STEPHEN JOHNSON v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA
This text of STEPHEN JOHNSON v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA (STEPHEN JOHNSON v. THE STATE OF FLORIDA) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida
Opinion filed December 8, 2021. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
________________
No. 3D21-2096 Lower Tribunal No. M20-2474 ________________
Stephen Johnson, Petitioner,
vs.
The State of Florida, Respondent.
A Writ of Certiorari to the County Court for Miami-Dade County, Christine Bandin, Judge.
Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Deborah Prager, Assistant Public Defender, for petitioner.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Christina L. Dominguez, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
Before EMAS, MILLER and LOBREE, JJ.
PER CURIAM. Stephen Johnson petitions this court for a writ of certiorari quashing
the trial court’s order denying his motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Florida’s
Stand Your Ground law, section 776.032, Florida Statutes (2020). The trial
court denied the motion to dismiss without reaching the merits because it
was not sworn to by a person with personal knowledge or otherwise
supported by evidence to establish the facts as alleged in the motion.
Johnson filed the instant petition and, while this petition was pending,
this court issued its opinion in Casanova v. State, 46 Fla. L. Weekly D2326
(Fla. 3d DCA October 27, 2021) which is identical in all relevant respects to,
and dispositive of the issue presented in, the instant case. In Casanova, we
held
a defendant's motion to dismiss under Florida's Stand Your Ground law can establish a prima facie claim of self-defense immunity from criminal prosecution even though the motion to dismiss is not sworn to by someone with personal knowledge or supported by evidence or testimony establishing the facts in the motion to dismiss.
Id. at * 1.
Accordingly, and as we did in Casanova, we grant the petition for writ
of certiorari, quash the order under review, and remand for consideration of
the merits of Johnson’s motion to dismiss.
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