“A reasonable and prudent person in the same position as Mr. Dames would have believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to Mr. Dames,” [St. Lucie County Circuit Judge William] Roby stated. “The state has failed to prove … that Mr. Dames had no objectively reasonable basis to use deadly force against Mr. McMiller at any time during their fateful encounter.”
And with that, as reported by TCPalm.com, Judge Roby dismissed all charges against Jason Dames who had been sitting in a jail cell for two years after a 2018 shooting.
Dames was attacked by Jessie McMiller, a man he didn’t know, in a restaurant. Dames is blind in one eye and has a shunt in his head which makes him particularly vulnerable to injury. Dames was punched repeatedly and had been knocked to the ground before he shot McMiller who later died at a hospital.
“(Dames) was not in any way the person who initially provoked the use of force against him,” Roby ruled, adding “McMiller was agitated and the provoker in this deadly scenario.”
Dames was released from jail where he’d remained all this time pending $750,000 bail. The judge ruled the state failed to make the case that Roby’s use of deadly force wasn’t justified given the circumstances.
“A reasonable and prudent person in the same position as Mr. Dames would have believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to Mr. Dames,” Roby stated. “The state has failed to prove … that Mr. Dames had no objectively reasonable basis to use deadly force against Mr. McMiller at any time during their fateful encounter.”
The state failed to show that. And security video showed Dames trying to get away from McMiller before resorting to a ballistic defense. In Florida, the burden of proof is on the prosecution to show that a defender didn’t have a reasonable fear of injury or death.
Citing video of the incident, Roby stated Dames is seen retreating from the “multiple barrages of punches to the head and face” until he falls to the ground several feet away. …
After shooting McMiller, Dames said he sat on the ground, took his Glock handgun apart and set it on the ground with his concealed carry permit and waited for police to arrive.
Dames’ attorney blamed Fort Pierce police for ignoring mounds of evidence showing that the shooting was clearly justified, and resulting in Dames rotting behind bars for two years.
This is exactly the type of situation that prompted stand your ground laws. Stand your ground, which is the law in 25 states, permits the use of deadly force by an individual who has a reasonable fear of death or grievous bodily harm, wherever he or she may be…not only in the home.
Stand your ground laws have become a favorite target of the gun control industry.
#StandYourGround laws justify murder. As millions of Americans demand solutions to gun violence and racial injustice, @GovMikeDeWine needs to know the country is watching. We #StandWithOhio — reject this legislation!
Sign the petition: https://t.co/q8GWNGjRg5 #EndGunViolence pic.twitter.com/mri6OUJpHf
— Kris Brown (@KrisB_Brown) September 30, 2020
Particularly after the Trayvon Martin shooting — which DID NOT involve Florida’s stand your ground law — the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex has claimed that stand your ground laws are a license to shoot anyone at any time. They’d rather see someone like Jason Dames be injured or killed rather than have him successfully defend himself against an unknown attacker.