A Titusville man of accused killing two neighbors and wounding a third on Labor Day weekend 2012 will not get the chance to have a jury decide whether he is immune from prosecution under the Stand Your Ground law, an appeals court decided. This is the second such ruling to go against William Woodward, now 45, the latest coming from the state’s Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach. Brevard Circuit Judge Morgan Reinman denied an earlier request in October. Attorneys for Woodward argued a jury should decide whether he is immune, rather than a judge. If theyre going to base immunity from prosecution on someones innocence, based on self-defense, then that has to be decided by a jury,” said Attorney Robert Berry. Well, the Florida Supreme Court, as we argued at the hearing, said that it is a question of law for the judge to decide,” said Assistant State Attorney Gary Beatty, who is prosecuting the case. The appeals court only denied Berry’s effort, they didn’t elaborate on their reason. He said he’ll ask them for a written opinion, but doubts he’ll get one. In which case he said he’ll try to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Well,” Beatty said. “Don Quixote jousted with windmills. Contact Ford at aford@floridatoday, 321-242-3601 or follow on Twitter @AndrewFordNews. Story was taken from floridatoday/story/news/local/2014/08/28/titusville-shooter-denied-stand-ground-jury-decision/14766301/
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 02:56:15 +0000