Boston v. State
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The Supreme Court approved the holding of the First District Court of Appeal concluding that a defendant convicted by a jury verdict after raising a self-defense claim is not entitled to a new immunity hearing if the trial court applied the incorrect standard at the hearing under Fla. Stat. 776.032, holding that the First District did not err.
Under 776.032, Florida's Stand Your Ground law, a person is generally immune from criminal prosecution and civil action when that person justifiably uses or threatens to use force under certain circumstances. At issue in this case was the proper remedy for the application of an incorrect burden of proof at an immunity hearing. The First District affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence but certified conflict with Nelson v. State, 295 So. 3d 307 (Fla. 2d DCA 2020), in which the Second District held that a defendant is entitled to a new immunity hearing after the trial court erroneously applied the burden of proof in his immunity hearing, even though he had subsequently been convicted by a jury. The Supreme Court affirmed and disapproved the decision of the Second District in Nelson.
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