Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Winning a Stand Your Ground self-defense claim, a Palm Beach County felon no longer will be prosecuted for the 2006 fatal shootings of two young men outside a keg party.
Palm Beach County Judge Barry Cohen on May 20 dismissed two manslaughter charges against John Thomas Dorsey, 28, denying prosecutors' bid to put him on trial for a third time for the deaths of Stephen Beau Bunting, 20, and John Lott, 19.
"Florida law does not require a citizen to wait until suffering great bodily injury before resorting to deadly force since the purpose is to prevent such harm," Cohen wrote in his ruling for the man originally sentenced in 2009 to life in prison for the killings.
Dorsey — who testified at a May 13 hearing he feared he would be "kicked to sleep" during a confrontation with several "hostile" men at the house party — will remain in prison despite the ruling. He still must serve the remainder of a 15-year sentence for two weapons charges stemming from the violent encounter in Loxahatchee.
But the former North Palm Beach man could be free in about three years, with credit earned for good behavior. And then he may finally embrace his daughter Johnay, 8. She was born after her father's arrest, and has missed him during her birthdays and softball games.
"We've been waiting for this moment," said Mayra Knatt, Johnay's mom and Dorsey's former lover. "I'm happy for her. You don't understand how bad she wants her dad to be a part of her life."
An outraged Patricia Papa says the same thing about her 8-year-old son, John, who was born 17 days after his father, John Lott, was killed on Aug. 25, 2006.
"My son never got to meet his dad," Papa, Lott's fiancée, said Tuesday, blasting the way Dorsey's case was handled. "How do you get off on a double murder?"
Lynne Bunting, mother of the other man who died that night, called the proceedings "a joke" and can't understand why the case can't go to another jury.
"He killed two boys and he gets to walk," Bunting told the Sun Sentinel. "It's ridiculous. You should have to prove whether or not you were standing your ground. He should have a trial by jury as he did before."
At Dorsey's first trial six years ago, he was convicted of two second-degree murder charges; but an appellate court tossed them in 2011. The following year Dorsey stood trial again and was convicted of the lesser manslaughter charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
But last October, the 4th District Court of Appeal tossed those guilty verdicts as well, ruling a mistake was made at Dorsey's retrial when the jury was not allowed to consider Stand Your Ground.
The jury was instructed the law doesn't apply to someone "engaging in an unlawful activity" — it's illegal for felons to possess guns, and Dorsey at the time was a felon brandishing a gun. But another section of the law doesn't have the "unlawful activity" restriction, and Dorsey was entitled to pursue a defense under those grounds.
The law says people don't have to retreat and can legally use deadly force, if the person reasonably believes doing so is necessary "to prevent imminent death."
Dorsey testified that he drove to the party in his SUV with a gun stored in the glove box. Then 19, he joined about 50 to 75 teenagers at the party, where there was keg and bottled beer and bottles of alcohol.
At one point, Dorsey decided to go back to his truck to arm himself, in case he needed to defend a friend who had been involved in an incident. Dorsey said later he was outside sitting alone on the hood of his vehicle when a half-dozen males walked up and surrounded him.
One man punched Dorsey, knocking him back onto the hood of his SUV, and another man grabbed his legs. Dorsey then rose up, pulled the gun out of his pocket and fired at those closest to him. Lott and Bunting were fatally hit.
Dorsey "feared the very real possibility of broken bones, internal injuries and head injuries given the number of assailants," Cohen wrote, noting that many of the teens at the gathering "had been drinking and using drugs, some to the point of extreme intoxication."
The judge, in his order, anticipated the angry reactions from those close to Lott and Bunting, considering the history of the case and the application of the controversial Stand Your Ground law.
"This court is not unmindful that two separate juries have found the Defendant criminally responsible for the deaths of two young men," he wrote. "The families and friends of the decedents will no doubt be upset by the ruling of this Court."
"Nevertheless, compassion and sympathy for these folks cannot be allowed to sway the decision of this Court. Reasonable men and women can disagree on the wisdom of Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' legislation. However, as a judge I am required to follow the law."
Dorsey "used deadly force because he reasonably believed such force was necessary to protect himself from great bodily harm," the judge concluded.
Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts said she understood the disappointment felt by the Lott and Bunting families, who contended that witnesses favorable to the prosecution should have testified at this month's hearing.
"I don't think that Judge Cohen had any choice based on the facts of the case and the Stand Your Ground law," said McRoberts, chief of her office's homicide unit.
Assistant Public Defender Travis Dunnington said Tuesday he informed his client about the dismissal of the charges but otherwise said, "The order speaks for itself."
Previously, Dorsey's attorneys have argued he shouldn't have been classified as a convicted felon in the first place.
The year before the shootings, he was charged with two forgery-related counts: He and a friend tried to pass off a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes and entry to a community pool.
"He did not have a reputation for violence," Dorsey's attorney wrote before his 2012 sentencing. "and never in his worst nightmares did he expect to hurt anyone with that gun."
Charlie Papa, grandfather of John Lott's son, said he was disgusted from listening to Dorsey's testimony in court this month.
"It's very frustrating for the families," Papa said. "There's nothing we can do."