A Miami-Dade police officer charged with manslaughter in the death of two innocent victims of a deadly shootout in Miramar can try to convince a judge that he is entitled to immunity under the state’s Stand Your Ground law, even though the victims who died were not the targets of law enforcement action, a Broward judge ruled Monday.

The ruling by Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra appears to break new ground in the often-cited law that blocks prosecutions in certain cases where the accused asserts he acted in defense of self and others.

Officer Jose Mateo is one of four men accused of manslaughter in the 2019 shooting deaths of Frand Ordoñez and Richard Cutshaw, who died as police were trying to subdue accused robbers and kidnappers Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome.

Investigators sa

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