Opinion
No. 3D21-2096
12-08-2021
Stephen JOHNSON, Petitioner, v. The STATE of Florida, Respondent.
Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Deborah Prager, Assistant Public Defender, for petitioner. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Christina L. Dominguez, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
Carlos J. Martinez, Public Defender, and Deborah Prager, Assistant Public Defender, for petitioner.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Christina L. Dominguez, Assistant Attorney General, for respondent.
Before EMAS, MILLER and LOBREE, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Stephen Johnson petitions this court for a writ of certiorari quashing the trial court's order denying his motion to dismiss filed pursuant to Florida's Stand Your Ground law, section 776.032, Florida Statutes (2020). The trial court denied the motion to dismiss without reaching the merits because it was not sworn to by a person with personal knowledge or otherwise supported by evidence to establish the facts as alleged in the motion.
Johnson filed the instant petition and, while this petition was pending, this court issued its opinion in Casanova v. State, 335 So.3d 1231 (Fla. 3d DCA October 27, 2021) which is identical in all relevant respects to, and dispositive of the issue presented in, the instant case. In Casanova, we held
a defendant's motion to dismiss under Florida's Stand Your Ground law can establish a prima facie claim of self-defense immunity from criminal prosecution even though the motion to dismiss is not sworn to by someone with personal knowledge or supported by evidence or testimony establishing the facts in the motion to dismiss.
Id. at * 1.
Accordingly, and as we did in Casanova, we grant the petition for writ of certiorari, quash the order under review, and remand for consideration of the merits of Johnson's motion to dismiss.