Florida Senate - 2014                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 448
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì1749602Î174960                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                   Comm: WD            .                                
                  03/05/2014           .                                
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    1         Senate Substitute for Amendment (266424) (with title
    2  amendment)
    3  
    4         Delete lines 53 - 131
    5  and insert:
    6         person.—
    7         (1) A person is justified in using force, except deadly
    8  force, or threatening to use force against another when and to
    9  the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct
   10  is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the
   11  other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is
   12  justified in using or threatening to use the use of deadly force
   13  and does not have a duty to retreat if:
   14         (a)(1) He or she reasonably believes that using or
   15  threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent
   16  death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or
   17  to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony; or
   18         (b)(2) Under those circumstances permitted pursuant to s.
   19  776.013.
   20         (2) When a person may lawfully use force in self-defense,
   21  the discharge of a firearm as a warning and without the intent
   22  to cause harm and without causing harm to another is a threat to
   23  use force, not the use of deadly force.
   24         Section 3. Subsections (1), (2), and (3) of section
   25  776.013, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   26         776.013 Home protection; use or threatened use of deadly
   27  force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.—
   28         (1) A person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of
   29  imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or
   30  herself or another when using or threatening to use defensive
   31  force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily
   32  harm to another if:
   33         (a) The person against whom the defensive force was used or
   34  threatened was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully
   35  entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling,
   36  residence, or occupied vehicle, or if that person had removed or
   37  was attempting to remove another against that person’s will from
   38  the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle; and
   39         (b) The person who uses or threatens to use defensive force
   40  knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible
   41  entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had
   42  occurred.
   43         (2) The presumption set forth in subsection (1) does not
   44  apply if:
   45         (a) The person against whom the defensive force is used or
   46  threatened has the right to be in or is a lawful resident of the
   47  dwelling, residence, or vehicle, such as an owner, lessee, or
   48  titleholder, and there is not an injunction for protection from
   49  domestic violence or a written pretrial supervision order of no
   50  contact against that person; or
   51         (b) The person or persons sought to be removed is a child
   52  or grandchild, or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under
   53  the lawful guardianship of, the person against whom the
   54  defensive force is used or threatened; or
   55         (c) The person who uses or threatens to use defensive force
   56  is engaged in an unlawful activity or is using the dwelling,
   57  residence, or occupied vehicle to further an unlawful activity;
   58  or
   59         (d) The person against whom the defensive force is used or
   60  threatened is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s.
   61  943.10(14), who enters or attempts to enter a dwelling,
   62  residence, or vehicle in the performance of his or her official
   63  duties and the officer identified himself or herself in
   64  accordance with any applicable law or the person using or
   65  threatening to use force knew or reasonably should have known
   66  that the person entering or attempting to enter was a law
   67  enforcement officer.
   68         (3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and
   69  who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right
   70  to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or
   71  her ground and use or threaten to use meet force with force,
   72  including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is
   73  necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to
   74  himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a
   75  forcible felony.
   76         Section 4. Section 776.031, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   77  read:
   78         776.031 Use or threatened use of force in defense of
   79  property others.—A person is justified in using the use of
   80  force, except deadly force, or threatening to use force against
   81  another when and to the extent that the person reasonably
   82  believes that such conduct is necessary to prevent or terminate
   83  the other’s trespass on, or other tortious or criminal
   84  interference with, either real property other than a dwelling or
   85  personal property, lawfully in his or her possession or in the
   86  possession of another who is a member of his or her immediate
   87  family or household or of a person whose property he or she has
   88  a legal duty to protect. However, a the person is justified in
   89  using the use of deadly force only if he or she
   90  
   91  
   92  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   93  And the title is amended as follows:
   94         Delete line 6
   95  and insert:
   96         of force; providing that the discharge of a firearm in
   97         certain circumstances is not the use of deadly force;
   98         amending s. 776.013, F.S.; applying