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The Florida Senate has passed a new bill that amends Floridas controversial Stand Your Ground self-defense law.

Senate Bill 128, which was passed 23 to 15 Wednesday, seeks to shift the burden of proof from the defendant to the prosecutor. As it currently stands, the Stand Your Ground law requires defendants to prove during the pretrial that they are immune from criminal prosecution under the self-defense law.

What this bill does, senators, is put the burden of proof where I would, respectively, suggest it should rightfully be, said Republican Sen. Rob Bradley to fellow senators during Wednesdays Senate session. Hes also the author of the bill. From the beginning of a criminal case to the end, [it] is with the state, and that the standard of proof be beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bradley could not be reached for further comments.

Florida was the first state in the country to enact the self-defense law back in 2005. Now, 24 states across the country have some type of Stand Your Ground law in place.

Republican Sen. Dennis Baxley, who authored the original 2005 law, spoke on the Senate floor and said if the state believes someone committed a crime, it should always be the states responsibility to prove a crime was committed.

Im sorry if that burden seems too heavy, but thats what we do in America, Baxley said. Youre innocent until proven guilty.

However, not all Republican senators were in favor of the bill.

Sen. Anitere Flores, the second highest ranking Senate Republican, voted against it, despite previously voting in favor of it in a subcommittee in February. After state attorneys from her home district of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties expressed their concerns of the possible financial burden, Flores changed her mind.

The state would be proving the case twice, Flores said. Theres a strong concern that many more defendants will invoke the Stand Your Ground defense because they know it will shift more work onto the state attorneys on the front end.

Democratic senators also voiced their concerns with the bill, calling it a shoot-to-kill and a how-to-get-away-with-murder bill shortly before the Senate passed the bill.

Democratic Senator Audrey Gibson said that since the bill went into effect in 2005, evidence suggests it has made crime worse.

The data shows usand I believe in datathat many more people are dying as a result of this Stand Your Ground bill, Gibson said.

A recent studypublished in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Floridas Stand Your Ground law was associated with a 24.4 percent increase in homicide and a 31.6 percent increase in firearm-related homicide from 2005 to 2014.

Florida has seen its fair share of high profile Stand Your Ground cases, including the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Jordan Davis in Jacksonville, Florida. The unarmed teen was shot and killed by 47-year-old Michael Dunn after he confronted Davis over loud rap music Davis was playing in his car.

Although Dunndid not use the Stand Your Ground law in court, he always claimed he acted in self-defense.

Davis mother, Lucy McBath, whos now a national spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, provided the following statement to WUFT News in response to the senates vote:

The Florida Senate has chosen to ignore senseless killings like that of my dear son, Jordan Davis, and Trayvon Martin to vote in favor of expanding the states already deadly Stand Your Ground law. Make no mistake, this expansion will create a nearly insurmountable backlog of cases for prosecutors,and will make it easier for gun criminals to escape justice. This legislation will be especially traumatic for gun violence survivors and their loved ones.Our lawmakers should remember that the dangerous proposal theyve supported today can and will have irreversible consequences for many Floridianstomorrowand for years to come.

The bill will need to be taken up and passed in the Florida House, which is also a Republican-majority chamber, before it could be signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.

Originally posted here:
Florida Senate Votes To Strengthen Stand Your Ground Law - WUFT - WUFT