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Thursday, February 23, 9:50 AM EST

By Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee, voted 9-4 along party lines Wednesday to approve the National Rifle Association-backed measure (HB 245), which would shift the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors during pretrial hearings in stand your ground cases.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, and Rep. Jason Fischer, R-Jacksonville, only has to clear the Judiciary Committee before reaching the House floor during the annual legislative session that starts March 7.

A Senate version (SB 128) has cleared its committees and could be one of the first bills approved by the full Senate next month.

The proposal stems from a Florida Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that said defendants have the burden of proof to show they should be shielded from prosecution under the stand your ground law.

In stand your ground cases, pretrial evidentiary hearings are held to determine whether defendants should be immune from prosecution.

Payne said the bill would strengthen the self-defense law and that concerns by critics are certainly overstated.

It does not protect those that are creating some type of felony or assault, Payne said after Wednesdays meeting. That is not what self-defense is for.

Opponents maintain the change would end cases before all the facts are revealed and contend that the stand your ground law has disproportionate effects, as it is used more successfully as a defense when white shooters kill African-Americans.

But Rep. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican who was in the House when the stand your ground law was approved, said the proposal meets the intent of lawmakers who crafted the law in 2005.

Its a shame that we have to come to this point of having to clarify, but I believe that that was the case, Harrell said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Coral Springs, said he could support the change if it were more narrowly defined to situations where there is overriding evidence.

But he expressed concerns about people who may use the defense when the only witness was killed in the encounter.

Its blanket immunity and then were saying to the prosecution, You have to undo that immunity if you have enough evidence, Moskowitz said. And, Oh by the way you have to do it at a pretrial hearing, when usually all witnesses may not have been identified and all the evidence may not have been gathered at that point.

The proposed change, which is supported by the Florida Public Defender Association, was approved by the Senate in a 24-12 vote last year, but failed to advance through the House committee process.

New House leaders, however, appear to have put this years version of the bill on the fast track.

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Bill to shift burden of proof in stand your ground cases moving along in House - Jacksonville Daily Record

Miami Herald

Stand Your Ground law helps free Miami teens accused of MLK Day shooting that wounded 8 Miami Herald Florida's Stand-Your-Ground law has helped free two teens of allegations that they took part in a gun battle that wounded eight people at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Miami. Prosecutors on Thursday declined to file charges against Gerrel Woo ... and more »

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Stand Your Ground law helps free Miami teens accused of MLK Day shooting that wounded 8 - Miami Herald

DADE CITY, Fla. -- A Florida judge is hearing evidence to determine whether a retired police officer acted in self-defense when he shot a man in a movie theater in 2014.

Retired police officer Curtis Reeves, right, sits with his defense attorney Richard Escobar during a hearing at the Robert D. Sumner Judicial Center in Dade City, Fla. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017.

Charlie Kaijo /Tampa Bay Times via AP, Pool

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Susan Barthle is being asked to decide whether Curtis Reeves should be immune from prosecution under Floridas controversial stand your ground statute. The hearing started Monday and continued on Tuesday.

The law says a person has no duty to retreat when faced with a violent confrontation and can use deadly force if he or she fears death or great bodily harm.

Reeves shot 43-year-old Chad Oulson during an argument over texting as movie previews played.

Prosecutors say the 74-year-old Reeves provoked the confrontation. Reeves attorneys say Oulsons actions made him think he was in danger of serious assault.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Stand Your Ground law cited in movie theater shooting case - CBS News

Missouris new Stand Your Ground law has been been invoked as the basis for a shooting in Columbia, where the accused believed the statute permitted him to shoot a fleeing thief.

Senate Bill 656 went into effect Jan. 1 after former Gov. Jay Nixons veto was overturned last fall. This law removed the duty to retreat provision and allows citizens to use deadly force whenever they feel reasonably threatened without retreating first.

You used to have a duty to retreat, criminal defense attorney John Picerno told KSHB news last September. It's one of the few laws in Missouri that's actually very good for the citizens. Not only does it provide the accused with those particular rights but it places the burden on the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you did not act in lawful self-defense."

But Columbia resident Karl Henson was arrested for first-degree felony assault after allegedly shooting at a man who apparently tried to steal his cellphone.

The only reason I thought it was okay to shoot at him while he was running away was because of what happened with the new year on the law change, Henson said, according to the probable cause statement for the Jan. 23 incident. Henson nonfatally shot the man six or seven times in the back.

MU School of Law professor Frank Bowman, a former criminal defense lawyer, said Henson misunderstood the many provisions of the new statute.

I would say this person has an erroneous understanding of what the law says, Bowman said. The [shooting victim] was committing a felony, but you cant use deadly force because theyre leaving the commission of a non-forcible felony like stealing.

Forcible felonies, Bowman explained, include crimes like murder, armed robbery and assault. Regarding the bill as a whole, Bowman said he was opposed to it and considered it to be macho posturing by Missouri legislators.

Its bad on a number of levels, Bowman said. One of them is that, to the extent that people misunderstand it, those kinds of misunderstandings can produce killings which shouldnt happen. [The law] ought to discourage folks from using deadly force unless it is absolutely necessary.

Edited by Madi McVan | mmcvan@themaneater.com

The rest is here:
New Stand Your Ground law cited as basis for Columbia shooting - The Maneater

If you believe Curtis Reeves, he was a scared old man who thought he was about to get beat up when Chad Oulson loomed over him in a dark Wesley Chapel theater.

If you believe Nicole Oulson, her husband was calm as the "belligerent" Reeves pestered him about turning off his cell phone before the movie Lone Survivor.

If you believe what was captured on a grainy surveillance video, Oulson's arm came toward Reeves an instant before the retired Tampa cop drew a pistol from his front pocket and fired a single shot.

Was it self defense when Reeves killed Oulson that Sunday afternoon three years ago?

A judge will have to decide.

Starting Monday, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Susan Barthle will begin weighing whether Reeves, 74, should be immune from prosecution in Oulson's death under Florida's stand your ground law. Otherwise, Reeves will head toward trial on a second-degree murder charge.

The court has set aside two weeks in which attorneys will present evidence and question experts on the use of deadly force, and how age affects one's perception of danger.

They will go back over the details of what happened that day at the Cobb Grove 16 theaters.

The movie was scheduled to start at 1:20 p.m. in theater No. 10

Oulson, 43, and his wife were already seated when Reeves and his wife arrived and sat in the row directly behind them.

As movie previews rolled, Oulson scrolled through his cell phone.

Reeves leaned forward and asked him to turn it off, he later told investigators. Oulson responded with an expletive, he said.

Oulson kept looking at the phone. Reeves got up and left to tell a manager. A minute later, he returned. Oulson had put the phone away.

"I said, 'I see you put it away,'" Reeves later told detectives. "'I told the manager for no reason.'"

Oulson, according to Reeves, said something to the effect of, "if it was any of your ... business, I was texting my daughter."

Oulson rose on the seat and moved toward Reeves, he said. Reeves put a hand out and shrunk backward.

"He kept on hollering," Reeves said. "And it led me to believe he was going to kick my a--."

Reeves felt his head move to the right. His glasses were knocked sideways, he said. Popcorn flew.

"He hit me with something," he told detectives. "I don't know if it was his fist."

In one quick motion, Reeves drew the gun and fired.

Oulson was shot in the chest. He died at the scene.

"As soon as I pulled the trigger, I said 'oh, shoot. This is stupid,'" Reeves told detectives. "But again, I'm 71 years old. I don't need an a-- whipping from a younger man."

An off-duty Sumter County sheriff's deputy was sitting a few seats down from Reeves and took the weapon from him.

Vivian Reeves, in a separate interview, said she turned away as Oulson approached. She didn't see the confrontation.

Detectives asked why she thought her husband fired the gun.

"I don't know," she said. "He was in law enforcement 20 years and he never shot anybody. ... I don't know if he thought he was going to hurt him. That's what I would think, is he thought he was going to be hurt."

Oulson's wife, Nicole, had her arm on his chest when the gun went off. The bullet grazed her middle finger.

Later that day, at St. Joseph's Hospital, she told detectives her version on events, which differed from the story Reeves told.

When Oulson confronted Reeves, she said, she put her arm up and tried to tell him it wasn't worth it. She heard yelling, but didn't see any hitting or shoving.

"He was just very rude from the beginning," she said of Reeves. "Just belligerent. My husband was calm and just said, 'It'll just take a minute. I'll turn it off. The movie hasn't even started.' And he was just nasty."

In a court document filed in 2015, Reeves' attorneys invoked Florida's "stand your ground" law in requesting immunity from prosecution in Oulson's death.

Passed in 2005, the controversial law says a person has no duty to retreat when faced with a violent confrontation and can use deadly force if he or she fears death or great bodily harm.

In their motion, Reeves' attorneys stated that Oulson twice attacked Reeves before the fatal gunshot throwing a cell phone at him, then grabbing Reeves' bag of popcorn and tossing it at him. In doing so, the attorneys argue, Oulson committed a number of felonies, including aggravated battery on a person 65 years of age or older.

Reeves, they argue, feared that because of his age and health, he was in danger of serious injuries. They noted his extensive training as a former law enforcement officer in the use of deadly force.

Supporters say the stand your ground law extends necessary legal protection to people who use lethal force in the face of grave danger. Critics say it creates a dangerous loophole for people to escape criminal charges.

In 2012, the Tampa Bay Times examined cases where defendants invoked stand your ground and found that nearly 70 percent avoided prosecution.

Locally, the law has been cited in cases like that of Trevor Dooley. The Valrico man unsuccessfully argued he was defending himself in 2010 when he shot his neighbor, David James, during a fight over skateboarding on a basketball court in their neighborhood.

Last year, prosecutors cited stand your ground when they declined to charge Jeffrey Glenn in the fatal shooting of Timothy Martin, a former Navy SEAL, at the SoHo Backyard restaurant in Tampa.

Whether it will work in Reeves' case remains to be seen.

Contact Dan Sullivan at dsullivan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3386. Follow @TimesDan.

Pasco theater shooting case heads to 'stand your ground' hearing 02/17/17 [Last modified: Thursday, February 16, 2017 4:50pm] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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Pasco theater shooting case heads to 'stand your ground' hearing ... - Tampabay.com