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Florida Stand Your Ground Panel Starts Work

The first public hearing of Gov. Rick Scott’s Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection offered a wide range of opinion on the “stand your ground” law in Seminole County Tuesday, with roughly 100 people turning out to speak.

Among them were hardline supporters of the statute and the bereaved parents and spouses who’d lost loved ones to shooters who were never charged.

Longwood, near Sanford, was chosen for the panel’s first hearing because it’s near where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed on Feb. 26.

Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, the panel’s chairwoman, said the charge of the task force is not to debate Trayvon Martin’s death or the case of George Zimmerman, who says he shot Martin in self-defense. National outrage over the lack of an arrest in the case prompted Scott to create the task force and to name Jacksonville State Attorney Angela Corey the special prosecutor in Martin’s case; she charged Zimmerman with second degree murder.

Carroll said the first public hearing was held here to give its community members some “closure” on the shooting death that has roiled the state and nation for months.

The task force’s morning session offered an overview of the law by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx. Prosecutors, public defenders and law enforcement officials presented as well.

“Reasonable minds will vary,” said Marx – and differing opinions were then expressed.

The afternoon session was the public hearing. Among the speakers was state Sen. Chris Smith, incoming Senate Democratic Leader and leader of an independent panel investigating “stand your ground.” He called on the state to start to start keeping statistics on cases affected by the law.

“There are many instances where law enforcement used their discretion not to arrest and state attorneys used their discretion not to charge,” said Smith, “so we don’t know of the maybe thousands of times that ’stand your ground’ was used and nothing ever happened.”

Ronald Vogt, a Seminole County resident who supports the law, said police officers couldn’t be everywhere.

“But there come[s] a point in time where I see a robbery or rape or something going down where I need to intervene, I think there’s a better probability of saving their life than losing my own. The ’stand your ground’ law is the only way of entering in without my going to jail,” Vogt said. “I’m not afraid of dying – the only thing I fear is God.”

“This is a good law,” said B.J. Smith, a retired civil trial lawyer. “Please do not try and fix it.”

Other speakers called for changes or clarifications in “stand your ground,” including Martin’s parents.

Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, parents of the unarmed black teen who was shot killed less than four months ago, didn’t necessarily call for the law’s repeal. Fulton pleaded with the panel to at least “look at” the law in light of her son’s death.

Tracy Martin choked up as he said he’d be spending Father’s Day this year at the cemetery. He and Fulton also delivered 375,000 online petitions collected by Second Chance on Shoot First, a national campaign.

Listening to the stories “softened” the stances of panel members, Smith said.

Criminal attorney Mark Seiden, a task force member, said he was disappointed that more local citizens didn’t turn out. But Carroll was upbeat.

“From the comments that we heard from the sponsors of the law – and even they came to the forefront and said, ‘from what we heard, we need to make some changes, and I’ll be receptive’…I want to listen with an honest and open mind,” Carroll said.

Many of the speakers didn’t want to give up their right to defend themselves, she said, but also want a fair application of the law.

The panel is holding meetings statewide and will make recommendations to Scott and the Legislature about whether the law should be changed.

By The News Service of Florida