ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The stand your ground hearing of a St. Augustine man wrapped up Thursday. Luis Casado is accused of shooting and killing Adam Amoia outside of Dos Gatos bar in St. Augustine last May but he claims it was in self-defense.
Day four of the hearing started out with more expert testimony analyzing Casado and Amoia's body language and actions before Casado shot and killed Amoia. The day ended with Casano's attorney and prosecutor presenting final arguments to the judge.
Defense attorney Patrick Canan says Casado did what he had to do to protect himself and deserves immunity.
"A hit hard enough that his glasses break and fall off his head and then with less than a second comes a throw from Santiago from here all the way to here knocking him so hard that he buckles his knees and he almost falls and hits his head on the ground," Defense attorney Patrick Canan said.
However, Prosecutor Mark Johnson disagrees and says Casado did not need to use a gun to protect himself.
"Mr. Casado would have been perfectly justified in using any other reasonable force to repel the force that was being used against him but not pulling out a gun shooting Adam Amoia as many times as he did," Prosecutor Mark Johnson told the judge.
Johnson also argued Casado had the opportunity to stop shooting once Amoia turned to run away, but he didn't and shot seven bullets towards Amoia in less than two seconds, one striking him in the heart.
"The fact that he continued to shoot Mr. Amoia as he ran away and tracked him as he did so also show this was not reasonable under the circumstance your honor," Johnson added.
Canan disagreed with Johnson's argument and says there is no evidence Casado was tracking Amoia.
"We know that some bullets missed. But it's been really clear from the experts in psychology that his brain could not have told him in that amount of time that the threat was over," Canan said.
Experts testified the whole confrontation happened that it would have been nearly impossible for Casado to react and pull his finger off the trigger.
Casado did have a concealed carry permit for the gun used in the shooting but based on the evidence, it's now up to the judge to decide if Casado can walk away a free man. The judge says he will do his best to have a resolution as fast as possible.
