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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

(KUTV) Utah lawmakers took the first step Friday toward toughening the state's Stand Your Ground law.

That law allows someone to use deadly force -- without retreating -- if they feel threatened.

House Bill 259, sponsored by Rep. Cory Maloy (R-Lehi), would add an extra layer of protection for somebody who fights back in self-defense. The House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee approved that bill, 6 to 4, sending it on to the next step.

I just believe strongly in that right to defend yourself, said Maloy, a freshman lawmaker.

"Stand Your Ground" has been on Utahs books for some time. But Maloy didn't think the law was strong enough.

His bill beefs it up, clarifying that if someone is attacked, they do not have to retreat even if safety could be achieved by retreating. It also forbids a court from even considering that during a trial.

The Utah Chiefs of Police Association opposes the bill. According to their lobbyist, David Spatafore, the chiefs believe it sends a dangerous message.

Not only can you stand your ground, said Spatafore, you can escalate if you feel that it's appropriate.

Some of Maloy's fellow lawmakers are worried, too. They cited a study from Texas A&M University that says "Stand Your Ground" laws actually lead to more homicides.

Rep. Angela Romero (D-Salt Lake City) said she's especially concerned about people of color like her son.

The things that they experience in our current political climate scares me, and so bills like this scare me more, said Romero.

But just enough of the House committee wasn't scared. They sent the bill to the full House of Representatives.

I think it was a good victory for the rights of people living here in Utah, said Maloy.

Continued here:
House committee approves toughening Utah's "Stand Your Ground ... - KUTV 2News

Enacted in 2005, Floridas current Stand Your Ground law permits individuals to use deadly force in instances of self-defense and without any obligation to retreat. Individuals who use deadly force must defend their use of it before trial.

On February 7, abill, proposed by NRA-backed Florida Sen. Rob Bradley, expandingthe Stand Your Ground law passed the Judiciary Committee by a 5-4 vote along party lines. The bill would shift the responsibility to the prosecution to prove that an individual beyond a reasonable doubt is not eligible to claim immunity under the law.

The bill, which will likely be made law given that Republicans hold the governorship and the state legislature, has provoked immense criticism from those who worry it willcausemore violence. The Miami Heraldreported, Bradleys proposal drew immediate backlash from prosecutors and opponents of Stand Your Ground who fear the changes could flood the courts and make it easier for criminals to go unpunished. The plan also raises among critics renewed constitutional questions of double jeopardy in that requiring a burden of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt would essentially force prosecutors to try a case twice, once before trial and then at trial itself.

Floridas Stand Your Ground law gained national attention in 2012 when George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida, shot and killed an unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman had a record of frivolous 911 calls, and a 911 dispatcher told him not to confront Martin, who did nothing wrong but looked suspicious to Zimmerman. Under Floridas Stand Your Ground law, Zimmerman was not arrested that night and was ultimately not convicted for killing Trayvon Martin.

Since his trial, Zimmerman has spread racist remarks and flaunted the fact that he got away with the murder that incited the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement. In May 2016, Zimmermanattemptedto sell the gun that he killed Martin with on a gun auction website. Before Twitter suspended his account, Zimmermantweetedphotos of Martins body, touting the Confederate Flag, and regularly posted racist memes about Barack Obama. Zimmermanhasbeen arrested several times since the trial, mostly for domestic violence disputes.

He took a life, carelessly and recklessly, and he shouldnt deserve to have his entire life walking around on the street free, Trayvon Martins mother, Sybrina Fulton, saidin a February 2016interview. I just believe that he should be held accountable for what hes done. Its just upsetting to know that a person can shoot and kill someone and justify it.Martins parents recentlyreleaseda book,Rest In Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin,about their experiences in the wake of Trayvons death.

Rather than taking steps to ensure suchtragedies arentrepeated, Florida is disgracing Martins legacy by considering an expansion of the Stand Your Ground laws. Stand Your Ground laws increase homicides, have no deterrent on serious crimes, result in racial disparities in the criminal justice system and impede law enforcement,noteda 2014 report by the American Bar Association, recommending Stand Your Ground laws across the country be repealed or heavily scaled down. Unfortunately, Florida is doing the opposite. In addition to Bradleysbill, 22 Florida Republican legislators have co-sponsored a companion bill that shifts the burden of overcoming the self-defense immunity from defendants to prosecutors pre-trial.

Continued here:
Florida Republicans Move to Expand Stand Your Ground Laws, Disgrace Trayvon Martin - Observer

The controversial law may soon get a renovation in Tallahassee.

Phil Buck, WTSP 1:49 PM. EST February 10, 2017

LAKELAND, Fla. The Florida Legislature is considering a bill that would make a critical change to the states Stand Your Ground law.

The measure passed a Senate panel with an 8-2 vote on Thursday and will now go to the full Senate floor.

Currently, the burden of proof falls on defendants who invoke the law as grounds to dismiss charges; but the bill under consideration, being proposed by Sen. Rob Bradley, would put the burden on prosecutors before cases ever go to trial.

A Stand YourGround case must prove two things: (a) a reasonable fear that deadly force was necessary and, (b) that the other person involved intended to harm the person invoking the law.

"It's very costly to try to prove your innocence," said Joseph Amore. "Especially since I was innocent, I wasn't trying to use the system. The system used me pretty much; that's how it feels.

In 2013 Amore was attacked by a group of people in Ybor City. During the beating he defended himself with a knife, ultimately killing one of his attackers.

But when he tried to invoke Stand Your Ground in his defense it was his responsibility to prove his innocence.

It was pretty hard, financially. If I didnt have my parents to help me out and my grandma, it was like I was probably just going to be railroaded through the system, stuck without anything, said Amore.

That put us in a bind. My parents had to re-mortgage the house, put a loan out on their truck that was almost paid off. If it wasnt for my parents I would have been screwed.

Amore eventually proved his case and the charges against him were dropped - but it wasn't cheap.

If the bill currently in front of lawmakers had been law in 2013, Amore'sfamily would never have had to go into debt to prove that Stand Your Ground applied to his case.

"It's going to change how prosecutors look at the cases, to begin with. What they file on, what they don't file on, said defense attorney Anthony Candela, talking about what would happen if such a bill were to pass.

"Defendants in really close calls are probably going to get the benefit of the doubt without charges being filed because the state's not going to want to push forward on a case that it's going to flat out lose."

It's a game-changer," Candela said. "If the burden shifts back to the prosecution, once the defense files the motion it's going to be their game again to try to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. I guess you're going to have a mini-trial before you have a trial, added Candela.

From the defense side, this is fantastic, I love this all day long. From the point of view of a citizen with a family who lives in Hillsborough County and lives in Florida, it gives me a little bit of pause. Just to be honest because I dont want bad actors going out and shooting people and going Hey, self-defense.

Advocates for victims of domestic violence agree.

We have to make sure that people dont take advantage of the law and blatantly kill somebody, said advocate Julie Weintraub. But we have to have the Stand Your Ground law, we have to have the right to defend ourselves.

( 2017 WTSP)

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Bill thats shifts burden in Stand Your Ground passes Senate panel - WTSP.com

Its safe to say that most Florida legislators would describe themselves as tough on crime. Dont be fooled.

This past week, the powerful state Senate Rules Committee overwhelmingly and recklessly approved a bill over the objections of state prosecutors. Sponsored by Fleming Island Republican Rob Bradley, the measure would make it easier for criminal defendants to utilize Floridas stand your ground law to evade legal consequences for using deadly force. The 8-2 committee vote teed up the bill for a floor vote as soon as the Legislature convenes for its annual 60-day session next month.

The stand your ground law says people who fear death or great bodily harm have a legal right to respond with deadly force, and have no duty to retreat. But defendants who claim self-defense under the law must explain at a pre-trial evidentiary hearing why they should be immune from prosecution. This process was affirmed by the Florida Supreme Court in 2015.

Bradleys bill would shift the burden of proof in these pre-trial hearings to the prosecutor. The hearings would start with a presumption that the defendants use of deadly force was justified. The prosecutor would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the same high standard that applies to criminal convictions that a defendants stand your ground claim was invalid.

Opponents, led by Florida prosecutors, argued during legislative hearings last month that the bill would clog the courts by adding what would amount to a mini-trial to stand your ground cases, and would magnify the opportunity for a violent criminal to escape justice. If you are going to hurt someone, if you are going to kill someone, the least we can require is that at a preliminary hearing that you carry the burden of telling us why, Seminole-Brevard State Attorney Phil Archer told committee members.

Archer warned that the bill would lead to a huge increase in stand your ground cases, as more defense lawyers took advantage of the expanded law. One of the two committee members to oppose the bill, Fort Lauderdale Democrat Perry Thurston, echoed Archers prediction. If an attorney doesnt do it, he will be charged with a failure to practice, said Thurston, a criminal-defense lawyer.

Leaders in victims rights groups also testified against Bradleys bill. But for the committees majority, thoughtful and passionate objections were outweighed by support for the bill from public defenders and gun-rights groups, led by the politically powerful National Rifle Association. Most Tallahassee politicians dont dare to take on the NRA. Ironically, Archer is a gun owner and NRA member.

Florida was the first state to pass a stand your ground law in 2005. More than 20 other states have followed suit since then. But Bradleys bill, according to Archer, would make Florida an outlier once again. None of the other states put the burden on prosecutors to prove that a stand your ground claim shouldnt apply.

And before expanding stand your ground, legislators would be wise to consider the consequences of the original law. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in November found that Floridas monthly homicide by firearm rate had jumped more than 30 percent between 2005, the year the law was passed, and 2014. These increases appear to have occurred despite a general decline in homicide in the United States since the early 1990s, the study said.

If legislators really want to make Florida safer, theyll pay more attention to prosecutors than the NRA.

Read more:
Don't go from bad to worse on stand your ground - Orlando Sentinel