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Flaws exposed in self-defense law

Few laws are as reckless as the one Florida legislators approved last year that makes it easier to kill, claim self-defense, and get away with it. The "Stand Your Ground" law removed the requirement that a person threatened in public retreat before responding with deadly force, and now the predictable result is coming into sharper focus.

The Orlando Sentinel examined 13 cases in Central Florida where deadly force was used since the law changed in October. Six people were killed and four were wounded. Authorities cleared five shooters and charged three. The remaining cases are under investigation.

The Sentinel exposed how a blanket defense doesn't cover a range of life-and-death situations. A Winter Haven man killed a stranger who threatened to punch him; a teenager was shot in the back of the leg while allegedly attempting to steal a car. Having the right to possess a gun carries with it the responsibility to exercise reasonable judgment - something the new law doesn't require.

The report also illustrates the difficulty in investigating the validity of self-defense claims. Victims who are killed deprive investigators of another side to the story. Survivors have little credibility if they provoked the shooter by breaking the law themselves. Investigators in the six counties examined by the Sentinel also have widely varying methods for assessing self-defense. One homicide investigator told the paper that only a rigorous investigative process could preclude the law from becoming a "wave-the-magical-wand" defense.

Claiming self-defense isn't an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card in the Tampa Bay area. Hillsborough prosecutors rejected the self-defense claim in February and charged a tow-truck driver in the shooting death of a man whose car he was impounding. They made a similar determination in December, filing manslaughter charges in a Tampa street brawl. Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe, who said he has not seen any impact from the new law, stressed that while the law abolishes a duty to retreat, there are other factors that influence the filing of charges.

That may be true, but this law sends the wrong message to armed individuals with quick tempers and quicker trigger fingers. It doesn't make the streets any safer. It makes them more dangerous.

[Last modified June 16, 2006, 05:36:14]