Split Court Rulings Continue on 'Stand Your Ground' Change

Amid requests for the Florida Supreme Court to wade into the issue, a South Florida appeals court ruled against a defendant in one of a series of cases about how to carry out a controversial 2017 change to the state's “stand your ground” self-defense law.

The ruling by a panel of the Third District Court of Appeal was the third time this month that appellate courts have grappled with the issue of the 2017 change, with courts coming to different conclusions.

The change shifted a key burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors in “stand your ground” cases, and the issue in the appeals is whether that change should apply retroactively to defendants whose cases were pending before the 2017 law passed.