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Bill Would Shift Burden Of Proof In ‘Stand Your Ground’ Cases
September 16, 2015
A key supporter of Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law filed a bill Tuesday that would shift a burden of proof to the state in cases in which people argue they used force in self-defense.
The bill (HB 169), filed by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, came about two months after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that people who use “stand your ground” defenses have the burden of showing they should be shielded from prosecution. In such cases, pre-trial evidentiary hearings are held to determine whether defendants are immune from prosecution under the law.
But Baxley’s bill, which will be considered during the 2016 legislative session, would place the burden of proof on prosecutors in the evidentiary hearings.
The bill said it is “intended to correct misinterpretations of legislative intent made by the courts” and would apply retroactively to pending cases. “The Legislature finds that imposing the burden of proof on a person who uses or threatens to use defensive force as permitted by general law at a pretrial evidentiary hearing substantially curtails the benefit of the immunity from trial provided by this section (of law),” the bill says. “The Legislature intends to make it explicit that the state shall bear the burden of proof in establishing beyond a reasonable doubt whether a defendant is entitled to immunity at a pretrial evidentiary hearing in order to disprove a prima facie claim of self-defense immunity. The Legislature has never intended that a person who acts in defense of self, others, or property be denied immunity and subjected to trial when that person would be entitled to acquittal at trial.”
by The News Service of Florida
Comments
6 Responses to “Bill Would Shift Burden Of Proof In ‘Stand Your Ground’ Cases”
Actually, the burden of proof always is ALWAYS supposed to lie on the prosecution.
Unless they believe they can prove their charges, they are not supposed to accuse anyone or bring them to trial. There seems to be a tendency to charge and then seek proof. If they don’t find proof and drop charges, the formerly accused are usually so happy they forget about the injustice of it all.
Also, sometimes the evidence strongly indicates the accused was probably justified in whatever shooting happened but political pressure forces folks to charge people with the crime and put the burden on the jury.
(Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon Martin for example. Even in that case with all members of the jury agreeing he was not guilty of the charges, some thought he should be punished for SOMETHING simply because you really ought not to be allowed to kill other people and not suffer for it even if you did it to save your own life.)
David for better justice
Attention, attention please!!!! All criminals….It soon will become hazardous for your current profession in Florida. My advice to you would be to move to a state that doesn’t make laws such as this! Just saying!
@Jane
What you are describing would fall under the “Castle Doctrine”…a totally separate issue.
With the Castle Doctrine, there is almost no issue of whether the use of a firearm is justified.
Let me dumb this down for the criminals out there…
You…break…in, you…get…shot…and…die.
I told ya’ll the above referenced court ruling would force all that defended themselves to hire lawyers to convince the court you did the right thing.
The court ruling actually meant they viewed all as guilty until proven innocent.
I am glad this bill has been introduced and hope it passes against the pressure from trial lawyers to not pass it.
If someone breaks into your home they are not there for a nice visit. You should not have to decide whether to put your life in danger or defend yourself. I hope this bill passes.
I think this is great. People shouldn’t have to fear for their lives, and then when threatened with violence, have to stress in that potential life-saving 2 seconds about whether they will rot in prison for protecting life and limb. Citizens are not trained like police officers on how to respond in such situations. The law is obligated to protect the victim, not the perp. Thanks to the leftist, biased liar news media, our country is topsy turvy on it’s morality. This just being a small part of the greater problem.
But news like this gives me hope! I pray it passes!