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Proposed state legislation that would expand Stand Your Grounds protections for defendants has passed its first major hurdle and separated the key figures in two prominent Jacksonville cases.

Opposed to the bill is Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, the 17-year-old who was shot and killed outside a gas station over a dispute about loud rap music.

In favor of it is Marissa Alexander, a mother who faced up to 60 years in prison for shooting in the direction of a husband she said repeatedly abused her.

The bill shows one of the fissures that develops in any attempt to change the criminal justice system. While every Republican on the judiciary committee voted in favor of the bill, every Democrat voted against. The bill passed the committee. Supporters say its a piece of criminal-justice reform that will protect defendants rights. Opponents say it disproportionately hurts victims and leads to more violence.

Right now, those who use Floridas Stand Your Ground law to say they fired a gun in self-defense have to prove in a hearing they were acting in self-defense. The new bill, sponsored by Clay Countys Sen. Rob Bradley, would shift the burden of proof to the prosecution.

It makes it much more difficult for the prosecutors to try these cases, McBath said. Youll see the defense using that Stand Your Ground defense again and again whenever they can.

The cases that have attracted some of the most attention to Stand Your Ground have come from Jacksonvilles State Attorneys Office:

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams and State Attorney Melissa Nelson both individually said they had no position on the new bill.

Public Defender Charlie Cofer said he and the Florida Public Defenders Association support the proposed law because even in an early evidentiary hearing, the prosecution should be the one having to prove facts, not the defense. The traditional burden of proof on all elements of criminal law is on the state to prove matters beyond reasonable doubt, so this is consistent with that case law.

McBath said Stand Your Ground is an embarrassment for the state of Florida, making it harder to earn convictions in murder cases without eyewitnesses. In her sons death, there were witnesses and video footage, and it still took two trials to earn a murder conviction.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a lobbying group seeking to change criminal-justice laws, says the bill supports the constitutional rights of defendants. The fundamental right to a trial is already severely burdened because of the [mandatory-minimum] sentencing laws in place, state policy director Greg Newburn said. To further add to that a requirement a defendant prove his or her innocence in a self-defense hearing makes those limitations intolerable.

Both Alexander and McBath said they understand why the other disagrees on the issue. I couldnt understand the agony of losing a child to the situation she did, Alexander said, but she also said the person who fires the weapon shouldnt have to be the one who proves she was in fear, even if it makes it more difficult to prosecute defendants.

Kenneth Nunn, a law professor at the University of Florida who focuses on the intersection of race and the criminal justice system, said he thinks the law doesnt solve the problem in Alexanders case. She suffered from having an aggressive prosecutor, under the guidance of former state attorney Angela Corey. He would agree mandatory-minimum laws related to gun violence need to change, but not laws about the burden of proof.

Bradley, a former prosecutor himself, said the defendants rights are too essential here. We have the tools that law enforcement and state attorneys need to successfully prosecute violent crime. Ive consistently been in favor of making sure they have the tools to be successful but Im also passionate about our constitution: the understanding that youre innocent until proven guilty, or the government has burden of proof from beginning to end of a case. Those are very important pillars of our criminal justice system.

Andrew Pantazi: (904) 359-4310

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Jacksonville again at the center of Stand Your Ground debate - Florida Times-Union