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Background: Patrick Scruggs allegedly attacks a motorist (Florida Highway Patrol). Inset: Patrick Scruggs (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office).
A national authoritative who erstwhile went aft Jan. 6 rioters has recovered himself connected the different broadside of the instrumentality — and without entree to 1 of Florida’s astir well-known ineligible defenses.
As Law&Crime has previously reported, Patrick Douglas Scruggs, 38, stands accused of 1 number each of aggravated artillery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault, and equipped burglary, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. On Sept. 26, 2023, helium allegedly encountered a stopped car connected the 4.8-mile-long, fixed-link W. Howard Frankland Bridge during the waning minutes of the greeting unreserved hour. After getting retired of his car and confronting the driver, who aboriginal claimed to person been experiencing a aesculapian event, Scruggs allegedly smashed the stopped driver’s window.
He past allegedly pulled retired a “pocket knife” and stabbed the 35-year-old implicit and over, according to troopers.
Scruggs tried to asseverate the arguable “Stand Your Ground” defense, which tin effect successful transgression charges being dropped against idiosyncratic who uses deadly unit — if and erstwhile they judge their life, oregon idiosyncratic else’s life, is successful imminent information oregon if they reasonably judge they are being threatened with large bodily harm. The instrumentality does not necessitate the idiosyncratic utilizing deadly unit to retreat, but they indispensable not beryllium committing a transgression and indispensable beryllium successful a spot they person a ineligible close to be.
Pinellas Circuit Judge Keith Meyer said Friday that the defence doesn’t use to Scruggs.
“The Court finds that the State has established done wide and convincing grounds that, based connected the circumstances arsenic they appeared to the Defendant, a tenable and prudent idiosyncratic would not person utilized the aforesaid unit arsenic the Defendant used,” Meyer said, according to section NBC affiliate WFLA.
Testimony from witnesses shows Scruggs was “acting retired of choler and frustration, not successful fear,” Meyer wrote successful a tribunal order, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“A tenable and prudent person, adjacent nether the circumstances … would not judge that the usage of deadly unit was indispensable to forestall imminent decease oregon large bodily harm oregon the imminent committee of a forcible felony,” the justice besides wrote.
The struggle originated aft the 35-year-old unfortunate was recovered slumped implicit his driving wheel, blocking immoderate southbound lanes, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Other radical stopped astatine the car, though their actions were decidedly antithetic from what Scruggs allegedly did. Another couple, identified arsenic a 40-year-old antheral and his 43-year-old wife, stopped conscionable successful beforehand of the victim’s car and got retired to effort to assistance him, reportedly citing “the hazard” that the stopped car could cause.
Another operator besides got retired and was looking for thing to interruption the model and assistance the motorist, according to instrumentality enforcement. Just arsenic that was astir to happen, however, the operator woke up and jammed connected the state pedal, careening into the adjuvant couple’s car. Then, the operator tried to maneuver astir the car helium had conscionable deed by backing up.
That’s erstwhile helium reversed into Scruggs’ car, the Florida Highway Patrol says, which escalated into the alleged stabbing.
The mates tried to intervene, but Scruggs turned astir and allegedly tried to stab them, too. They “both fled earlier being harmed,” according to the FHP.
Before his 2023 run-in with the law, Scruggs worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida successful Tampa. As a national prosecutor, Scruggs took portion successful immoderate of the Jan. 6 prosecutions — including being the attorney of record for the government’s archetypal lawsuit against Adam Johnson, the Florida antheral who made waves by jauntily carrying and posing with Nancy Pelosi’s lectern aft joining hundreds of Donald Trump supporters successful breaching the Capitol.
Scruggs was an adjunct U.S. lawyer from September 2012 done April 2023. He served arsenic an lawyer successful over 500 cases successful the Middle District of Florida. In May of that year, helium went to enactment for the nationalist instrumentality steadfast of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, but soon aft the September 2023 incident, helium was “no longer employed” with the firm, a typical told Law&Crime.
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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