MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Florida’s Stand Your Ground law is taking center stage after a confrontation turned deadly.
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Marion County deputies said an argument Friday night ended with a neighbor shooting and killing AJ Owens, a mother of four.
Now, family is calling for that neighbor to be arrested. However, that neighbor said she was standing her ground in her own home.
The family is frustrated, saying if the shoe was on the other foot, the mother would be behind bars.
Investigators and other neighbors said it all started with children playing on a field next to the shooter’s house that evening, which happened all the time.
Channel 9′s legal expert Bill Sheaffer broke down why the sheriff is following the rulebook so closely on this one despite the backlash.
Sheaffer said the sheriff’s hands are tied.
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“In order to arrest, the police would have to establish probable cause that the shooting was not a result of stand your ground or self-defense,” Sheaffer said, adding that is almost impossible right now.
Sheaffer said since the shooter was inside her home, the law works in her favor.
“Since the law provides greater protection for an individual that’s in their home or in an automobile to use deadly force, one could argue that she was justified if she was in fear that this woman was breaking into her home.”
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