Posted on 04/24/2006 6:51:51 PM PDT by SandRat
PHOENIX - Siding with public sentiment over prosecutors, Gov. Janet Napolitano signed legislation Monday to make it easier for those who kill others to claim self-defense.
The action on SB 1145 came despite a plea from the association that represents prosecutors from around the state who urged her to reject the measure because of provisions that would put new requirements on them to convict those who say they had no choice but to shoot another person.
But gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said Napolitano received more than 1,200 e-mail messages in the last 24 hours urging her to sign the measure.
L'Ecuyer said that kind of outpouring, by itself, would not be enough to convince the governor to sign bad legislation. But she said Napolitano, a former state and federal prosecutor, concluded that the measure would not cause the harm that foes believe.
"She believes in the fundamental right of self-defense,'' L'Ecuyer said. "And the law still requires the defendant to be in imminent peril of death or serious physical injury.''
There also was a political inevitability of sorts: The measure was approved by the Legislature by wide margins - including near unanimous Senate consent. L'Ecuyer said the new law simply shifts the burden of proof from the defendant to prove self-defense to the prosecutors.
Specifically, it overturns current law which says that someone who kills another person and claims self-defense has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the killing was justified. This new law, which takes effect immediately, says once someone claims self-defense, prosecutors have to prove otherwise.
But it is precisely that shift that Ed Cook, lobbyist for the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council, said bothers most county attorneys. "This bill ... will extend to persons who do not act in self defense or whose violent behavior is not justified, the ability to assert the legal defense of justification, without credible evidence,'' he wrote in a letter Friday to the governor.
"The ensuing duty on the prosecution to prove the negative and the absence of justification beyond a reasonable doubt when no credible evidence of justification is required will effectively immunize the criminal acts of many persons,'' Cook wrote. "This will defeat justice rather than enhance it.''
And Attorney General Terry Goddard told Capitol Media Services on Monday he, too, "has some difficulties'' with the legislation, though Goddard said he never expressed them directly to Napolitano.
But Senate Majority Leader Tim Bee, who sponsored the legislation, said the change is merited - and overdue. "In this country we are innocent until proven guilty,'' said the Tucson Republican. "It's the responsibility of the prosecution to establish the case.'' Bee pointed out the legislation simply restores the law to the way it was a decade earlier. And he said it puts Arizona into conformity with virtually every other state.
Not all prosecutors sought a veto. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas specifically sought its approval.
The measure actually goes beyond the question of who has the burden of proving whether someone acted in self-defense or not. Another provision of the new law expands the "castle doctrine'' which gives people the right to shoot to kill when someone invades their home. Current law does spell out that people can use deadly physical force in certain circumstances in defense of life or property.
This measure expands that to say that someone can kill intruders who unlawfully of forcefully enter a residence or occupied vehicle and the person "reasonably believes himself or another person to be in imminent peril of death or serious physical injury.'' It also says the person has no duty to withdraw in such a situation, even if it is possible.
That provision drew objections from Rep. Ted Downing, D-Tucson. He said there are times where leaving out a back door is preferable to staying and shooting.
I can't believe it!!! She Signed it!!!!!
Is there no end to her stupidity?
Kinda surprising she signed this, but the prosecuter "Lords" have just had their arses slapped back into constitutional limits.
Good Job AZ
Heh heh heh.
The same can be said of stupidity as ugliness; it goes clean to the bone.
It's about bloody time
Either way, it might not have mattered. This is one time there were more than enough votes to override any veto. I'm just glad she made it easier this time. I thought of this the other night when I thought I heard noises.
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