What to Know
- The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of BSO Deputy Peter Peraza, who was charged with the shooting of Jermaine McBean.
- Peraza, who was the first officer in three decades to be charged with an on-duty shooting, claimed the state’s Stand Your Ground defense.
- In an August ruling, the state’s highest court was asked to rule on the matter and make a decision that covers the entire state.
The case involving a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy who shot and killed an Oakland Park man almost five years ago is heading to Florida’s highest court – and could impact every law enforcement officer in the entire state.
The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of BSO Deputy Peter Peraza, who was charged with the shooting of Jermaine McBean after responding to a call of a man with a rifle walking down a busy street. Peraza claimed McBean pointed the weapon, which was an air rifle, at deputies before he opened fire.
Peraza, who was the first officer in three decades to be charged with an on-duty shooting in Florida, claimed the state’s Stand Your Ground defense in the case. Peraza won the case in a lower court, saw it overturned by an appeals court before the Fourth District Court of Appeals re-instated the first decision.
In their ruling last August, the DCA asked the state’s highest court to rule on the matter and make a decision that covers the entire state.
“The Supreme Court has decided it is a great matter of public importance that there is a conflict among jurisdictions in the state of Florida,” Peraza’s attorney, Eric Schwartzreich, exclusively told NBC 6. “Another court near Tampa where they have ruled law enforcement officers cannot use the absolute immunity statue in the course of an arrest.”
Schwartzreich says he does not believe that Peraza will have to stand trial again in the case, regardless of how the Supreme Court rules.
