TAMPA - How much information should someone have before pulling the trigger?

The question could prove crucial for appellate judges in deciding whether to hear a challenge filed in a local "Stand Your Ground" case.

Towing company owner Donald Montanez wants the 2nd District Court of Appeal to review a trial judge's ruling that he isn't entitled to immunity from prosecution under the law.

Montanez faces second-degree murder and other charges in the 2006 fatal shooting of Glen "Chuck" Rich who was driving off in his wife's car after Montanez's employees had towed it.

Montanez claims he was trying to protect himself and employee Lorraine Marie Whitehead when he shot at Rich while the car hurtled toward them.

The 2005 "Stand Your Ground" law says people don't have to exhaust all avenues of retreat before using deadly force to defend themselves or others from an aggressor.

But Hillsborough Circuit Judge Robert A. Foster denied Montanez's claim to protection under the law. In his May ruling, Foster said Montanez and Whitehead weren't in immediate danger when Montanez fired because the car had already passed them. The bullet passed through the passenger window, hitting Rich under his armpit.

Montanez's attorney, Jay Hebert, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd DCA today that his client was entitled to defend himself and others. Hebert said his client didn't know where Whitehead was as the car passed, so Montanez was justified in firing his .40-caliber pistol.

Appellate Judge James W. Whatley's questions emphasized the chaos Montanez faced. He pointed out that the shooting happened in less than three seconds at 5 a.m.

"Does that not blur the distinction," Whatley said of whether Montanez or Whitehead was in the "zone of uncertainty" in which Foster said a person would be protected by the law.

But Assistant Attorney General Timothy Freeland argued that people shouldn't be allowed to fire willy-nilly.

"At the time he fired the shot, he had to know where everyone was," Freeland said.

Appellate Judge Robert J. Morris Jr. summed up the argument.

"You don't want us to sanction shots on a maybe," he said.

It could take weeks or months before the judges issue a ruling.

Without the appeals court intervention, Montanez's case would proceed to trial, where he could raise self-defense.

Courts have taken different views on how to apply the state's "Stand Your Ground" law.

Freeland said the law will remain in a state of flux until the Florida Supreme Court resolves the conflicts.

Hebert said he was encouraged that the appeals court heard arguments in his client's request.

"It is a strong indication the 2nd District Court of Appeals wants to review this issue," he said.

"We feel strongly Mr. Montanez was entitled to do what he did that night."

SOURCE

There has to be more to this story. If the vehicle was already past them, then he should be charged, IMO.

I'm inclined to agree given the circumstances. The man was not escaping with the shooter's property and clearly wasn't a threat any more. If he had been shot while driving towards the shooter then I'd I'd give the shooter a pass. Or if the driver was taking a car he didn't own.

Besides, it's a tow truck company owner. Sub human and not eligible for rights like the rest of us.

+1

Anyone who shoots should know the angle of aim would be different to hit the driver from a windshield shot to a side window shot and one would have to adjust their aim, so the defense line is BS.

This guy was killed for questioning the authority of a wrecker driver.

The whole thing stinks of a "Rip Off Bob" car lot where they routinely extend credit after receiving enough down payment to pay for their costs, allow multiple late payments, then just before its paid off repo the car for them being one day late so they can sell the same car a dozen times. Since there is no government involvement like police, then there is reasonable suspicion they are thieves with a wrecker. Its one of those gray areas where they are in fact legal thieves. They have to have possession of that vehicle and change the title for it to be theirs again. If that guy was driving it then he was in legal possession no matter how he got it.

If we buy the "stand your ground" defense is BS, which anyone who shoots knows it is, then we need ask ourselves do we want to become a society that wrecker drivers can not only take our cars without due process (bad enough they can now) but shoot us for them.

Short version, the guy deserves to be burned for the shoot.

Tj

BTW, Please save the emotional "Deadbeat" defense. Being a deadbeat isn't a execution offense and I could write just as many novels on crooked wrecker driver tactics as deadbeats I've known.

I'd stand behind the ruling! If you need a car, buy what you can afford & have it checked out! These people do nothing but hurt our cause! Idiot!

Was it a repo car? I don't see that written. It could be just one of those wreckers companies that tow from private parking lots and then try to jack you up for several hundred dollars because they towed your car.

You park in the wrong place in my town and even if you find out who towed the car and get it that day you could still be out over $300!!!!

I've seen the wreckers lurk in parking lots while someone runs into a store for a pack of smokes to nab the car for illegal parking. Once they get their bar under the car they won't let go even if you come right back out. They want the full price right there IN CASH to drop it. If you complain the driver will threaten violence if you interfere with his tow. Plenty of shootings in my town with wrecker drivers involved. It's a very dirty business here. If I person somehow rescued his car off one of these ripoff lots without paying no jury in town would convict him here.

The whole mess over legitimately repossessed cars is pretty murky too. Too many of these pay day loan joints want your car title for a lousy $200 loan they charge extortionate rates for. Then you have these used car lots with reams of paperwork that give them the right to repo if you are a day late and even go catch up on your payments. Once you miss the date you are liable regardless of whether you are now current. They might even just let you catch back up and almost pay the loan off, but still come do the repo months later and dare you to sue them. The car lot will lose in court, but they are gambling you won't file or can't afford a lawyer.

I have a problem with this and believe it to be a lie.
are there ANy facts showing the driver was actually ttrying to run them down?

AND, I am POSITIVE I would recall the position of the car when firting. Plus, I would suspect that the police experts were easily able to figure out the shooters location, the cars location and when the shots were fired.

So, if the guy DID fire after the car had passed then he done fuzzed up.

In many cities especially large one's, its a racket.

When I lived in Houston, police directed people to park in a construction site for a concert, a site that use to be the parking lot and would be the new parking lot. As fast as the people would park their cars, the wreckers would haul them off. Of the over 1,000 cars towed that night, 300 were never recovered and subsequently reported stolen.

Once you get into an area where there is no government involvement thus no due process to take your car, then its legal stealing. There's no other definition. Anytime someone takes a car without serving papers to the owner or either notifying police, the whole process is very open to major misunderstanding on what's happening and there is potential violent resistance as well a criminal misconduct.

Every chop shop in the world knows if you want to steal cars in volume, its not with fast race car drivers like in the movies, its with a wrecker.

If you live in an area that still requires some sort of due process, count yourself lucky. I do.

Tj

Within the city limits tow companys are allowed to tow any illegally parked car with or without complaint, even if it just broken down.


And their impound fees are often $150+ per day. Like TJ said, it is a racket

Plus towing fee, plus storage fee, plus special city tax, plus whatever they can think of to slap on the pile.

I had mine towed a decade ago and it took me 2 days just to figure out which tow company had it. Like $700 to rescue the car and they trashed it badly. I can only imagine the cost today.

There's a reason BATF doesn't want us having rocket launchers as I would have definitely popped one off that day into the fat SOB's little hut at the front of the lot.

Yup, took me two days to find the car also, police didnt even have a report.

Cost? $345

hopefully common sense prevails and he is thrown on a hot seat.

front windshield could of been sold, side window. sheep might swallow it. let him burn.