TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — "Stand Your Ground" is still law in Florida, and the state’s Supreme Court ruled a major change made in 2017 cannot be applied to cases that came before it.
That change made prosecutors prove – before trial – that a defendant was not entitled to legal immunity under the law. Before that, it was the defendants’ responsibility to prove they were.
The ruling was the end result of a lawsuit Tashara Love filed against the State of Florida.
According to the court’s decision, she was arrested after a Nov. 26, 2015, shooting outside a South Florida nightclub. Love claimed the man she shot was about to hit her daughter.
The Miami Herald reported she was charged with attempted murder.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Love argued the 2017 Stand Your Ground update should be retroactive, meaning the prosecutor’s decision to press charges against her should be overturned because the burden of proof had shifted.
But the update was not in effect when Love was charged. That fact is central to the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling.
The justices decided that changes to the Stand Your Ground law only apply to cases that come after those changes take effect. So, according to the court’s decision, Love is not entitled to the controversial law’s added protections.
What other people are reading right now:
- Surveillance video shows speeding truck crashing through airport car rental counter
- President Trump implies dead congressman is in hell, upsetting widow
- Domestic violence shelter shares 7-year-old's heartbreaking letter to Santa
- Donald Trump Jr's tweet mocking Clintons over impeachment resurfaces
- Florida man pays electric bills for families about to lose power
- 12 Christmas light displays to see this year around Tampa Bay
