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Defense law doesn't help stabber

Authorities decide the "stand your ground" law doesn't apply because the man killed had already left the property.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published December 10, 2005

TAMPA - Had the fight with a 21-year-old trespasser occurred in the parking lot of his wife's law office, James Behanna might not have been jailed Friday on a manslaughter charge.

But police say Behanna followed James Mears off the law office property Wednesday night in Sulphur Springs and pursued him. Then, after Mears put his hands around Behanna's neck and threatened to beat him, Behanna stabbed Mears twice in the chest with a pocketknife.

Mears died on the way to St. Joseph's Hospital.

Behanna, 36, turned himself in Friday afternoon and was booked into the Orient Road Jail on one count of manslaughter with a weapon, a first-degree felony. He was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

On Thursday, police and state prosecutors examined a new law that allows people who feel threatened to meet force with force, trying to determine whether Behanna was protected under the law. The so-called deadly force bill, which went into effect Oct. 1, states that a person being attacked has "the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force."

But police concluded that once Mears retreated from the law office property and Behanna followed, Behanna became the pursuer.

"Mr. Behanna left his property and followed the victim," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. "The new law didn't apply."

The confrontation between Mears and Behanna began Wednesday evening when Mears came home to the apartments, 7908 N Florida Ave., and got into a fight with his friend Patrick Waterkotte, 38. Both men moved to Tampa recently from Pittsburgh.

Mears kicked Waterkotte in the head with a steel-toed boot, then crossed the street to the law office of Aida Rodriguez, Behanna's wife, McElroy said.

The office is next door to the home of Behanna and Rodriguez, 103 W Stanley St.

Behanna, a paralegal, confronted Mears after he refused to leave the property, and the two began shoving each other, police said.

But Mears walked off the property and headed west on Stanley Street, according to the criminal affidavit for Behanna's arrest. Behanna followed Mears for 600 feet, grabbing him by the arm several times.

Mears turned to Behanna, put his hands around Behanna's neck and said, "If you don't go, I'm going to kick your a--," investigators said.

Then Behanna stabbed Mears.

"People have the right to defend themselves," Behanna's attorney, Ron Cacciatore, said Friday. "He was being choked when he defended himself."

Cacciatore called the decision to charge Behanna "very regrettable."

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 10, 2005, 00:50:10]