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🇮🇳 India /Crime & Justice

Florida woman who shot Army veteran over Walmart parking space will not face charges under Stand Your Ground law

From Times of India · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Prosecutors will not charge Melissa Payne for fatally shooting Army veteran Bart Diguglielmo during a dispute over a Walmart parking space.
  • After reviewing security footage, cellphone video and body-camera recordings, prosecutors said they could not disprove Payne’s self-defense claim by the standard required under Florida law.
  • Diguglielmo’s family criticized the decision, saying alleged threats to property did not justify deadly force.

Melissa Payne will not face charges for fatally shooting 62-year-old Army veteran Bart Diguglielmo during a dispute over a parking space at a Walmart in North Lauderdale, Florida.

Payne shot Diguglielmo in the abdomen on June 30. He was unarmed. The Broward County State Attorney’s Office said prosecutors reviewed security footage, cellphone video and police body-camera recordings before deciding that Florida’s Stand Your Ground law protected her from prosecution.

The law does not require a person to retreat before using deadly force if they reasonably believe they face an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. A 2017 amendment requires prosecutors to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that the force was not legally justified.

The video does not demonstrate that [Payne] was in the right, rather it demonstrates that the State of Florida cannot overcome her claim that she was in reasonable fear of great bodily harm by clear and convincing evidence.

· Stephen ZaccorThe assistant state attorney explained why prosecutors closed the case without charges.

Assistant State Attorney Stephen Zaccor said prosecutors could not meet that threshold. “The video does not demonstrate that [Payne] was in the right, rather it demonstrates that the State of Florida cannot overcome her claim that she was in reasonable fear of great bodily harm by clear and convincing evidence,” he wrote in a case-closing memo.

According to police recordings and Payne’s account, Diguglielmo threatened to damage her vehicle and continued approaching after she asked him to back away. “He’s made several threats about doing something to my vehicle,” Payne said. She told police she had driven around the parking lot and repeatedly asked him to move before firing.

Payne was arrested, handcuffed and later released. The decision disappointed Diguglielmo’s family. Melissa Rodriguez, an attorney for his daughter Amanda, told NBC 6 South Florida that references to possible damage to a vehicle or other property did not establish reasonable grounds for using deadly force.

He’s made several threats about doing something to my vehicle.

· Melissa PaynePayne described to police the threats she said Diguglielmo made before the shooting.
About this summary

Originally published by Times of India. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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