Boston v. State, 1D17-5190

• Court: Court of Appeal of Florida (US)
• Writing for the Court: Rowe, J.
• Citation: 260 So.3d 445
• Parties: Roy P. BOSTON, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Docket Number: No. 1D17-5190,1D17-5190
• Decision Date: 30 November 2018

260 So.3d 445

Roy P. BOSTON, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 1D17-5190

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

November 30, 2018

Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Kasey Lacey, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General; Amit Agarwal, Solicitor General; Edward M. Wenger, Chief Deputy Solicitor General; and Christopher J. Baum, Deputy Solicitor General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Rowe, J.

Roy P. Boston appeals his judgment and sentence for battery, asserting that the trial court erred by denying his motion for mistrial and by applying the wrong standard in ruling on his motion for Stand Your Ground immunity. We affirm the denial of the motion for mistrial without further comment. However, based on this Court’s recent decisions in Commander v. State , 246 So.3d 1303 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018), and Edwards v. State , 257 So.3d 586, 2018 WL 4997631 (Fla. 1st DCA Oct. 16, 2018), we are constrained to reverse the trial court’s ruling on the Stand Your Ground motion.

Before trial, the parties argued whether the 2017 amendment to the Stand Your Ground law, section 776.032(4), Florida Statutes, would apply to Boston’s offense. Before the amendment, a defendant, at a pretrial evidentiary hearing, had to prove by a preponderance of evidence that he was entitled to Stand Your Ground immunity. Bretherick v. State , 170 So.3d 766, 775 (Fla. 2015). The amendment to the statute changed both the burden and quantum of proof required for establishing entitlement to immunity. Now, when a defendant raises a prima facie claim of Stand Your Ground immunity, the State must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is not entitled to immunity. § 776.032(4), Fla. Stat. (2017). Boston argued that this amendment to the Stand Your Ground law was procedural in nature and therefore applied retroactively to his 2016 offense.

The trial court rejected Boston’s argument and concluded that the 2017 amendment was a substantive change in the law, and therefore, the amendment applied prospectively from the date of the enactment, over one year after Boston’s offense. The court determined that Boston had the burden...