Kansas Supreme Court upholds Wichita man’s immunity under ‘Stand Your Ground’ law

? The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday threw out criminal charges against a Wichita man who claimed he was immune from prosecution for shooting another man under the state’s self-defense statute known as the “Stand Your Ground” law.

That law, passed in 2010, says a person cannot be arrested or charged for using deadly force, and is under no obligation to retreat from a threat, if the person believes the use of force is necessary to protect his or her self, his or her property or another person from death or great bodily harm.

The case involved Marlon Hardy, who was arrested and charged with aggravated battery after shooting another man, Javier Flores, during an altercation in March 2013.

According to the court’s decision, Hardy and Jaylyn Bradley had driven to a house in Wichita to pick up another person identified only by her initials, Y.M.

A party was already underway at the house, and as Hardy and Bradley tried to leave with Y.M., an altercation broke out. Flores, who was said to be heavily intoxicated at the time, began yelling racial slurs at Hardy and Bradley.

When Hardy, Bradley and Y.M. got into the red Mustang convertible, Flores and several other people surrounded the car, preventing it from moving. At one point, Flores approached the passenger side of the car where Hardy was seated, reached into the car, which had its top down, and struck Hardy in the face two or three times.

Hardy then picked up Bradley’s gun from the console and shot Flores once. He put the gun down, and then Bradley picked it up and shot Flores again. Flores suffered gunshot wounds to his right arm and left leg.

At issue in the case was whether police had probable cause to believe Hardy was not acting in self-defense. The court noted that there was conflicting testimony about whether Flores had already begun to retreat, or if he was still attacking while others were pulling him back.

A Sedgwick County judge sided with Hardy and dismissed the charges, saying he was immune under the Stand Your Ground law, but prosecutors appealed. In a 2015 ruling the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed the district court decision and remanded the case with instructions to look at the evidence in the case “in the light most favorable to the state.”

But in a unanimous decision Friday, written by Justice Caleb Stegall, the Supreme Court reversed that Court of Appeals decision, saying probable cause should be judged by “the totality of circumstances,” not by the evidence that is most favorable to the state.

“Because the district court’s factual findings were supported by substantial competent evidence and because the district court correctly reached the ultimate legal conclusion that the facts as found were insufficient to establish that the state had met its burden to demonstrate probable cause that Hardy’s use of force was not justified, Hardy was entitled to statutory immunity from prosecution as a matter of law,” the court said.