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Further complicating Smith’s case, according to the affidavit: He “could not provide a reasonable explanation” for fleeing the scene after the shooting, or for discarding his handgun.

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Hmm. If the story were true about shooting the guy when he went for his gun, the gunshots would not be in the guy's back. They would be in the front. The only way that there could be shots in the back would be if the guy had been tackled to the ground and was being held face down during the confrontation, if he fell during the scuffle and was shot while still on the ground, or the confrontation never happened and the guy was still running away when he was shot.

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Further complicating Smith’s case, according to the affidavit: He “could not provide a reasonable explanation” for fleeing the scene after the shooting, or for discarding his handgun.

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*face palm*

But they're right about the probable cause thing, Smith could argue that he believed that he was preventing a forcible felony (burglary/breaking and entering and attempted theft) if he can show that he had reason to suspect that the guy was about to rob the neighbors.

However, the fact that the video recording of an alleged previous robbery attempt was lost suggests that claim is also full of it.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
On Thursday, an Orlando man shot and killed a 21-year-old who was fleeing his yard. He didn’t appear to be stealing anything, according to witness accounts. He didn’t appear to be threatening anybody. But Claudius Smith said he feared he was a burglar, followed him over the fence to a neighboring apartment complex, where he shot him after he said he felt threatened, according to a confession documented in an Orlando Police Department report. Smith even said he feared victim Ricardo Sanes was armed “because his pants were falling down” and his hands were in his hoodie pockets, according to a report obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

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The gunman accused of chasing and killing a 21-year-old man at an Orlando apartment complex Thursday told police he was pursuing a suspected burglar and acted in self-defense after he was attacked.

A police account of the shooter’s self-defense claim obtained by the Orlando Sentinel suggests this could be the latest homicide in which the state’s controversial “stand your ground” law becomes a factor.

Police were called to the shooting just before noon Thursday at the Fountains at MetroWest apartments. They arrived to find 21-year-old Ricardo Sanes dead in the grass, surrounded by six .45-caliber shell casings.

The alleged shooter, 32-year-old Claudius Smith, was caught later Thursday. Smith told detectives that he had shot someone “in self defense,” according to a police report.

Smith said he was inside his house on Carter Street when his girlfriend, looking at a outdoor surveillance monitor, spotted someone in dark clothing “walking around his yard,” who “was last seen climbing over the fence into” the apartment complex.

Smith told police he had been having “a recent problem with burglaries at his house … and he was certain the unknown male was responsible,” a police account states, so he “began chasing the unknown male.”

According to police, Smith admitted jumping the fence into the apartment complex, armed with a .45-caliber handgun, where he said he saw Sanes “looking into windows of apartments as he walked past them.”

Smith admitted pulling his gun and confronting Sanes, and when Sanes tried to walk away, Smith said he grabbed Sanes’ hooded sweatshirt and tried to force Sanes back to his house “so the police could be called.”

Smith told police Sanes “punched him in the mouth and grabbed for his gun.”

“(Smith’s) immediate response was to pull the trigger and fire shots at (Sanes),” a report states. Smith said he feared Sanes was armed “because his pants were falling down” and his hands were in his hoodie pockets.

A preliminary examination of Sanes’ body revealed gunshots to his upper back and the back of his neck. When police told Smith that Sanes appeared to only have wounds to his back, Smith reportedly claimed those must have been exit wounds.

The case may have some parallels to Central Florida’s most notorious recent homicide: the fatal Sanford shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

However, legal analysts say there are key differences between the two cases: Martin was shot in his chest, while arrest paperwork states Sanes was wounded from behind.

And Smith, unlike Zimmerman, reportedly admitted to physically restraining the person he suspected at gunpoint.

“If (Smith) didn’t have probable cause to detain this guy, or make a citizens arrest, then everything he did was illegal and he has no ‘stand your ground’ defense,” said Orlando defense lawyer Richard Hornsby.

Bill Sheaffer, legal commentator for television station WFTV, said the cases are “fairly similar,” but vary significantly enough that Smith likely would “have an uphill battle convicting a jury that it was self defense.”

However, he said he wouldn’t rule out a “stand your ground” claim: “It’s available, it’s worked, and lawyers and defendants are always testing the elasticity of ‘stand your ground’ and of self defense.”

Increasingly, Hornsby said, defendants “seem to know what to say to at least give them a benefit of a doubt when it comes to invoking the ‘stand your ground’ law.”

Smith also reportedly admitted chasing Sanes, and Smith’s girlfriend told police it didn’t appear Sanes had stolen anything.

The Zimmerman case renewed debate about the “stand your ground” law, which grants immunity for law-abiding citizens who use deadly force in response to a reasonable fear of great bodily harm or death.

A bill aimed at tweaking the law, sponsored by Republican state Sen. David Simmons and state Senate Minority Leader Chris Smith, a Democrat, is under consideration by the Florida Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.

Among other changes, that proposed law would limit the ability of “aggressors” to win immunity.

Further complicating Smith’s case, according to the affidavit: He “could not provide a reasonable explanation” for fleeing the scene after the shooting, or for discarding his handgun.

He also claimed to have surveillance video he said “would prove this was the second time (Sanes) had tried to break into his house” in 10 days. But when police arrived, the video recorder was gone.

“The defendant claimed not to know who removed the digital recorder or why it was removed,” the affidavit states.

Smith faces a charge of second-degree murder with a firearm. He was being held without bail Friday at the Orange County Jail. http://staugustine.com/news/florida-news/2014-01-21/another-stand-your
-ground-case-florida-shooting-suspect-claims-he-was#.UuAPMU3Tncu

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
"I shot him in self defense, SIX times, IN THE BACK."

I'll make a prediction-- Florida law, especially this one, is about who has money, not so much about race as I claimed the other day. Just that a lot of black people are poor. If he can afford a half-decent lawyer, he'll walk. If he's a poor redneck, and has to rely on a public defender, which is what it sounds like, he'll get convicted. But his sentence will get reduced.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
And from the original article:

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When police told Smith that Sanes appeared to only have wounds to his back, Smith reportedly claimed those must have been exit wounds. He admitted he didn’t know Sanes had a gun before police told him.

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To me, shooting him in the back SIX TIMES kinda precludes "self-defense".

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A fight broke out, with Sanes allegedly throwing the first punch. Fearing that Sanes was reaching for a gun , Smith opened fire, he told police."

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

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A fight broke out, with Sanes allegedly throwing the first punch. Fearing that Sanes was reaching for a gun , Smith opened fire, he told police."

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And, again, the question arises as to how in that circumstance they were shot IN THE BACK.

Not to mention the contradiction between Smith saying he didn't know if Sanes had a gun, versus him saying he was afraid that Sanes was reaching for a gun.

Story details do not pass the sniff test. And are also shifting too much to be truthful.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

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A fight broke out, with Sanes allegedly throwing the first punch. Fearing that Sanes was reaching for a gun , Smith opened fire, he told police."

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And, again, the question arises as to how in that circumstance they were shot IN THE BACK.

Not to mention the contradiction between Smith saying he didn't know if Sanes had a gun, versus him saying he was afraid that Sanes was reaching for a gun.

Story details do not pass the sniff test. And are also shifting too much to be truthful.

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As noted, cops do it all the time.

"As the suspect was fleeing, he made a gesture that looked like he was reaching for a gun, so I fired my service weapon in self-defense."

Also, this works for the cops all the time.

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