The Tallahassee Democrat is reporting that Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis has determined that Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law protected two of the three men charged in the killing of 15yr old Michael Jackson.
Both sets of men were affiliated with gangs. Just a few minutes earlier, Jackson's gang had been the target of a shooting at another location. The men claimed that they were driving along in the early morning hours when Jackson shot at them and
they returned over 30 rounds from an AK47, killing Jackson. Jackson was found to have gunshot residue on his hands at the hospital.
Judge Terry Lewis, apparently unable to find any facts or any one of the legal doctrines that would negate a justification of self-defense in this case, wrote in his opinion:
"What this means, as illustrated by this case, is that two individuals, or even groups, can square off in a middle of a public street, exchange gunfire, and both be absolved from criminal liability if they were reasonably acting in self defense," Lewis wrote. "… it is very much like the Wild West. Maybe that is not what was intended, but that seems to be the effect of the language."
State Attorney Willie Meggs agreed with Lewis and has called on Governor Charlie Crist to call a special session of the legislature to overturn the law.
It strikes me that Judge Lewis's reading of the law is untenable on a number of levels:
For example Sec. 776.013(2)(c) says that Stand Your Ground does not apply if:
"(c) The person who uses defensive force is engaged in an unlawful activity or is using the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle to further an unlawful activity; or "
Two known gang members with an AK47 driving around the neighborhood of their opposing gang in the early morning hours and there was no evidence that they were engaged in an unlawful activity? Were both men over 18 with no felony record? Could they even legally possess the "AK47"?
The Judge appears to have disregarded the prosecutor's suggestion that the two men were in fact trying to ambush and kill Jackson and other gang members in relation to the earlier shooting. I haven't been able to find a more detailed discussion of the facts than the ones linked above; but it seems Judge Lewis certainly went out of his way to accept some improbable claims from the defendants in this case in order to reach his conclusion that they were protected by the Stand Your Ground law.
Hopefully, the appeal court will get a good look at this. In the meantime, his little stunt is getting heavy press.