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Jury says paralegal guilty in stabbing

The jury rejects the "stand your ground" defense in the manslaughter case.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published October 27, 2006

TAMPA - In a first for Hillsborough County, a jury considered, then rejected, the "stand your ground" law Thursday as a defense for a paralegal who fatally stabbed another man.

Jurors found James Behanna guilty of manslaughter with a weapon after hearing evidence that he tussled with 21-year-old Robert Mears Jr. on Dec. 7, then followed him off Behanna's property and pierced his heart with a pocketknife.

Prosecutors said the verdict sent a clear message about the year-old law, which allows individuals to meet force with force when they feel threatened in any place they have a right to be.

"Stand your ground," Assistant State Attorney Kyle Pennington said, "is a lot different than chasing someone down."

But Arthur C. Hayhoe, who watched Behanna's trial, said attorneys on both sides failed to fully explain the new law.

Hayhoe, executive director of The Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Inc., opposes the law because he thinks it gives people a license to kill. Jurors just didn't understand it, he said, or they would have acquitted Behanna.

"I don't think this law got a fair hearing," he said.

The conviction wasn't the only bad news Behanna, 37, got Thursday.

Moments before the verdict, his mother fell ill outside the courthouse and had to be taken away in an ambulance. Defense attorney Ronald Cacciatore said she had suffered a heart attack.

Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet delayed Behanna's sentencing until Dec. 4 and ordered an investigation into his background.

The judge also gave the defendant until 5 p.m. today to turn himself in so he could tend to his mother. Behanna faces up to 30 years in prison.

His attorney gave a passionate closing argument Thursday morning. He reminded jurors that Mears refused to leave Behanna's property - a law office owned by his wife, Aida Rodriguez, on N Florida Avenue - and then threw Behanna to the ground.

Behanna followed Mears about 150 yards off the property. As he tried to detain Mears for arrest, Mears turned around and choked him, Cacciatore said.

Behanna, nicknamed MacGyver at his office because he carried a pocketknife, stabbed Mears to get free, the defense attorney said.

"He didn't invite (Mears) over to beat him up," Cacciatore told jurors.

But prosecutor Pennington reminded jurors that the state had to prove Behanna acted recklessly, not in an evil or premeditated way. The "stand your ground" law didn't apply, he said, because Behanna could have gone into his office for safety instead of pursuing Mears.

Jurors took 1½ hours to render their verdict.

When the clerk said "guilty," Behanna closed his eyes. His pregnant wife and teenage daughter stifled tears, as did Mears' parents and younger brother, who traveled from Pennsylvania to watch the trial.

Jurors and Mears' family declined to comment afterward.

Cacciatore said he had one reaction: Shock.

"I guess with a jury," he said, "you just never know."

[Last modified October 27, 2006, 09:28:27]