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Curtis Reeves Jr. takes the stand to testify during his hearing in Dade City, Fla., last month. A judge denied his request to dismiss the charges against him under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Octavio Jones/AP hide caption

Curtis Reeves Jr. takes the stand to testify during his hearing in Dade City, Fla., last month. A judge denied his request to dismiss the charges against him under Florida's Stand Your Ground law.

A retired police officer who fatally shot a man in a Florida movie theater will stand trial after a judge denied his request to dismiss the charges under the state's "Stand Your Ground" law.

Curtis Reeves Jr., 74, was with his wife at a showing of Lone Survivor in suburban Tampa in 2014 when he got into a dispute with Chad Oulson, 43, because Oulson was texting during the previews.

Reeves was charged with second-degree murder and aggravated battery. In seeking to have the charges dismissed under Stand Your Ground," Reeves's lawyers needed to show that Reeves reasonably believed that using deadly force was necessary "to prevent death or great bodily harm."

Reeves claimed Oulson had hit him in the face with a cellphone, leaving him dazed. But Circuit Judge Susan Barthle said surveillance video of the episode contradicted Reeves' account. "The video evidence contradicts this assertion, clearly showing that there was no hit from a fist, and the item argued by the defense to be a cell phone was simply a reflection from the defendant's shoes," Barthle writes in her order.

Barthle was also not persuaded by the defendant's claims that Oulson "was virtually on top of him" or that Reeves was afraid of Oulson. As Barthle writes, "the defendant initiated contact with the alleged victim on at least three occasions and was not concerned about leaving his wife there alone when he went to talk to the manager."

Florida's Stand Your Ground law was passed in 2005, with support from the National Rifle Association and defense attorneys. Lawyers for George Zimmerman did not invoke Stand Your Ground in defense of his killing Trayvon Martin in 2012, but the law was part of the instructions to the jury that acquitted Zimmerman, as NPR's Greg Allen reported.

Evidence suggests that state Stand Your Ground laws have led to a rise in homicides. As a researcher told NPR's Shankar Vendantam in 2013,

"These laws lower the cost of using lethal force," says Mark Hoekstra, an economist with Texas A&M University who examined stand your ground laws. "Our study finds that, as a result, you get more of it."

Now, Florida lawmakers are trying to take the law a step further, by requiring prosecutors to prove that a defendant wasn't acting in self-defense. If the proposed expansion passes, Greg reports, it could make it easier for defendants such as Reeves to be granted immunity from prosecution.

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Judge Rejects 'Stand Your Ground' Defense In Florida Theater Shooting Case - NPR

New York Times

'Stand Your Ground' Could Get Worse - The New York Times New York Times Republican legislators in Florida are planning to compound the deadly mischief of the state's Stand Your Ground law by allowing accused killers even greater ... Florida Lawmakers To Vote On Expanding 'Stand Your Ground' Law ...Alabama Public Radio Pro-Gun Group Not Happy With Latest 'Diluted' Version Of Stand ...WFSU Florida looks to expand 'stand your ground' immunity | South Florida ...The South Florida Times all 6 news articles »

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'Stand Your Ground' Could Get Worse - The New York Times - New York Times

A memorial for Carlos Garica outside Yaileen Ayala's Florida home. It marks where her ex-husband died after he was shot following an argument with a neighbor. [Photo: Zack Wittman/The Tampa Bay Times via AP]]

A powerful Florida state senator with a top grade from the National Rifle Association has caused a stir this week by publicly opposing much of the groups 2017 state legislative agenda.

The lawmaker, Anitere Flores, a Miami-based Republican, is the upper chambers president pro tempore and a member of the nine-person Judiciary Committee. On Tuesday evening, she announced that she would vote against a slew of bills proposed by a Republican colleague that would have allowed guns on college campuses, and in airports, elementary schools, and other places where they are currently banned.

Throughout my personal, professional, and legislative career I have expressed concerns with the reduction of traditional gun-free zones, she told Sunshine State News. This is not something new nor should it be a surprise to those who follow the legislative process.

Her opposition means that the bills will almost certainly fail to advance through the Judiciary Committee, where Republicans hold five seats to Democrats four.

But the NRA-backed bill with the most documented public safety implications is still alive in the Florida legislature in part because Flores supported it.

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Lawmakers are considering a bill that would expand Floridas highly controversial stand your ground law. The measure would would require prosecutors to make the case for when a self-defense claim is not valid at a pre-trial hearing. Currently, the burden for making the case for why a claim should be allowed falls to the defense.

It is already difficult to prosecute cases where stand your ground is invoked; opponents of the new law say its language would make such prosecutions all but impossible, and possibly encourage more vigilante justice.

Six weeks ago, on January 24, Flores voted in favor of the bill with her Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, helping to move it to the Senate floor, where it will receive a full vote next week.

Flores did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The existing version of the law was adopted in 2005. It says that people have a right to defend themselves with deadly force so long as they believe they are under grave threat, and are in a place they have a right to be. The law attracted national attention in 2012, after the death of Trayvon Martin. That year, a Tampa Bay Times investigation found that since the statute was first enacted almost 70 percent of those using a stand your ground defense had gone free, and that shooters were much less likely to be convicted if the victim was black. In November of 2016, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that over the following nine years after Floridas stand your ground law had been implemented, the states gun homicide rate rose by 31.6 percent.

A federal appeals court has thrown out the controversial 'Docs vs. Glocks' law.

by Alex Yablon

The bill amending the law is sponsored by Senator Rob Bradley, a Republican.

What I hope is the outcome of this is something that I hope we all agree on, that people who should not be arrested are not arrested and people who should not go to trial do not go to trial, Bradley told the Orlando Sentinel in January. If I believed that an individual who was otherwise guilty would go free, because this bill passed, then I wouldnt have filed the bill.

The Trace reported in January that Flores is one of two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who represents a portion of the Miami area, where the NRA has little clout. The city is an outlier in a state where Republicans control both legislative chambers and the governorship. That helps explain Flores opposition to the gun bills under consideration on Tuesday.

The various pieces of legislation, which have received vigorous support from the NRA, would have not only dramatically expanded the number of places gun owners can carry concealed weapons, but would also allow the open carrying of firearms in public.

Last year, a similar version of Bradleys bill cleared the Senate, but died in the House, after Charles McBurney, the Republican chairman of that chambers Judiciary Committee, refused to bring it up for a vote.

McBurney, a lawyer, was finishing out his final term as a lawmaker. He was hoping to receive a judicial appointment to a circuit court in the Jacksonville area, and was a favorite candidate for the job. But then the NRAs Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, mounted a campaign against him, inciting thousands of members to email Governor Rick Scott, demanding that he cast McBurney aside.

The campaign was successful, and later, McBurney, who once had an A+ rating from the NRA, wrote an op-ed arguing that the bill had nothing to do with the Second Amendment.

To me, he said, it was a pro-criminal bill.

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'Stand Your Ground' Expansion Finds Support in Florida As Other Pro-Gun Bills Fade - The Trace

DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) -- As lawmakers in Iowa debate a proposed Stand Your Ground bill, a Dubuque man says prosecutors may never have charged him for making a citizen's arrest if the proposed "Stand Your Ground" law had been in place. The stand your ground component is part of a bill in the Iowa Senate that would make sweeping changes to Iowa's gun laws.

"I didn't want to shoot that woman. And I am glad I didn't."

Last August, Matt Drake used his gun to force a woman to the ground outside his Dubuque home.

That was after he says he saw the woman attempting to break into the house, through the window. He didn't shoot. However, police say Drake over-reacted.

Prosecutors charged him with assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. In December, he accepted a plea deal for a lesser charge.

"I believe that the county attorney may have thought twice about prosecuting me at the time, had the Stand Your Ground law been in place," said Drake.

Right now under Iowa law, a person must do everything in their power to get away from a dangerous situation, before using deadly force.

Under the proposed Stand Your Ground Bill, a person could use deadly force in self-defense without having to run away first.

"If it's justified. That's the big component," said Dubuque Police Lt. Scott Baxter.

Dubuque police say the definition of justified is open for interpretation. But, if law abiding gun owners are properly trained, police say enforcement shouldn't be an issue.

"They're going to have to explain why they felt threatened what there perceived threat," said Baxter.

The proposed bill worries Regina Hutchinson.

"Anything can be considered a threat. Does that mean if this man is parked in a parking space that I wanted, that I can get out and kill him?" said Hutchinson.

The Dubuque Coalition for Non-violence cites an increase in murder rates in Florida as a reason they're against the Stand Your Ground law.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found after Florida passed that law in 2005, homicide by firearm rates increased almost 41 percent. The authors acknowledged that it's possible there may be multiple factors that led to an increase in the Florida homicide rate.

As for Drake, he thinks a Stand Your Ground law in Iowa would lower crime rates.

"It's a relief that if you're going to defend yourself, you don't have to worry about being prosecuted," said Drake.

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Iowans have mixed opinions on proposed Stand Your Ground gun bill - KCRG

Contorno(Photo: Contributed)

PRATTVILLE This much is clear:There was a struggle late that afternoon of Aug. 7, 2015, when 19-year-old Remington Foradori was stabbed to death. Its also clear that his fiancee who is themother of the couples 3-month-old son, Vegas Amore Contorno, stabbed him.

Vegas Contorno to go on trial for Prattville homicide. Marty Roney/ Advertiser

It will be up to a jury to determine if Contorno, also 19 at the time, acted in self-defense. Her case took a blow Tuesday when Circuit Judge Sibley Reynolds ruled Alabamas Stand Your Ground law does not apply in her defense, court records show. If Reynolds had ruled in her favor, the murder charge against Contorno would have been dropped.

Reynolds decision came after a two-and-a-half hour motion hearing where Contornos defense team called as witnesses a neighbor who rushed to Foradoris aid mere moments after the incident, and several Prattville Police Department investigators. Contorno did not testify.

The hearing began with the playing of the 911 tape, in whichnext door neighbor Sean Hartaway called for an ambulance. Testimony brought out that, after being stabbed, Foradori ran out of the home the couple shared on Strength Street and collapsed in the street. Contorno came to Hartaways back door asking for help because there had been an accident with her husband, he testified. Thats when Hartaway rushed to give assistance to Foradori.

Cmon man, hold on, hold on! Hartaway said on the tape, as he was relaying information to dispatchers. In the background Foradori was heard moaning loudly and struggling for breath. The ambulance is coming. Cmon man, stay awake, stay with me.

Testimony: Suspect aggressor in Prattville slaying

Foradori received a single stab wound to the upper left chest and was pronounced dead at the Prattville Baptist Hospital emergency room, testimony brought out.

Contorno made three statements to PPD investigators. In the first statement she told investigator Melissa Shepherd just after the incident that Foradori was stabbed by accident and she didnt know about it until he called for help because she was in another room. During a following interview at police headquarters a few hours later, Contorno told Shepherd and investigator John Coscette, once again that the stabbing was accidental.

About an hour into the two-hour interview, Coscette testified that he informed Contorno that Foradori had died. It was then the Contorno changed her story and said the couple had gotten into a physical altercation in the master bedroom because she was upset the Foradori would not help her with the baby.

The child was born premature and needed specialized medical attention, testimony brought out. Contorno told investigators that during the argument, Foradori bent down to kiss the baby on the head and thats when Contorno pushed him away.

Investigators felt that statement showed that Contorno was the aggressor in the case, because she made physical contact first, Shepherd testified.

Defense attorney Jeff Duffey asked Shepherd and Coscette, and then case agent investigator Richard White, if they had investigated the possibility that Contorno was acting in self-defense when she stabbed Foradori. The investigators said that her statements and the evidence showed she was the aggressor.

Prattville murder suspect's bond revoked

After Contorno pushed Foradori away, she told investigators that he cursed her and shoved her against the wall. She then told investigators that Foradori shoved her head against the wall, causing damage to the wall. And that she then ran down the hall to the kitchen and grabbed a knife to protect herself. She told investigators that Foradori chased her down the hall and grabbed her hand that was holding the knife.

White testified that there was no damage found anywhere in the house that backed up Contornos claims about her head being shoved against the wall.

Investigators testified that Contorno admitted to stabbing Foradori, but also said she blacked out and didnt remember stabbing him.

The Stand Your Ground law, passed in 2013, gives immunity to a person who uses deadly physical force to protect themselves, or another person.

the Defendant has not been able to show to this Court, by a preponderance of the evidence, that her use of 'deadly physical force'was justified, Reynolds ruling reads Therefore, this case shall proceed to trial as scheduled.

Susan James, Contornos lead attorney, did not return phone calls seeking comment after Reynolds ruling came down.

Contorno can still argue self-defense at trial, said Chief Assistant District Attorney C.J. Robinson.

That is a question of fact for the jury to decide, he said. Todays motion hearing was to determine if a certain law applied, a question of law before the judge. We feel, and the evidence shows, that Miss Contorno did not act in self-defense. In fact, in her own statements to investigators, she admits to being the aggressor. To making the first physical contact that led up to the subsequent altercation.

Contorno remains in the Autauga Metro Jail under no bond. In December, Reynolds revoked her $250,000 bond after she was arrested in October on an unrelated DUI charge in Baldwin County.

A trial date has not been set, court records show. Kevin Foradori, Remington Foradoris father, has custody of the child, court records show.

The law passed in 2013 holds that if a person has a right to be where they lawfully are, and are not committing an unlawful act, then they have no duty to retreat. The law also states that a person can respond with deadly physical force if they feel imminent deadly force is being used or about to be used against themselves or another person, or if physical force is used or about to be used against them in their dwelling, or if they are defending themselves or another person against kidnapping, rape, sodomy, assault or other violent crime.

If a judge rules that any of these elements exist, a person is immune from prosecution.

Source: C.J. Robinson, chief assistant district attorney.

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Stand Your Ground immunity denied in Prattville murder case - Montgomery Advertiser