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