A Miami Judge has ruled Florida’s updated Stand-Your-Ground law to be unconstitutional.
Florida has had the SYG law in place for years but signed an updated version into law in June of this year. The previously law maintained that a person had to attempt to retreat before using a firearm in self-defense. The old law also made it so that a person who dared to practice their self-defense, had to prove why they need to do so.
The updated law made it so someone didn’t have to attempt to “retreat first” when defending themselves and the burden of proof was shifted to prosecutors. That changed today when Miami Judge Milton Hirsch ruled the law unconstitutional:
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 creating the law this year that forces 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 the law they believe makes it easier for defendants to get away with murder and other violent crime.
It’s a bit odd that the Hirsch is saying lawmakers shouldn’t be making laws. In reality, justices shouldn’t be legislating from the bench.
Read more at:
http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/breaking-judge-rules-stand-ground-law-unconstitutional
