Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin have one more news tidbit to keep them awake at night.
Florida’s insanely vague “stand-your-ground” law has made it possible for John Wayne Rogers (no irony lost over here), a blind man who shot and killed his “drinking buddy”–after a long night of drinking, no doubt, to obtain his guns and be granted immunity.
The reluctant judge participant stated he researched and studied the law and couldn’t find just cause not to do so.
Reports Gawker:
John Wayne Rogers had stood accused of premeditated first degree murder for shooting a “drinking buddy” in March 2012 “after a long drinking session,” according to the Orlando Sentinel. The killing was done “once in the chest with a .308 Remington assault rifle from a distance of 18 inches or less.”
But amid differing eyewitness accounts at his trial last month, a judge dismissed the jury and awarded Rogers immunity under Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
That led to Thursday’s hearing, in which Judge John Galluzo reluctantly admitted he’d have to give Rogers his rifle and a Glock 10 mm handgun. “I have to return property that was taken under the circumstance,” the judge said. “I have researched and haven’t found case law to say otherwise.”
The courts, did take his ammunition, however. Apparently the bullets were “too old” to kill anybody from this point on.
This isn’t Mr. John Wayne Rogers first rodeo, either. He was awarded probation for firing 15 rounds at his cousin in 2010 and punched a woman no less than a year later which resulted in him sitting 71 days in the Seminole County jail for domestic violence.
If the law can’t see that the Florida “stand your ground” law is covering up punks masquerading as cowboys, this type of perceived injustice is going to just continue to happen.
Check out pics of the real John Wayne in the gallery.
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Photo: Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, NBC2
