Ah, Florida. You\u2019ve got to love the originality of the place. First it comes up with the Stand Your Ground law. Now the state is back in the news with another fun-in-the-sun idea. Yes, it seems at least one legislator in Florida thinks that individuals who injure or kill\u2014and then are acquitted for their crimes based on a Stand Your Ground defense\u2014deserve a bit more love from the state of Florida. To that end, Republican State Representative Matt Gaetz is on a crusade to take some of the \u201csunshine\u201d out of the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

Let me explain. Sunshine, <\/i>in this context, refers to \u201cregulations that require openness in government. Sunshine laws make meetings, records, votes, deliberations, and other official actions available for public observation, participation, and\/or inspection.\u201d\u00a0 Today all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government have sunshine laws on the books.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Representative Gaetz either doesn\u2019t know or doesn\u2019t care about the history of his state. He\u2019s out to overturn Florida\u2019s more-than-century-long, proud tradition of enacting open-government laws. Way back in 1909, when sunshine laws were just a twinkle in the eye of other states, Florida passed Chapter 119 of the Florida statutes, called the Public Records Law. In 1967, Florida enacted one of the first sunshine laws in the nation, the Government-in-the-Sunshine law, which became Chapter 286 of the Florida Statutes. And, in 1995, the Florida state legislature passed The Florida Sunshine Law.<\/p>\n

So what happened to encourage Representative Gaetz to fly in the face of tradition?<\/p>\n

(Could it be that Gaetz feels emboldened by the scorched-earth jurisprudence of Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito? Please feel free to answer that question for yourself in the privacy of your own home.)<\/p>\n

What happened was that in June 2012, the Tampa Bay Times had the audacity to do exactly what a free and independent press is supposed to do. The newspaper\u2019s reporters and editors recognized an important story, gathered the facts via public records, and published their findings. Following an investigative piece that looked at over two hundred cases in the then-seven years since the Stand Your Ground law was passed, the newspaper published a piece with the headline \u201cUneven Application, Shocking Outcomes.\u201d The paper\u2019s conclusions, based on statistical analysis, demonstrated the obscenity of Stand Your Ground and showed how deeply the law has subverted the cause of justice.<\/p>\n

The paper\u2019s conclusions were not pretty. But here they are<\/a>:<\/p>\n

70 percent of those who invoke the \u201cstand your ground\u201d defense to avoid prosecution for harming or killing someone have gone free <\/i>[italics added].<\/p>\n

Defendants who claim \u201cstand your ground\u201d are more likely to be successful if the victim is black. 73 percent of people who killed a black person faced\u00a0no penalty.<\/p>\n

The number of \u201cstand your ground\u201d cases is increasing as Florida attorneys are using the defense in ways state legislators never envisioned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you look at some of the cases claiming the Stand Your Ground defense and succeeding, they are so ludicrous they could have been pulled off of \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d Take the case of the jogger who beat a Jack Russell terrier. Then there\u2019s the case of a self-professed vampire. What about the man who shot a bear? Or how about my personal favorite, the too-many-garbage-bags-on-the-street nut who shot his neighbor in the stomach and chest because the neighbor put out eight rather than six bags on the curb? By the way, if you\u2019re wondering, garbage-bag nut got off scot-free, demonstrating that, among some of its more admirable qualities, Florida can rightfully claim to be a particularly fastidious state.<\/p>\n

In the context of all of the mayhem the Stand Your Ground law has unleashed, in waltzes Representative Gaetz, who just doesn\u2019t like the facts the Tampa Bay Times revealed in its 2012 piece (and continues to publicize in a banner at the top of their online edition that invites the public to review the database of Stand Your Ground cases). In fact, Gaetz dislikes the facts so much that he doesn\u2019t want anybody<\/i> to be bothered by those facts ever again. So, what\u2019s he going to do about it? Following in the hallowed democratic traditions of this great nation, Gaetz has decided to introduce a bill in the Florida legislature that will restrict media and public access specifically to Stand Your Ground case records.<\/p>\n

Gaetz\u2019s bill allows defendants who appropriately use the Stand Your Ground defense to petition to have the history of their criminal record expunged and, in the language of the bill, the defendant\u2019s \u201ccriminal history is confidential and exempt from the provisions of the State Constitution.\u201d Gaetz hasn\u2019t left a stone unturned when it comes to showing love for people who injure and kill. Just in case there are some Floridians who still believe they live in a democracy and feel an itch to exercise the stirrings of conscience, the Fort Walton Beach legislator inserted language making it unlawful for anyone to \u201cdisclose information relating to the existence<\/i> [emphasis added] of an expunged criminal history.\u201d And just in case democracy lovers still<\/i> don\u2019t get the message, Gaetz proposes to criminalize disclosure of any such information and make it punishable as a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Do you see where this is going? Floridians can walk away from killing or maiming someone for no good reason and have the record of their crime destroyed, but responsible journalists, individuals, and government employees who want the public to have the information necessary for informed public debate can be fined or go to jail.<\/p>\n

It makes you wonder, doesn\u2019t it, what kind of country we\u2019ve become.<\/p>\n

An update on Representative Gaetz\u2019s proposed bill: The amendment to expunge criminal records, HB89, was adopted by voice vote in the Florida Senate. The larger bill to which it was attached, SB-448, was passed on April 3^{, <\/sup>2014, by a vote of 32-7. The bill and the amendment are now on the way to Governor Rick Scott\u2019s desk. The governor is expected to sign the amendment into law.<\/p>\n}

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[Featured image: Gary Oliver, Big Bend Sentinel]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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