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A Lee County sheriffs detective is questioning aprosecutorsdecisionnotto charge James Taylor withthe homicide of a man who drunkenly attempted to get into his home in 2016.

Ryan Modell, 32,was drunk and mistakenly tried to enter Taylors condominiumat the Emerson Square development on Old Harmony Drivein south Fort Myerson March 20, 2016.

A year later,prosecutors withthe 20thJudicial Circuit declined to file charges against Taylor, then 45,calling Modells death a justifiable homicide under FloridasStand Your Ground lawbecause Taylor said he feared for his life.

Since then, Modells dad Sandy has filed a wrongfuldeath suitagainst Taylor and Taylor has countersuedModellfor defamation. Both cases were settled.

SandyModell, Ryans father, has fought to get the case reopened without success.

But, in aswornvideorecorded statement,Lt. DavidLebid, a17-year law enforcement officer assigned to the case,paints a different pictureof Taylor and the shooting of ModelltoR. Frank Myers,an attorney hired by Sandy.Lebidcalls into question Taylors claim that he was acting in self-defense.

I personally felt that what Mr. Taylor did was completely wrong and that it was a homicide,Lebidsaid. I believe he murdered this person.

Taylors attorney, Matthew S. Toll, said the case was reviewed and re-reviewed at least twice since then withthe result to not prosecute each time.

Enough already, Toll said. It is time to allow an innocent man who was defending himself and his wife from a violent attack in the middle of the night to move forward in peace.

The State Attorneys Office and the Lee County Sheriffs Officedeclined to comment for this story.The sheriffs officealsodeclined to makeLebid available for an interview. However,Myers, the attorney, said the sheriffs office gaveLebid permission to participatein the sworn interview.

The night of the incident,Taylor and his wife were awakened by a noise and went to check it out, Lebidtold attorneys.They went to thefront door wheretheyfound Modell trying to get into their home,prompting a phone call fromhis wifeto 911where she described Modell as confused.

At some point, the door was opened and Modell tried to get inside,Lebidsaid. It took some force, but eventually, the door was closed on Modell, injuring his foot in the process.

There was actual blood in the threshold of the doorway proving that Ryan was somewhere he didnt belong,Lebidsaid. And then Ryan left.

Thats where the facts of what happened that night get murky.When deputies arrived the night of the shooting, Taylor declined to provide a statementandaskedfor an attorney, Lebid said.

I dont understand why, because the goal was I dont want you in my house, you have the wrong house, and I thought, in my estimation, well, that was accomplished,Lebidsaid.

What makes the most sense,Lebidsaid, is Taylor closed the door on Modell, went to his bedroom to get his Glock 10mm, and came back and shot Modell.Taylor left his wife behind, told her to lock the door, and then went looking for Modell, which is not indicative of someone who is afraid,Lebidsaid.

When Taylor found Modell, he was about 100 feet away from his home,sitting on his butt washing his foot off with a water hose,Lebidsaid, adding that, at that point,Taylor was picking on a lesser person.

Its like kicking a dog or something, he added.

Lebidsaid he wishes investigators would have been able to test Taylors blood alcohol content. But by the time a blood warrant was drawn, it had been about seven hours,Lebidsaid. Any kind of blood evidence that would have indicated blood alcohol content wasnt going to be useful.

ToLebid, it was a homicide case, but Floridas Stand Your Ground law complicated things.

The Lee County Sheriffs Office turned in the investigation as an agency review which means facts gatheredwere turned over to the State Attorneys Office for a determination on the prosecution,Lebidsaid.

Lebidsaidhe doesnt understand why the case was not brought to justice.

I think thats kind of the design of what court is, asking a jury of your peers or authority figure in your area to reviewthese kindofactions,Lebidsaid.We have someone who was shot to death. We have someone whose life was taken from them.

I havent seen this before,Lebidadded.

Lebidsaid thesheriffsoffice once again presentedthe caseto prosecutorsin 2020and they received the sameresponse.

But, ultimately,Lebidsaid Taylor wasnt forced into the situation.

You sought this situation out, he said. You created this opportunity.

Full statement by Matthew S. Toll, the attorney representing James Taylor:

This matter has been reviewed, re-reviewed, and re-reviewed again. The State Attorneys Office, multiple candidates for State Attorney, prosecutors, detectives, numerous other police officers, Judges, an arbitrator, a mediator, numerous attorneys, and a number of members of the media have spent what must be thousands of hours of time in the aggregate considering and analyzing the decisions my client made over a few minutes during the night in question. There have been at least three lawsuits between the parties originating from the incident. All are now resolved, and the litigation costs have all but bankrupted my client and his family. Enough already. It is time to allow an innocent man who was defending himself and his wife from a violent attack in the middle of the night to move forward in peace.

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Sworn testimony: LCSO detective disagrees with prosecutors over 'Stand Your Ground' death - Wink News