Florida high court to consider extension of self-defense gun law

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Florida high court to consider extension of self-defense gun law

BY BILL COTTERELL
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Tue Dec 2, 2014 5:10am EST

(Reuters) - An appeal before the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday could shift the burden of proof for the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law, relieving gun owners of a legal duty to prove self-defense when they brandish weapons in violent confrontations.

If the high court sides with Jared Bretherick, who was charged with aggravated assault for pointing a pistol at a man in a road-rage incident, the burden of proof would be shifted to prosecutors to show that a defendant claiming the law’s protection did not act in self-defense.

The 2005 law allows citizens to use deadly force when they reasonably perceive that their lives or the lives of others are in danger.

Court records indicate Bretherick was riding with his family on Dec. 29, 2011, when a passing vehicle driven by Derek Dunning nearly sideswiped their SUV near Orlando.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/us-usa-florida-guns-idUSKCN0JG0VK20141202

[Veganstein]

1. This story sounds kind of strange to someone with little experience.

So, if the Florida Supreme Court does rule in favor of the defendant, the new standard will be... That the accused is innocent until proven guilty?

That sounds like it shouldn't have to be the subject of a Supreme Court ruling in America in 2014.

(Hi all! It's a pleasure to find a gun politics forum where both sides are well represented!)

[blueridge3210]

2. A self-defense claim is an affirmative defense and must be supported

like an alibi defense it must be proved by the one claiming it. If I am charged with a robbery and claim I was elsewhere I must support my claim with evidence (receipts, video surveillance, witnesses). In this case, the defendant is not denying he pointed a gun at the other person; he is claiming it was necessary. The burden should be on him to support this claim.