For the first time, a Broward County man has successfully used the state's "Stand Your Ground" law to block his prosecution on a first-degree murder charge.
Nour Badi Jarkas, 54, of Plantation, was facing trial for the January 2009 slaying of his estranged wife's new boyfriend, John Concannon. But Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes ordered an acquittal after finding that Jarkas was an invited guest in his wife's home and felt threatened during a confrontation with the victim.
Prosecutors said Monday they will not appeal.
"We're pleased with the judge's ruling," said Jarkas' lawyer, H. Dohn Williams. "We think it was the right decision."
Jarkas is still in custody at the Broward Main Jail awaiting a hearing on Thursday, but Williams said he would work to get his client released before that.
Jarkas was tried on the murder charge and other related accusations early last year. The jury found him not guilty of armed kidnapping and aggravated assault with a firearm, but could not reach a unanimous verdict on the murder charge.
Months after the jury's deadlock, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the Stand Your Ground law, first passed in 2005, is intended to keep certain self-defense cases from ever getting to a jury. In
Palm Beach County, the first successful use of the law came in September, when Circuit Judge Richard Oftedal dismissed first-degree murder charges against Michael Monahan, a disabled veteran who shot and killed two men who reportedly cornered him in the cabin of his sailboat.
