Independent – by ANTONIA MOLLOY
A blind man in Florida who shot and killed his friend has had two guns returned to him after being acquitted last month of murder under the state’s stand-your-ground law.
John Wayne Rogers, 40, shot 34-year-old James T. DeWitt in the chest with an assault rifle in March 2012, after a long drinking session in Rogers’ home in Geneva, in eastern Seminole County.
Prosecutors had charged Rogers with first-degree murder over the killing of DeWitt, who was staying the night, but a judge ruled that he had acted in self-defence.
Rogers, who was left legally blind after an industrial accident in 2011, told jurors that DeWitt had begun punching him and then came charging at him, threatening to kill him.
Rogers shot him once with a .308-caliber assault rifle.
In a hearing at the Seminole County Courthouse last week, the judge ordered that two guns be returned to Rogers, the Orlando Sentinelreported.
Judge John Galluzzo said that he was legally required to return the rifle, as well as a 10-millimetre Glock pistol.
Rogers had argued that it was his constitutional right to bear arms and said that he needed the weapons for protection.
But the judge ordered the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office to destroy the ammunition that had been seized alongside the guns because it was old and unsafe.
After the 10-minute hearing, Rogers told the Orlando Sentinel: “I’m happy that justice was done.”
The case has once again thrown Florida’s self-defence law into the spotlight.
The stand-your-ground law allows a person who “reasonably believes” they are in imminent fear of serious bodily injury to use deadly force to defend themselves, even if, despite their belief, no real threat exists.
The law was adopted in Florida in 2005 and has been copied in more than 20 states since then.
Civil rights groups and a handful of state legislators are urging a legal review of Florida’s self-defence statute, saying it has created a license to kill for gun owners who hate or fear young black men.
Last year, George Zimmerman, a former central Florida neighbourhood watchman, was acquitted of murder after saying he shot a 17-year-old unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in self-defence.
Gun rights activists, backed by a Republican-controlled legislature, have resisted all efforts to undo the law.
Additional reporting by Reuters
assault riffle?
where the F did he get an assault riffle? no one but the military and cops have assault weapons..does he have a class 3 license?
I bet its not REALLY an “ASSAULT” rifle now is it?
nawww its just a simple semi automatic rifle , that is probably Black..and so there you have it if its black it must be an assault rifle
I really wish news agencies would educate their propaganda machine a little better than this, because you’d have to get up really early to pull that wool over my eyes
wake up people ..words have meanings and they are using the wrong words on purpose
as for the ammo being “old and unsafe” lol well judge it killed his assailant didn’t it?
ammo doesn’t get old if stored properly, and if it goes boom,..well its good
the fact they disposed of the ammo also tell me a lot
what is the one thing they have been ordering a s^it ton of? and trying like hell to get out of our hands? ammo!
Old and unsafe is BS.It was for sure unsafe in the hands of the pigs,that’s for sure!
your right cracker. that ammo was not their property. they had no right to make that decision. They should be made to replaced that which they destroyed.
The judge was right to give him his guns back, but this story is only in the news to raise opposition to “stand your ground” laws.
Similar incidents probably happen regularly, but this was chosen for publication because he’s blind, and giving him guns makes the ruling seem silly.
The headline, which many people will stop at, says “BLIND”, but the story reveals that he’s “legally blind”, which translates to very bad eyesight, but still good enough to defend yourself with a pistol from a nearby attacker.
I don’t know what he’s going to do with that .308, but it was probably a semi-automatic, and that let’s them get away with using the “assault rifle” BS, so it had to be thrown in too.
“John Wayne Rogers, 40, shot 34-year-old James T. DeWitt in the chest with an assault rifle in March 2012, after a long drinking session in Rogers’ home in Geneva, in eastern Seminole County.”
I can just hear the howls of laughter in Hell when they found out how he died.
“You were shot by a WHAT???”