THOMAS L. TILLMAN
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA
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# LEGAL BRIEF **Tillman v. State of Florida**, 2D16-5566 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 13, 2019): The Second District Court of Appeal held that the 2017 amendment to Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law (§ 776.032) applies retroactively to pending cases and is procedural in nature, reversing the defendant's attempted second-degree murder conviction and remanding for a new immunity hearing under the amended statute. The court certified conflict with the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal, which had concluded that the amendment does not apply retroactively.
[1] A 2017 amendment to Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, section 776.032, Florida Statutes, is procedural in nature and retroactively applicable to pending cases.
[2] A trial court must reconsider a motion to dismiss based on statutory immunity under the 2017 "Stand Your Ground" law if the amendment applies retroactively.
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NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
THOMAS L. TILLMAN, DOC #487531, ) ) Appellant, ) ) v. ) Case No. 2D16-5566 ) STATE OF FLORIDA, ) ) Appellee. ) )
Opinion filed March 13, 2019.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; William Fuente and Lisa D. Campbell, Judges.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and Warren A. Zimmerman, Special Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Susan D. Dunlevy, Assistant Attorney General; and Helene S. Parnes, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa (substituted as counsel of record), for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
A jury found Thomas L. Tillman guilty of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm. See §§ 782.04(2), 777.04(1), (4)(c), 775.087(1)(b), Fla. Stat. (2015). On appeal from the judgment, Tillman argues, among other things, that the 2017 amendment to section 776.032, Florida Statutes, see ch. 2017-72, § 1, Laws of Fla.—
Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law—applies retroactively and that in light of that amendment, the trial court should reconsider his motion to dismiss the information based on that statute.
As we did in Martin v. State, 43 Fla. L. Weekly D1016, D1017 (Fla. 2d
DCA May 4, 2018), review pending, No. SC18-789, we hold that the 2017 amendment to section 766.032 is procedural in nature and is retroactively applicable to pending cases. See also Drossos v. State, 43 Fla. L. Weekly D2764 (Fla. 2d DCA Dec. 14,
2018), review pending, No. SC19-83. And as we did in Martin, we reverse Tillman's judgment and sentence and remand for a new immunity hearing under the 2017 statute.
If, following the hearing, the trial court determines that Tillman is entitled to statutory immunity, "it shall enter an order to that effect and dismiss the information with prejudice." Martin, 43 Fla. L. Weekly at D1018. If the trial court determines that Tillman is not entitled to immunity, it shall enter an order so reflecting and reinstate Tillman's conviction and sentence. See id. We affirm without comment with regard to the remaining issues that Tillman has raised in this appeal.
The Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal have held that section
766.032, as amended, does not apply retroactively in pending cases, and we therefore certify conflict with Hight v. State, 253 So. 3d 1137 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018), review pending, No. SC18-1653, and Love v. State, 247 So. 3d 609 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018),
review granted, No. SC18-747, 2018 WL 3147946 (Fla. June 26, 2018).
Reversed and remanded with instructions; conflict certified.
VILLANTI, SALARIO, and ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, JJ., Concur.
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Manley v. State, 268 So. 3d 275 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)
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Hicks v. State (Fla. 1st DCA 2019)
Authorities Cited
- Love v. State, 247 So. 3d 609 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018)
- Hight v. State, 253 So. 3d 1137 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018)