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Stand Your Ground…Again

December 2nd, 2014 by Mike Vasilinda

A family on its way to Disney World for a News Years Eve vacation three years ago is tangled up in a complicated Stand Your Ground case in which no one was hurt. Now, the Florida Supreme Court must decide if someone who showed a weapon to protect themselves must stand trial for aggravated assault.

Christmas 2011. An Indiana family is on its’s way to Disney World. A car almost runs them off the road. They honk their horn. A frantic 911 call from Jared Breatherick  follows. “And he stopped in the middle of the road and will not move his vehicle, and he’s got a gun.”

The driver of the second car, Derek Dunning returns to his car, and makes his own 911 call. “He has a gun pointed to me at the back of my car. I’m in the middle of the road. He said if I moved, he would shoot.”

Dunning is a twice convicted felon. He is not arrested.  Instead, police charge Jared Breatherick,. the son of the Indiana driver with aggravated assault. He asserts stand your ground.The trial court refused to recognize a stand your ground claim and said let it go to a jury. An appeals court agreed and now this court must decide.

Lawyer Eric Friday, who represents Breatherick wants the Supreme Court to say this was indeed a stand your ground case. “The Legislature says a person who uses force in one of the three self defense statutes is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action. They didn’t say can apply for immunity. They didn’t say maybe immunity, they didn’t say seek immunity” Friday told the justices.”

Assistant Attorney General Kristan Davenport says let a jury decide. “Just because he lost when he had the burden of proof in front of a judge doesn’t mean he’s going to lose in front of a jury.”

And no matter which way the Supreme Court rules, it’s bound to affect dozens of stand your ground cases

Defense attorneys say judges are reluctant to allow stand your ground claims without a jury weighing in on the subject. The Breatherick family says that decision has put their family through three years of uncertainty.

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