By C1 Staff
TALLAHASSEE — In a case stemming from an altercation with an inmate, an appeals court ruled that a corrections officer can use Florida’s controversial ‘stand your ground law.’
CO Brad Heilman was charge with aggravated battery after an inmate was injured in an incident at the Lake Correctional Institution, according to CBS News.
A three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal sided with Heilman Friday.
A circuit judge found that Heilman could not use the law in a defense due to another state law that deals with when COs can use force. But the appeals court’s seven-paged opinion concluded that the Legislature intneded for the ‘stand your ground law’ to apply to COs and sent the case back to circuit court.
The ‘stand your ground’ law says people can use deadly force and do not have a duty to retreat if they think it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.