Florida's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense law could be tweaked by some Republican legislators who want to shift the burden of proof during pre-trial hearings from the defendant to prosecutors.
Senate Bill 128 was passed on Wednesday, mostly along party lines, with Republicans claiming the bill would benefit those who seek the law's protection, reported the Miami Herald.
"We respect the sovereignty of individuals against the awesome power of the government," State Sen. Rob Bradley told the Herald. "If a prosecutor doesn't have the evidence to prevail at this immunity hearing … the prosecutor does not have sufficient evidence to win at trial."
The Orlando Weekly explained that in current Stand Your Ground cases, pre-trial evidentiary hearings are held to determine whether defendants should be immune from prosecution. The bill would shift the burden from defendants to prosecutors in the pre-trial hearings.
The House version of the bill remained in the House Judiciary Committee this week. A similar bill failed in the House last year after the Senate approved it, noted Orlando Weekly.
State Sen. Dennis Baxley, who introduced the original Stand Your Ground law in 2005, supported the change.
"I don't think anybody in our state should be beaten, raped, murdered, simply because they were afraid to act, and stand against a violent act," Baxley said, per Orlando Weekly. "Interestingly, there is not a firearm in this bill. I don't care if you use a chair leg; you have the right and even the responsibility under our brand of freedom to stop a violent act if you can."
The bill's movement comes a week after a retired police officer who fatally shot a man in a Florida movie theater in 2014 was ordered to stand trial after a judge denied his request to dismiss the charges under the state's current Stand Your Ground law, noted National Public Radio.
Curtis Reeves Jr., 74, was with his wife at a showing of "Lone Survivor" in suburban Tampa in 2014 when he got into a dispute with Chad Oulson, 43, because Oulson was texting during the previews. That led to a shooting.
Reeves has been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated battery, but he claims that using deadly force was necessary "to prevent death or great bodily harm."
While lawyers for George Zimmerman did not invoke Stand Your Ground in defense of his killing Trayvon Martin in 2012, the law was part of the instructions to the jury that acquitted Zimmerman, wrote NPR.
Florida Democrats and Miami Republican Sen. Anitere Flores opposed changes in the law. Flores said she had received calls from state attorneys, said the Miami Herald.
"(I've) received a lot of concerns, particularly from the state attorneys both in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties [about] the cost that is associated with it."
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