Posted on 10/14/2013 7:06:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A North Miami-Dade man was justified in fatally shooting a pipe-wielding, drug-addled attacker during a wild confrontation on a sidewalk four years ago, a judge has ruled.
The first-degree murder charge against Luis Martinez, 29, was dismissed late last month.
It was the fourth Miami-Dade murder case dismissed by a judge since the 2005 passage of Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law.
The law eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using deadly force to counter a deadly threat. The law also gave judges greater leeway in granting “immunity” to people deemed to have acted in self-defense.
The state’s Stand Your Ground law has drawn worldwide attention since neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin during a brawl in a Sanford gated community last year. In a divisive decision earlier this year, a Seminole jury acquitted Zimmerman of a murder charge. Critics of the law say it encourages vigilantism and gives criminals an easier avenue to beat violent charges.
The dismissal of Martinez’s murder charge, however, is unlikely to raise much controversy.
“This was one of those times where justice was really served,” said Rick Hermida, Martinez’s lawyer. “This is why the Legislature passed this law. Luis was in reasonable fear of deadly force and he had no choice but to fire his weapon.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
“during a wild confrontation on a sidewalk four years ago”
He had to wait FOUR YEARS to get this dismissed?
And live with the knowledge that he might be indicted
for murder, for FOUR YEARS?
What’s wrong with the courts?
“Critics of the law say it encourages vigilantism and gives criminals an easier avenue to beat violent charges.”
Unless it happens to them .... then a sad tale of woe and unending b!tching about the police not being there when they need them.
What happened to his right for a speedy trial?
Can you imaging having the hanging over himf for four years?
'hope he wasn't also held in jail
I hate it when they say this:
“The law eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat .....”
They never say,”eliminated the criminal’s duty to not attack citizens with a pipe.”
I thought a "vigilante" was someone who goes around looking for trouble, then shoots neer-do-wells, like Paul Kersey.
Someone DEFENDING themselves from harm is NOT a "vigilante".
This tripe about just sitting there and "taking" a beating or clubbing with a pipe is really getting old.
Do these liberal idiots realize what they are saying?
Women should just "sit back and enjoy it" if they're getting raped?
There was a time when this cost a stupid Republican his career for saying something equally asinine.
Fists can be deadly or severely incapacitating.
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