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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2007/05/15/s1b_borden_0515.html
Judge rejects 'Castle' law claim
By Larry Keller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — In the end, it might have been the nine additional shots he fired at his tormentors that prevented Norman Borden from having his first-degree murder case dismissed Monday.
Borden, 44, asked Circuit Judge William Berger to dismiss charges against him - two counts of first-degree murder and three other felonies - on the basis that under Florida's "Castle Doctrine" law he acted lawfully in shooting to death Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21, in his Westgate neighborhood in West Palm Beach in October.
Berger denied the request and set Borden's trial for June 18.
The confrontation occurred when Borden and a friend were walking Borden's dogs around 3 a.m. Words were exchanged, and Borden said the other men drove at him in a Jeep.
That's when he fired five shots from a 9mm handgun, and the vehicle came to a stop against a fence.
Borden then fired nine more shots from close range into the vehicle.
Sheriff's investigators say that Trejo was a local leader of a criminal nationwide street gang called Surenos 13 or Sur 13. They say that the gang's members set fire to Borden's house a couple of days after the shootings.
Public Defender Carey Haughwout sought dismissal of the charges on grounds that the state Castle Doctrine law in effect since Oct. 1, 2005 expanded one's right to self-defense to include shooting another person in their home, their vehicle and in a public place.
The law usurped court rulings that people had a duty to retreat from violent encounters. The Castle Doctrine states that a law-abiding person "has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force."
That fit Borden, Haughwout said. "His actions were done out of reasonable fear for his life and safety" and that of his friend, she said.
A preponderance of the evidence showed this, she added, and that's the standard of proof that applies.
Prosecutor Craig Williams said the Castle Doctrine law states that the use of force is permitted if "a reasonably cautious and prudent person" could believe that danger could only be avoided by the use of force.
Borden might have had a valid argument after firing the first five shots at the moving vehicle, he said.
The nine shots he dispensed when the Jeep came to a stop gave police probable cause to believe that Borden did not act in self-defense, he said.
"It's clearly a jury question," Williams said.
Berger agreed, saying that since factual issues are in dispute, a jury, not he, should decide them.
Had Borden succeeded in getting murder charges tossed because of the Castle Doctrine, he would have been the first defendant in Florida to do so.
Judge rejects 'Castle' law claim
By Larry Keller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — In the end, it might have been the nine additional shots he fired at his tormentors that prevented Norman Borden from having his first-degree murder case dismissed Monday.
Borden, 44, asked Circuit Judge William Berger to dismiss charges against him - two counts of first-degree murder and three other felonies - on the basis that under Florida's "Castle Doctrine" law he acted lawfully in shooting to death Christopher Araujo, 19, and Saul Trejo, 21, in his Westgate neighborhood in West Palm Beach in October.
Berger denied the request and set Borden's trial for June 18.
The confrontation occurred when Borden and a friend were walking Borden's dogs around 3 a.m. Words were exchanged, and Borden said the other men drove at him in a Jeep.
That's when he fired five shots from a 9mm handgun, and the vehicle came to a stop against a fence.
Borden then fired nine more shots from close range into the vehicle.
Sheriff's investigators say that Trejo was a local leader of a criminal nationwide street gang called Surenos 13 or Sur 13. They say that the gang's members set fire to Borden's house a couple of days after the shootings.
Public Defender Carey Haughwout sought dismissal of the charges on grounds that the state Castle Doctrine law in effect since Oct. 1, 2005 expanded one's right to self-defense to include shooting another person in their home, their vehicle and in a public place.
The law usurped court rulings that people had a duty to retreat from violent encounters. The Castle Doctrine states that a law-abiding person "has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force."
That fit Borden, Haughwout said. "His actions were done out of reasonable fear for his life and safety" and that of his friend, she said.
A preponderance of the evidence showed this, she added, and that's the standard of proof that applies.
Prosecutor Craig Williams said the Castle Doctrine law states that the use of force is permitted if "a reasonably cautious and prudent person" could believe that danger could only be avoided by the use of force.
Borden might have had a valid argument after firing the first five shots at the moving vehicle, he said.
The nine shots he dispensed when the Jeep came to a stop gave police probable cause to believe that Borden did not act in self-defense, he said.
"It's clearly a jury question," Williams said.
Berger agreed, saying that since factual issues are in dispute, a jury, not he, should decide them.
Had Borden succeeded in getting murder charges tossed because of the Castle Doctrine, he would have been the first defendant in Florida to do so.