Monday, August 19, 2013

"Stand your ground"? How about "Lost your mind?!"

I'm sure we can all have "confidence" that Florida's law will lead to justice in this case...

In July 2012 Gulf County was rocked by the news that 32-year-old Everett Gant had been fatally shot at the Pine Ridge Apartments off Garrison Avenue in Port St. Joe by Walton Butler.

Gant died six weeks to the day after being shot between the eyes with a .22 caliber rifle.

Butler was charged with second degree murder with a firearm, evidencing prejudice based on race, or a hate crime specification.

According to the arresting affidavit, Butler acted as if “inconvenienced” when put under arrest, saying he could not understand the problem as he “had only shot a (racial epithet).”

In the ensuing year, the case has seen a series of starts and stops and in the most recent developments, Butler has invoked Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law and plans to contend that deadly force was his last resort and that he is entitled to immunity from arrest and prosecution.

2 comments:

Montag said...

And, now, the defense is asserting that he's mentally deficient.

So, if he's mentally deficient, why did he have a firearm? (Tricky defense, that, in Florida, for obvious reasons.)





pansypoo said...

i am so glad the NRA is in the drivers seat.