Florida deputy cleared in shooting under Stand Your Ground law

A Florida sheriff’s deputy has again successfully used the state’s Stand Your Ground law to defend himself against a manslaughter charge without going to trial — in this case, securing a win in appeals court.

Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Peraza was accused of manslaughter in the shooting death of Jermaine McBean — a black man holding a newly-purchased, unloaded air rifle who was wearing ear buds in July 2013 in Broward County when Peraza shouted commands at him to drop the weapon.

McBean did not, and, according to police, turned the weapon toward Peraza and two other officers. Peraza fired three shots, striking McBean twice and killing him. Neither of the other officers drew their weapons. A grand jury indicted Peraza on a charge of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm, but the case never went to trial.

Peraza, in an unusual turn, filed a motion seeking immunity by invoking Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, arguing that he feared for his life when he shot McBean. In July 2016, a Florida circuit court judge agreed with Peraza’s reasoning, granted the motion and dismissed the manslaughter charge against him.

Initially, Peraza was given an award for bravery called a combat cross in connection with the shooting. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office later apologized for the award and promised not to honor the achievements of any department members until investigations into their actions are closed.

McBean’s estate protested in an appeal that “every single citizen eyewitness who saw what happened, indeed, even witnesses Peraza purported to rely on in his [brief], have stated unequivocally that Jermaine never pointed the unloaded airgun at Peraza or at anyone else.”

After Peraza prevailed in the lower court in 2016, the state appealed, arguing that Florida’s law enforcement officers should not be entitled to invoke the Stand Your Ground law. Instead, the state argued, law enforcement officers are bound by the rules of engagement dictated in Florida law surrounding an arrest.

On Wednesday, Peraza won and the state lost: Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal agreed that Peraza was right to invoke Stand Your Ground.

“The record [supports] the circuit court’s finding that the man ignored repeated warnings to stop and drop the weapon, turned towards the officers, and pointed his weapon at the officers, causing the officer to be in fear for his life and the lives of others, prompting the officer to shoot at the man, resulting in the man’s death,” the court wrote in its opinion issued Wednesday morning.

Most important, the appeals court found, was that Peraza could invoke Stand Your Ground because Peraza wasn’t making an arrest. That distinction, the appeals court argued, made all the difference.

Florida Attorney General’s Office, which argued the case on behalf of the state, has not said whether it will appeal the ruling.

Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law is an extension of American “castle doctrine” laws, which generally allow people who feel threatened in their own homes to use deadly force. Stand Your Ground just takes that a step further, extending the doctrine to the whole state.

The law was the one at the center of the Trayvon Martin shooting in 2014, when the 17-year-old was shot and killed by George Zimmerman.