STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
ALPHONSE OLANDO GALLO, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2011-12-30
No. 2D10-5394
ALTENBERND and DAVIS, JJ., Concur.
76 So. 3d 407 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2011) Positive Treatment
Cited by 12 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The State appeals a trial court's determination that Alphonse Gallo was entitled to immunity from prosecution under Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law for the second-degree murder of Patrick Barbour following a street gunfight. The appellate court affirms the trial court's immunity ruling, finding the factual findings were supported by substantial, competent evidence and the trial judge applied the law without error.


Holding

Gallo was entitled to immunity from prosecution under section 776.032 because the trial judge, applying the preponderance of the evidence standard, found that Gallo had used deadly force in the manner statutorily authorized by that section.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant asserting immunity under the "Stand Your Ground" law is granted a substantive right to avoid trial.

[2] The burden of weighing evidence in "Stand Your Ground" immunity cases rests with the trial judge.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“The legislature passed the law that created this section because it determined "that it is proper for law-abiding people to protect themselves, their families, and others from intruders and attackers without fear of prosecution or civil action for acting in defense of themselves and others."”

Establishes the legislative purpose and policy underlying the Stand Your Ground law

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

At approximately 2:30 a.m. outside a nightclub in Sarasota, Gallo and Barbour confronted each other and argued over a debt. The argument escalated int…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
CASANUEVA, Judge.

CASANUEVA, Judge.

The State appeals the trial court’s determination that Alphonse Olando Gallo was entitled to immunity from prosecution for the second-degree murder of Patrick Barbour. We affirm.

Mr. Barbour’s unfortunate death resulted from events reminiscent of the “Shootout at the OK Corral.”1 At around 2:30 in the morning, Mr. Gallo and Mr. Barbour confronted each other outside of a busy night club in the Newtown area of Sarasota. They argued regarding a debt that Mr. Barbour owed Mr. Gallo. As tempers flared the argument became more physical. Eventually the minor tussling stopped and more serious threats began. The situation reached a climax, breaking out into a gunfight between at least four men in the middle of the street. Men were ducking behind cars and firing over their shoulders as they ran for cover. An officer nearby heard several of the shots and arrived at the scene quickly. When he arrived, he found Mr. Barbour on the ground in the middle of the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The officer ran back to his car to collect medical equipment, but a large, hostile crowd surrounded Mr. Barbour and prevented the officer from returning to render aid. Mr. Barbour succumbed to his injuries. By the time law enforcement could secure the area, there was no sign of any of the firearms. However, law enforcement discovered twenty-six shell casings of four different types in the vicinity.

Charged with the second-degree murder of Mr. Barbour, Mr. Gallo filed a motion seeking immunity from prosecution pursuant to section 776.032, Florida Statutes (2009), commonly known as the “Stand Your Ground” law. The legislature passed the law that created this section because it determined “that it is proper for law-abiding people to protect themselves, their families, and others from intruders and attackers without fear of prosecution or civil action for acting in defense of themselves and others.” Ch. 05-27, at 200, Laws of Fla. Section 776.032 provides that, in certain circumstances, a person may use deadly force to stand his ground against an attacker and be free from the *409fear of prosecution. The statute effectively “grants defendants a substantive right to assert immunity from prosecution and to avoid being subjected to a trial.” Dennis v. State, 51 So.3d 456, 462 (Fla.2010).

In this case the trial judge held an evidentiary hearing, made determinations of credibility, weighed the numerous pieces of conflicting evidence, and set forth extensive factual findings in a nine-page written order. Based upon the preponderance of the evidence,2 the trial judge ruled that Mr. Gallo was immune from prosecution because he had used deadly force in the manner statutorily authorized by section 776.082. We find no error in the trial court’s procedures, and its factual findings were supported by substantial, competent evidence.

The legislature’s enactment of section 776.032 placed the burden of weighing the evidence in “Stand Your Ground” cases squarely upon the trial judge’s shoulders. In this case, that burden required the trial judge to make order out of the chaos that occurred in Sarasota on one fateful night in 2010. The trial judge performed that duty without legal error. Accordingly, we affirm.

ALTENBERND and DAVIS, JJ., Concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Bretherick v. State, 170 So. 3d 766 (Fla. 2015)
    …Dennis, have placed the burden of proof on the defendant to establish entitlement to immunity by a preponderance of the evidence at the pretrial eviden-tiary hearing. See, e.g., Mederos v. State, 102 So. 3d 7, 11 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012); State v. Gallo, 76 So. 3d 407, 409 & n. 2 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011); State v. Vino, 100 So. 3d 716, 717 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012); Joseph v. State, 103 So. 3d 227, 230 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012); Bretherick, 135 So. 3d at 340. Even before this Court’s decision in Dennis, all of Florida’s district co…
  • Mobley v. State, 132 So. 3d 1160 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014)
    …o. 3d 574 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 107 So. 3d 403 (Fla.2012). . “The legislature’s enactment of section 776.032 placed the burden of weighing the evidence in ‘Stand Your Ground’ cases squarely upon the trial judge's shoulders.” State v. Gallo, 76 So. 3d 407, 409 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). . Compare § 784.03(1), Fla. Stat. (2008) (misdemeanor battery) to § 784.041(1), Fla. Stat. (2008) (felony battery) and § 784.045, Fla. Stat. (2008) (aggravated battery, also a felony). . The forensic evidence confirmed tha…
  • Jefferson v. State, 264 So. 3d 1019 (Fla. 2d DCA 2018)

Previewing 3 of 8 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw