Deadly Combinations: How Self-Defense Laws Pairing Immunity with a Presumption of Fear Allow Criminals to 'Get Away with Murder'

30 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2011 Last revised: 24 Oct 2011

Date Written: April 15, 2010

Abstract

This Article identifies as problematic the intersection of Florida’s Immunity Statute and its current Castle Doctrine, which presumes reasonable fear where one acts in self-defense in the “castle.” The coupling together of immunity and the presumption of reasonable fear creates a bar to prosecution in Castle self-defense cases. The Article addresses problems associated with the lack of guidelines to ensure the equal application of the law to self-defense cases, and the lack of procedural tools available for the assertion of immunity arising from a self-defense act.

Keywords: Castle Doctrine, Self-Defense, Immunity, procedure

Suggested Citation

Berenguer, Elizabeth Esther, Deadly Combinations: How Self-Defense Laws Pairing Immunity with a Presumption of Fear Allow Criminals to 'Get Away with Murder' (April 15, 2010). American Journl of Trial Advocacy, Vol. 34, p. 105, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1857031

Elizabeth Esther Berenguer (Contact Author)

Stetson University College of Law ( email )

United States

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