Stand Your Ground
by
Facts:
The Defendant was charged with Battery after he punched a person who was charging him during a confrontation about parking. The alleged victim and witness stated that the Defendant exchanged heated words with him and then punched him in the face 10-15 times. A self defense motion was denied under the stand your ground law. The Defendant went to trial and was found not guilty as their was a reasonable hypothesis of innocence as to self defense since he only defended himself against the unlawful contact by the victim.
Florida law provides for actual immunity, not just an affirmative defense in what has been coined "Stand Your Ground" law. It allows a citizen to defend themselves, with deadly force if necessary, against an unlawful attack by another person. The qualifications for the defense are that the person attacked was not committing a crime and was lawfully in a place they were legally entitled to be. A lot of discussion has been had on this subject, and we know the outcome of the Trayvon Martin case where George Zimmerman shot and killed Martin in a confrontation in a Florida Community. The key features of that case for the Jury was deciding whether the accused acted reasonably under all of the circumstances. Regardless of which side you believe, the law, the facts and the outcome were weighed by the jury in their Not Guilty verdict.
It became evident that a key component of the defense is that a person need not retreat even though they could and that really can't be used against them. Thus the label "Stand Your Ground".
Lawyers handling cases where the defense is viable ought to consider whether to bring out the defense in a pretrial motion or raise it for the 1st time in trial. Each case is different and that decision will need to be made on fact specific basis. Currently, the law allows a Defendant to raise a pretrial motion which bars any criminal or civil prosecution (immunity). However, even if the defense is denied by the Judge in pretrial motions, it can still be raised at trial in a motion for Judgment of Acquittal or argued to the jury if that is denied. It will be a question that counsel will have to decide whether to keep the facts of the defense close to the vest, or raise them throughout the proceedings. Either way the defense is alive and well in Florida, for now.
The Defendant was charged with Battery after he punched a person who was charging him during a confrontation about parking. The alleged victim and witness stated that the Defendant exchanged heated words with him and then punched him in the face 10-15 times. A self defense motion was denied under the stand your ground law. The Defendant went to trial and was found not guilty as their was a reasonable hypothesis of innocence as to self defense since he only defended himself against the unlawful contact by the victim.
Florida law provides for actual immunity, not just an affirmative defense in what has been coined "Stand Your Ground" law. It allows a citizen to defend themselves, with deadly force if necessary, against an unlawful attack by another person. The qualifications for the defense are that the person attacked was not committing a crime and was lawfully in a place they were legally entitled to be. A lot of discussion has been had on this subject, and we know the outcome of the Trayvon Martin case where George Zimmerman shot and killed Martin in a confrontation in a Florida Community. The key features of that case for the Jury was deciding whether the accused acted reasonably under all of the circumstances. Regardless of which side you believe, the law, the facts and the outcome were weighed by the jury in their Not Guilty verdict.
It became evident that a key component of the defense is that a person need not retreat even though they could and that really can't be used against them. Thus the label "Stand Your Ground".
Lawyers handling cases where the defense is viable ought to consider whether to bring out the defense in a pretrial motion or raise it for the 1st time in trial. Each case is different and that decision will need to be made on fact specific basis. Currently, the law allows a Defendant to raise a pretrial motion which bars any criminal or civil prosecution (immunity). However, even if the defense is denied by the Judge in pretrial motions, it can still be raised at trial in a motion for Judgment of Acquittal or argued to the jury if that is denied. It will be a question that counsel will have to decide whether to keep the facts of the defense close to the vest, or raise them throughout the proceedings. Either way the defense is alive and well in Florida, for now.
