In 2017, state lawmakers changed the Stand Your Ground law to require prosecutors prove someone didn’t fear for their life when asserting Stand Your Ground instead of the other way around.
Now a deadly shooting in a Clearwater parking lot is renewing calls for the law’s repeal.
Shifting the burden of proof in Stand Your Ground cases was supported by defense attorneys.
“We want to make sure people accused of a crime have as many rights as possible,” said President of the Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Association, Richard Greenberg,
Greenberg likened the shooting by 47-year-old Michael Drejka to the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, calling Drejka a parking space vigilante.
Surveillance video shows Drejka getting pushed down.
Now prosecutors must decide if he really feared for his life.
“That’s a very subjective point. Whether the person himself, him- or herself, feels that they are in reasonable, imminent danger,” said Greenberg.
Since its passage, black Democrats have continually pushed to get rid of Stand Your Ground.
They say the law affects their constituents more than anyone else’s.
Freshman State Representative Ramon Alexander voted no on changes to the law.
Now he’s calling for total repeal.
“Stand Your Ground is a bad law, and Stand Your Ground needs to be repealed. Point blank and simple,” said Alexander.
Tallahassee-based prosecutor Jack Campbell supports a person’s right to defend themselves, but says the law has resulted in injustice.
“We’re having far too many shootings. We’re having far too many people who are dying without any consequence at all,” said Campbell.
Prosecutors are meeting this week in Southwest Florida.
Campbell says no one there is second-guessing how this case will turn out.
The NRA declined to comment on this story.
Changing the burden of proof in Stand Your Ground cases was the NRA’s number one priority in 2017.