When is deadly force justified in Florida?
The standard has three components, and each gets litigated.
Reasonable belief. Both subjectively held and objectively reasonable. What a reasonable person in the same circumstances, knowing what you knew, would have believed. Your actual fear isn't sufficient on its own.
Imminence. The threat has to be immediate. A past threat, or a feared future one, doesn't justify deadly force now — which is why cases involving someone retrieving a weapon and returning are so difficult.
The threatened harm. Death, great bodily harm, or the commission of a forcible felony. Forcible felonies are defined by statute and include a specific list of serious offenses.
What the analysis considers: relative size and capability, whether the other person was armed, what was said, prior history between them, the location, and the number of people involved.
Where it commonly fails: force continuing after the threat ended, and disproportion between the threat faced and the force used.
The question is what a reasonable person would have believed then — not what turned out to be true. ---
Talk to an Attorney — Free
An answer on a page isn't the same as advice about your case. Talk to an attorney who handles these matters on the Treasure Coast — free and confidential.