SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) - Prosecutors in Polk County have dropped charges against a man who shot his neighbor during a confrontation.
The Herald-Tribune reports Chris Brooks is relieved after wondering whether he would spend the rest of his life in prison.
Arrested Oct. 25, 2014 at his home in Polk County, he was charged with second-degree attempted murder for shooting his neighbor Curtis Hamrick during a confrontation.
Hamrick's son had molested Brooks' daughter several years before the shooting. Brooks maintained he shot his neighbor, who survived the wound, in self-defense.
Florida's Stand Your Ground law has been controversial since it passed in 2005. This year, state lawmakers considered a bill that would have shifted the burden of proof to prosecutors from defendants in such cases, but it didn't pass.
