutors questions about why McBean would turn and point the gun, as the deputies claimed.
Peraza was present for Tuesdays hearing but did not address the court.
Schwartzreich called Jermaine McBean by all accounts, an outstanding citizen and in this case, a tragedy.
After hearing arguments during the 23-minute long hearing, the judges did not indicate when they may make their decision.
Schwartzreich said Tuesdays hearing was very important, not only legally but to the community, and encompassed how minority members of the community, disenfranchised members feel they are subject to police attacks, and law enforcement officers that feel they are under attack in this day and age.
Outside the courthouse, at 1525 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., demonstrators held signs with messages that included black lives matter and blue lives murder.
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta
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