PANAMA CITY — An attempt to repeal Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law was defeated by an 11-2 vote in committee earlier this month but the law remains controversial both in the streets and in the state’s courtrooms.
“The Florida Prosecuting Attorney’s Association told the Legislature in 2005 there were going to be problems with this and we were right,” said State Attorney Glenn Hess.
Hess pointed to a case in Tallahassee where Stand Your Ground was used to free rival gang members who got into a shootout with one another. The law was later made infamous during an incident in Sanford when George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February of 2012 during an altercation.
The jury ultimately ruled that Zimmerman acted in self-defense and while Stand Your Ground was not used at trial it did affect the way the case was initially investigated by police.
The law also was cited in the Walt Butler murder case. Butler, a Port St. Joe man, shot Everett Gant when Gant knocked on his door, police said. Gant died from his wound six weeks later.
Gant was at Butler’s door because Butler allegedly had been using racial slurs at his apartment complex in front of children. Butler’s attorneys initially filed a Stand Your Ground motion but ultimately rescinded it. Self defense could come up again in front of a jury at trial.
“It’s a very slippery slope,” Hess said of the law.
Marion Hammer, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association disagrees. She said opposition to the law during recent hearings came from people who had no grasp on what the law actually says.
“The law protects law abiding citizens who are under attack from criminals,” Hammer said. “It allows them to stand their ground and fight back if they choose.”
That defense doesn’t work for everyone.
Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville was convicted of aggravated assault in March of 2012 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for using a gun during an altercation with her husband. Alexander claimed her husband attacked her and was rushing toward her when she fired several “warning shots” in order to get him to stop.
No one was hurt in the incident.
Alexander has since been granted a new trial because an appeals court ruled the trial judge gave incorrect instructions to the jury on self-defense.
Prior to Stand your Ground, victims of violence had a duty to retreat that “often made them more vulnerable to criminals,” Hammer said. She added that Stand Your Ground puts the law “back on the side of victims where it belongs.”
However, Hammer declined to talk about hypothetical situations or ongoing cases in which Stand your Ground has been cited and used. Instead, she pointed to the justice system as a way to suss out whether or not someone is an innocent victim or a criminal under Stand your Ground.
“Criminals always say ‘we didn’t do it,’ ” Hammer said. “The prisons around this state are full of people who said ‘I didn’t do it and I’m not guilty.’ ”