Posted on 06/02/2023 4:22:46 AM PDT by marktwain
On May 24, 2023, a three-judge panel of the District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, which includes Broward County, found the circuit court judge, Michael I. Rothschild, to have egregiously misread Florida law. The three-judge panel, consisting of judges Artua, Ciklin and Conner, unanimously found loading and openly carrying a firearm in a person’s own yard is not use of deadly force and is protected conduct under both Florida law and the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.
Richard Burns engaged in a verbal confrontation with a five-man tree-cutting crew in his front yard. A crew member made sexually suggestive gestures toward his fiancee. Another crew member threatened his dogs with a chainsaw. Burns demanded the crew leave. When they refused, he retrieved a handgun from the home. He was in his front yard when he chambered a round. He held the handgun at his side while again demanding the tree-cutting crew leave his front yard. The State of Florida charged Burns with aggravated assault. Burns asked the circuit court to apply immunity from prosecution, citing Florida Stand Your Ground Law. The circuit court refused.
Burns then appealed the decision to the District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District. The appeals court found for Richard Burns. Selected quotes from the opinion are shown below.
That a person’s home is his or her “castle” is one of the most basic tenets of our jurisprudence. However, for Richard Burns …, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for openly carrying and loading his firearm in the yard of his own home, the “castle” our law entitled him to protect was relegated to a defenseless dungeon. We conclude that the trial court erred in denying his
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
bkmk
Sounds like it’s a case of your on my property hitting on my women and going after my dog with a chainsaw. They refuse to leave my property after that. Lmao, you got to be kidding me. You have brought a chainsaw to a gunfight. He could have been in fear for his dogs life. Or his womens or his own. They are lucky they weren’t shot. Takes some nuts to go on someone’s property and doing that and not leave when asked..
Impeach and remove the judge.
On May 24, 2023, a three-judge panel of the District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida, Fourth District, which includes Broward County, found the circuit court judge, Michael I. Rothschild, to have egregiously misread Florida law.
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It looks to me like the circuit court judge really let his bias show in his decision!
“He held the handgun at his side”
No member of the crew was placed in reasonable fear of imminent harm.
It’d be interesting to know what outfit hires such pleasant “arborists.”
Well I know a while back the electric companies were sending crews out to cut branches away from your power lines. I wondered if some were legally here. Didn’t speak english. But for a few bucks they cut down some trees for me.
That’s what I was thinking when i read that. He never pointed it at them. After verbal sexual assault and threatening his dog on his property they were lucky.
That judge should be excused from the bench. And then given a long counseling session.
One more reason to move to Florida.
As a side note. I wonder if any of the tree-cutting crew were illegals. Point is, if so, did they come from somewhere where the subjects are disarmed and they think they can bully and threaten without fear of a possible deadly response. I’ve observed a lot these landscaping crews that definitely don’t speak like they were born here.
“That judge should be excused from the bench. And then given a long counseling session.”
I agree with this court but i am sure that other courts in other states would have ruled otherwise
In my home state of Ohio I believe that this man would have been convicted of at least Aggravated Menacing which I believe is a class 3 felony.
He would have lost his right to own firearms and got at least 6 months in jail.
Merely removing your sidearm from the holster on your own property, even inside of your own four walls, will get you charged with menacing.
He could have called the police himself, but trespass is a low priority call. Threatening his dog with a chainsaw might have gotten the dispatcher’s attention.
But, the real point is that many other states would have ruled differently.
S Texas is currently overrun with newly minted ‘arborists’ all having recently graduated from the University of Coahuila, MX. Also a large number of roofing specialists roaming around ...
;-)
Kidding aside several neighborhoods have held community meetings where prudent security measures are discussed and suggested. Mostly simple stuff like keeping doors and windows locked, don’t let children outside without supervision, etc. Also check your ammo supply ...
Or, he could have kept his weapon concealed and shot the man dead as he approached with a revved up chainsaw.
It looks like Burns actually deescalated the situation.
EC
He looks like a bearded fairy.
He was in his own yard, didn’t point the weapon at anyone. Should never have gone to trial. Responding LEO’s should have figured this out.
This sounds like a case of govt or city workers, trimming trees and thinking like all govt workers, they are above the law and citizens have no rights.
Once again, the process is the punishment. Making the morally innocent pay the expense of lawyers to ‘prove you’re not guilty’
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