Florida Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, couldnt wait for the state to convene its own task force following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford.
So he put his own together.
And while he is among the 19 individuals placed on Gov. Rick Scotts Citizens Safety and Protection Task Force, which has its first meeting on Tuesday, he has released the findings of his own group.
Less than four weeks after its first meeting, Smith outlined a series of recommendations for Scotts panel -- headed by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll -- as well as his own plans to introduce legislation to alter the Stand Your Ground law that has been used in the Feb. 26 shooting of Martin by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.
We took an adult look at Stand Your Ground, and we had adult discussions, not political, but adult discussions of Stand Your Ground and I think were giving good direction to the Legislature of what should be done, Smith said.
Smith said he asked Carroll to address his task forces finding on Tuesday, but instead may just have to leave his task forces recommendations on (the governor's task force members') chairs or car windshields.
Amy Graham, a spokeswoman for Scott, noted that the Citizens Safety and Protection Task Force meeting on Tuesday will be purely administrative and there will be no public comment.
The governors task force will consider Senator Smiths recommendations along with all other suggestions expressed during the task force meetings, Graham responded in an email.
The suggested changes from Smith's task force:
-- Cases should be presented to a grand jury to allow for a cross-section of society to determine what a reasonable person would do in that case.
-- Educate the public and law enforcement.
-- Create a system to track self-defense claims in Florida.
-- Change the title of the law from Use of Force in Defense of Property to Use of Force in Defense of Others.
Smith said the Stand Your Ground law has been used in a variety of cases that didnt fit the description of the law when the law was crafted in 2005 to expand an individuals legal right to use force in self-defense.
This is being used by prostitute-killing johns, in gang fights, Smith said.
He also said that while the NRA has been an advocate for the law, there are cases where knives have been used as defensive weapons. Members of his group, predominately from South Florida, including Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderly, Broward County State Attorney Mike Satz and U.S. Attorney Dan Gelber --all Democrats.
Smith said his task force had considered a recommendation to repeal the law, but there wasnt enough of a majority to support the proposal.
Smith also repeated an earlier call that the Legislature should hold a special session to address ambiguities in the law.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
