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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)

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