FLORIDA: Judge Rules New Stand-Your-Ground Law Unconstitutional, Decision Opens Law To Appeals

The Miami Herald reports:

Florida’s updated “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law is unconstitutional, a Miami judge ruled on Monday. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch ruled that lawmakers overstepped their authority in modifying the law this year to force prosecutors to disprove a defendant’s self-defense claim at a pre-trial hearing.

The judge ruled that under Florida’s constitution, that change should have been crafted by the Florida Supreme Court, not the Legislature. “As a matter of constitutional separation of powers, that procedure cannot be legislatively modified,” Hirsch wrote in a 14-page order.

The ruling is a victory for prosecutors who have firmly opposed a law they believe makes it easier for defendants to get away with murder and other violent crime. Hirsch’s ruling isn’t binding – other trial courts across Florida can follow the law if they choose. But it does get the ball rolling on the appeals process, and possibly getting the law reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court.

More from Fox News:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the amended legislation, backed by the National Rifle Association, into effect in June. Prosecutors were vehemently against the updated law because they believed it made it easier for defendants to get away with murder. Prosecutors also had to provide “clear and convincing” evidence that a defendant was not using the force as an act of self-defense.

The law was first passed in 2005 and it gave people the right to “shoot first” if they believed their lives were in danger at that moment. “A person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if: He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself,” the Florida law states.