News website
www.local10.com is reporting that two workers at a Miami-Dade convenience store have been arrested. Miami-Dade police claim that one of the workers killed a customer with a crowbar outside of the business during a dispute.
Miami-Dade police report that the alleged victim went into the store where he became involved in a verbal dispute with the two store employees over a small amount of change the alleged victim believed was owed to him.
According to the arrest affidavit, the alleged victim was angry over being supposedly short-changed. Police said he went back into the store, made a derogatory racial remark to the clerk, told him to go back to his country and made a profane comment about his mother and sisters.
At one point, police said, he left the store, but then he returned and continued insulting the clerk.
According to the report, another customer was escorting the alleged victim from the store when one of the employees apparently hit the alleged victim with a bottle. Police said other another employee joined in. One of the workers reportedly struck the alleged victim in the head with a crowbar, resulting in the alleged victim's death.
The worker who struck the alleged victim with the crowbar has been arrested and charged with
second-degree murder. The worker who reportedly struck the alleged victim with the bottle has been charged with
aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
The defense in this case will hinge on whether the store clerks were acting in self-defense when the alleged victim returned to the store hurling insults. If the alleged victim was merely arguing with the clerks, then lethal force could not be used to remove him. However, Florida law does permit the use of non-lethal force to remove a trespasser from your property.
If the facts allege that the alleged victim threatened or created a well-founded fear in the store clerks that he was going to do violence, the two clerks may have a defense under
Florida's Stand Your Ground Law.
Self-defense cases are very fact-specific and often require the skills of a good
criminal defense attorney to help persuade a prosecutor, a judge, or even a jury that the client was acting in lawful self-defense when the "crime" occurred.
Remember, murder is a crime. However, murder is excusable if committed in defense of your life. If the alleged victim in this case was trying to harm the store clerk's, they may have been justified in using lethal force to defend themselves. Only as the facts of this case unravel will the truth come out.
I represent clients charged with serious felonies in Miami-Dade and Broward.
Call today for a free case evaluation.