Florida Criminal Attorney Blog
A woman was arrested and charged in the attempted murder of a homeless man in Nashville.
Police claim the 26-year-old allegedly shot a 54-year-old homeless man Aug. 26 near Music Row.
The man was critically wounded and is being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
According to police, the man was trying to sleep on the sidewalk at 3 a.m. at 19th Avenue South and Chet Atkins place.
He was reportedly disturbed by exhaust fumes and loud music coming from a Porsche SUV.
The man said he asked the driver to move the vehicle. Police say the two began yelling at each other, and the woman allegedly got out of the car and shot the man twice before running up the street with another woman.
The woman’s father released the following statement, saying his daughter fired two warning shots not meaning to hit the man.
The two women were actually acting in self defense. The man was always on his feet and not asleep as someone apparently has alleged and had accosted a group of very young women and nearly became physical with one. He then approached the white Porsche (not Lexus) with two female occupants and started verbally accosting them threatening them because their music was too loud for him to sleep… The driver fired a round as a warning to scare him away as he came at her. He kept coming and she fired a second round, again intended to scare him away. They quickly got back into the white vehicle and left, not knowing that the man was hit by the warning shots. Both girls contacted the police and DA shortly after the incident and have always agreed to cooperate fully with the investigation.
The woman has since posted a $25,000 bond and was released from jail.
While this incident occurred in Tennessee, it raises the question of what if this happened in Florida? This brings up Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Law, which states:
A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity, and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
This law protects a person from both civil and criminal prosecution for acting in self defense, regardless of where they are attacked, as long as they are in a place where they are lawfully entitled to be when the danger occurs.
If you are being investigated for or charged with a weapons-related offense, our Florida Weapons Charges Defense Lawyers at Whittel & Melton are on your side. Call us today at 866-608-5529 for a free consultation or contact us online.