Gov. Rick Scott of Florida on Thursday named the members of a task force that will examine the state’s gun’s laws, including the expansive and controversial Stand Your Ground law that has been cited in the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
The 17-member panel is being led by Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll; the vice chairman is the Rev. R.B. Holmes Jr., the pastor of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee, one of the largest churches in Florida. The task force will report back to the governor and the Legislature.
Ms. Carroll said the group includes a mix of law enforcement officials, lawmakers, neighborhood watch leaders, criminal defense lawyers and prosecutors, among others.
“We look forward to hearing from the citizens of our state about their concerns and recommendations for keeping our state safe,” Ms. Carroll said at a news conference with Mr. Scott and Mr. Holmes.
Ms. Carroll said the task force would begin its work on May 1 and hold public meetings around the state. It has set up a Web site and a Twitter account, @FLCitizenSafety, to allow the public to follow its work.
“We are not walking into this with any preconceived notions,” said Governor Scott, a Republican, who announced in March that he would appoint a panel to address concerns raised over how the criminal justice system responded to Mr. Martin’s killing. He said part of the task force’s job would be to examine data that has been gathered since the Stand Your Ground law was enacted in 2005.
It was Governor Scott who appointed Angela B. Corey as special prosecutor to handle the Martin case after Seminole County’s state attorney stepped aside.
The Stand Your Ground law was cited as a factor in the decision by the Sanford, Fla., police to not immediately arrest George Zimmerman, 28, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot Mr. Martin as he walked home from a convenience store through a gated community. Mr. Zimmerman told police that he shot Mr. Martin, who was unarmed, in self-defense.
Mr. Zimmerman was arrested on second-degree murder charges last week. His attorney, Mark O’Mara, is expected to use the Stand Your Ground law as part of Mr. Zimmerman’s defense, arguing that his client had feared for his life.
Prosecutors say that Mr. Zimmerman racially profiled Mr. Martin in making the decision to follow him before the confrontation that led to the shooting.
Under the Stand Your Ground law, people are allowed to attack a perceived assailant if they believe they are in imminent danger, without having to retreat. The legislation was conceived out of concerns that arose during looting in hurricane-ravaged parts of the state. It was signed into law by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Law enforcement officials objected to the legislation. Police Chief John Timoney of Miami described it at the time as a “recipe for disaster.”
Prosecutors say that it has been used properly in many cases. But there is concern among law enforcement officials that the number of “justifiable homicides” in Florida has tripled since 2005.
With support from the National Rifle Association, similar laws have been enacted in two dozen states since 2005. But efforts to enact such a measure in two other states have recently stalled.
In addition to Ms. Carroll and Mr. Holmes, the other members of the task force include Sheriff Larry Ashley of Okaloosa County; State Representative Dennis Baxley of Ocala; Kenneth B. Bell, of Pensacola, a former Florida Supreme Court justice; State Representative Jason Brodeur of Sanford; Derek E. Bruce, an Orlando lawyer; Joseph A. Caimano Jr., a Tampa criminal defense lawyer; and Edna Canino, of Miami, president of the Florida Embassy of League of United Latin American Citizens, Council 7220.
Also on the panel are Gretchen Lorenzo, a neighborhood watch coordinator for the Fort Myers Police Department; Judge Krista Marx of West Palm Beach; Maria Newman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Melbourne; State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle of Miami; Stacy A. Scott, of Gainesville, an assistant public defender; Mark Seiden, a Miami lawyer; State Senator David Simmons of Altamonte Springs; and State Senator Gary Siplin of Orlando.
A bond hearing for Mr. Zimmerman, who is being held at the Seminole County jail, is scheduled on Friday. A new judge, Kenneth R. Lester Jr. of Seminole County Circuit Court, will preside. He took over the case on Wednesday after Judge Jessica Recksielder stepped aside from the proceedings because her husband’s law partner is a CNN legal analyst who has commented on the case.
