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Posted on 11/02/2021 7:58:47 AM PDT by marktwain
A man involved in a deadly road rage incident last year in Golden Gate Estates is immune from civil action under the “Stand Your Ground” law, a judge in the 20th Judicial Circuit Court in Collier County ruled.
Circuit Judge Blake Adams dismissed a wrongful death suit on Friday, filed by the family of David Norgard, 24, of Golden Gate Estates, who died after he sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest near 16th Avenue Southwest and 23rd Street Southwest around 9 p.m. March 1, 2019.
The shooter was cleared of criminal wrongdoing a few months after the incident by the sheriff’s and state attorney’s offices. Both entities stated Norgard’s death was a justifiable homicide based on Stand Your Ground law.
At the time, both redacted the shooter’s name and other identifying information from public records, citing Marsy’s Law.
Marsy’s Law can be used by public institutions to prevent the disclosure of information or records that could be used to locate or harass a victim or a victim's family. The shooter was a victim of battery during the incident, according to the sheriff’s office and state attorney’s office.
Norgard’s attorney, Christopher Brown, hired an investigator who spent months poring through evidence, talking to people and chasing down leads to learn the identity of the shooter: Israel Elledias. A memorial for David Norgard is pictured on Jan. 10, 2020, near the intersection in Golden Gate Estates where he was killed. Norgard was shot during a road rage incident near 16th Avenue Southwest and 23rd Street Southwest on March 1, 2019.
At the time of its filing, the lawsuit stated Norgard's family hoped the civil trial would provide information to cause the state attorney’s office to reconsider its decision and pursue a murder charge against Elledias.
“During this entire time he could have simply driven away but then, we will argue, he would not have had a chance to shoot somebody; and that is what he wanted to do,” a family statement read at the time of the lawsuit filing.
Norgard’s family had hoped to prove Elledias initiated the incident by blocking him from passing him, then stopping when he stopped and inviting him over, according to the statement.
The lawsuit complaint also pointed out Elledias and his wife were the only two witnesses to the shooting other than Norgard.
This turned out not to be true, according to court records.
Reasonable fear of imminent death
Evidence produced in the case showed that a witness heading in the opposite direction of Norgard and Elledias saw Norgard jump out of his vehicle and approach Elledias' truck. The witness then pulled over to see what was transpiring, records show.
The witness observed Norgard reach into the truck as if he was attempting to grab someone, and then he saw the driver try to push Norgard away. After that, Norgard lunged again, only to be pushed back and shot twice. Fearing for his own safety, the witness drove away and called 911.
A postmortem toxicology report showed Norgard’s blood-alcohol level was .188, which is over the legal limit of 0.08.
According to Florida Law, in civil proceedings, the determination of whether a defendant is entitled to Stand Your Ground immunity can be made at pretrial evidentiary hearings. The defendant must prove that the immunity is attached by a preponderance of the evidence. In this case, a pretrial evidentiary hearing on the issue of immunity was conducted on Sept. 17, 2021.
On Oct. 29, the court ruled that, when weighing the evidence, the testimonies of the eyewitness, Elledias, and his wife were credible, consistent and collaborative. In addition, evidence was produced that suggested Norgard had a reputation in the community for having a temper. The court believed that his temper worsening under the influence of alcohol could reasonably explain his aggressive behavior on the night of the shooting.
According to the judge, Elledias had reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm to himself and his wife at the time he used defensive force that caused the death of Norgard.
Misleading headline.
The shooter was the victim of the now deceased drunk dude’s road rage.
He played stupid games, won a stupid prize.
“...the court ruled that, when weighing the evidence, the testimonies of the eyewitness, Elledias, and his wife were credible, consistent and collaborative.
I think they mean “corroborative”.
Sounds like a happy ending to me!
Ping
Hardly a happy ending. Norgard seems to have acted like a jerk, no doubt, and he needed to be taught a lesson, perhaps, but he paid a dreadful price for his stupidity.
He got insanely drunk. He attacked someone. That person felt his life was in danger and shot him. Now he’s dead and his estate can’t sue the person who defended his life.
That is a happy ending.
“Reasonable fear of imminent death”
That’s not exactly a new and “out there” standard for self defense. “Road rage shooter” is misleading to the point of looking like a deliberate lie.
This Ping List is for all things pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.
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Norgard wasn’t shot because he was stupid or acting like a jerk (all of which he was).
Norgard was shot because he “reach into the truck as if he was attempting to grab someone,” then “lunged again,” which actions reasonably constituted an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the couple in the truck.
Most of the time, the person who writes the article is not the person who writes the headline.
Reasonable fear of imminent death
It did go to trial, and got a not-guilty verdict.
An armed society is a polite society.
A Johnny Cash fan.
later
It appears the other witness backs the victims and says Norgard is the one who attacked
“...The witness observed Norgard reach into the truck as if he was attempting to grab someone, and then he saw the driver try to push Norgard away. After that, Norgard lunged again, only to be pushed back and shot twice. Fearing for his own safety, the witness drove away and called 911....”
When I was in my 20s I was working in our family lumber mill business during the day and not getting paid, so at night I was delivering pizzas for Dominoes so that I had a little money to spend. On night as I signaled and started to get into a left turn lane I heard all this honking. The car behind me was trying to roar around me. I did not complete my lane change and turned left at the next intersection instead. The guy who had been behind me had his car parked across the street as I go back to the road that I had been trying to turn left onto.
I rolled down my window to see if there was something wrong. He was a huge guy and he flung my door open and grabbed me by the arm and yanked me out of the car and actually pulled my feet off the ground. (This was a 60s car with no seatbelts.) My car was still in park and rolled into the side of his car and put a big dent in the door.
He was going crazy and saying who “Who is going to pay to fix my car?” His girlfriend was yelling and screaming “Don't kill him”. So I pulled out my hand gun and shot him in the side of the head. Not really! But I thought that the guy who was the biggest strongest soldier I had ever seen was going to kill me or I was about to be beaten severely. Fortunately some police sirens went off and he and his girlfriend thought that he was going to be arrested for assault again and get booted out of the 101st Airborne, so they took off. The police went roaring by for some other reason a few seconds later. I was still alive so that was my happy ending.
A postmortem toxicology report showed Norgard’s blood-alcohol level was .188, which is over the legal limit of 0.08.
So, in addition to attacking the other driver, Norgard was driving drunk. I'm having a hard time feeling even a little bit sorry for the guy. As someone else said: play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
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