The attorney for a retired Tampa police captain charged over the fatal shooting of a man in a movie theater plans to use Florida’s controversial stand-your-ground law to defend his client.
Curtis Reeves, who was 71 at the time of the incident in January 2014, has said he shot Chad Oulson, 43, in self-defense at a showing of Lone Survivor, having argued about texting during film previews.
His attorney, Richard Escobar, on Thursday confirmed to the Guardian that he plans to file a motion for stand-your-ground in response to a charge of second-degree murder.
The statute grants immunity to a shooter if a judge determines he or she had a “reasonable belief” in a fear of death or bodily harm.
Escobar said the statute was a “natural fit” for Reeves’ case, which he said was about abuse of the elderly as well as self-defense, as Oulson was nearly three decades younger.
“This is not only a case about the self-defense of the individual, but this is also a case about the abuse of the elderly,” Escobar said. “What individual in this world gets up in the middle of a movie theater, with patrons about to watch a movie, and gets up and attacks an elderly person?”
Police said Reeves was irritated by Oulson texting in the previews before the film began, leading to an argument between the two men. Reeves had texted his son, Matthew, moments before, from inside the movie theater.
Reeves told police Oulson hit him in the face, possibly with a cellphone. Witnesses, including Reeves’ wife, said they did not see such an incident.
The stand-your-ground statute faced renewed scrutiny in 2012 and 2013, around the trial in Florida of George Zimmerman, a white neighborhood watchman who fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman, who waived his right to seek immunity under the law, was acquitted.
A subsequent Tampa Bay Times investigation found that in Florida, the stand-your-ground defense is extremely successful – and that such success more often depends on factors like the race of the person killed and who committed the shooting than the merits of the case.
Florida was the first state legislature to pass such a law, in 2005. It was signed into law by the then governor, current Republican presidential candidate hopeful Jeb Bush. Dozens of states have introduced similar legislation.
Last month, Florida state representative Dennis Baxley introduced legislation which would give the statute even more strength by requiring the state to prove that the shooter was not threatened.
Escobar said his legal team planned to file a motion for stand-your-ground in the next few weeks.
Reeves was also accused of aggravated battery with a firearm, because the bullet that killed Oulson also allegedly grazed his wife, Nicole.
