MIAMI — Â Interesting news in Florida this evening. Â A judge in Miami has reportedly shot down the state’s updated Stand Your Ground law. Â According to the judge, Â the state legislature (which altered a key component of the law) Â did so without the actual acknowledgement of any other court, particularly, the state’s Supreme Court.
The new law “requires prosecutors to disprove a defendant’s claim of self-defense at a pre-trial hearing”. Â This particular change would allow judges to throw out charges against a defendant before anything ever went to trial. That now changed component has sparked much debate, considering, the same judge ruled that such “cannot be legislatively modified” under the state’s constitution. Â Instead, it should have been done on a Supreme Court level.
The Miami-Dade judge surely has set the precedent for intensive appeal hearings.