It was inevitable. Whether it’s successful remains to be seen.
Via Anthony Olivieri of ESPN.com, former NFL receiver Antonio Brown seeks dismissal of an attempted murder charge based on Florida’s “stand your ground” law.
“Brown’s use of force on May 16, 2025, was fully justified,” Brown’s representation wrote in a motion filed this week. “Brown reasonably believed that the alleged victim intended to cause him serious harm.”
The “stand your ground” law eliminated the duty to retreat before unleashing deadly force.
The effort contains an admission that Brown did indeed fire a gun after he believed he had been attacked at a Miami celebrity boxing event.
“In that moment, Brown again reasonably feared death or great bodily harm,” the motion read, characterizing the action as “warning shots” aimed away from the person who had allegedly attacked Brown.
While I haven’t personally researched Florida law on this topic (that’s a lawyer’s way of saying “I don’t know”), it would seem that the issue ultimately will be part of the stew of facts a jury resolves at trial, like it did in the 2012 prosecution of George Zimmerman, who was acquitted for the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
And that’s an important point. It’s one thing for Brown’s lawyers to explain his version in writing. It will be quite another for Brown to get on the witness stand and explain why he did what he did.
Even though most criminal defendants elect not to testify, it’s virtually impossible to make the “stand your ground” defense without explaining to the jury the circumstances that led to the decision to act in self-defense.
The stakes are very high. Brown faces up to 30 years in prison, with a potential mandatory minimum of 20 years.
