A South Florida man has successfully used the state’s Stand Your Ground law to escape first-degree murder charges.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports a Broward County judge ordered an acquittal for 54-year-old Nour Badi Jarkas in the 2009 shooting of his estranged wife’s boyfriend. On Monday prosecutors announced they won’t appeal the decision.
Judge Ilona Holmes ruled that Jarkas was an invited guest in his wife’s home and felt threatened before he shot John Concannon during a confrontation.
The newspaper reports a jury deadlocked on a murder charge last year, months before the Florida Supreme Court ruled the Stand Your Ground ruled the 2005 Stand Your Ground law is intended to keep certain self-defense cases from reaching a jury trial.
Jarkas remained in jail Tuesday, awaiting another hearing.
AP
