Dropped Charge Against Prostitute Highlights ‘Castle Doctrine’ Debate
August 20, 2006

by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

“Castle Doctrine” or “Stand Your Ground” laws are going to be an important subject for discussion at the upcoming 21st annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) in Charlotte, NC, Sept. 22-24.

As The New York Times reported recently, 15 states have now adopted similar laws which eliminate any need to retreat in the face of a deadly threat in one’s home or car, or anywhere else one has a right to be. Florida was the first state to adopt such a law at the urging of Unified Sportsmen of Florida (USF) and the National Rifle Association (NRA). Marion Hammer, executive director of USF and a former president of the NRA, is largely credited with spearheading the effort to enact the law.

The law usually provides civil as well as criminal immunity for those who are forced to use deadly force to terminate a threat against themselves, their families and property.

Some Americans see the “Castle Doctrine” approach as pure common sense, but there are many others, including prosecutors, judges and journalists—as well as confirmed anti-gunners—who are opposed to the laws.

How we got so far from the old concept that a person’s home was his or her castle and that they were justified in using any force to resists attacks therein is the subject of a recent treatise by the late David I. Caplan and his wife and fellow lawyer Sue Wimmershoff-Caplan in a University of Missouri Kansas City Law School Journal.

GRPC Panel
It is fascinating reading and is being reprinted in the 2006 edition of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Journal of Firearms and Public Policy, which is expected to be distributed to activists attending the GRPC.

This important article, which is heavily footnoted with sources and additional information, helps explain how the justice system and legislators have managed to stray so far from centuries-old common law principle and common sense.

Wimmershoff-Caplan will be one of the speakers on the GRPC panel, along with several other noted constitutional scholars.

What is so important about this particular panel among so many other valuable GRPC panels is that it focuses on a subject that is still an active controversy surrounding different views about the use of deadly force in defense of persons and property.

Recent news reports from around the nation show that the controversy will be on the front burner for some time. In addition to the recent New York Times article, there have been others which address different aspects of this debate.

For example, in one from Kentucky, which has also adopted a “Castle Doctrine” law, a judge challenges not the principle purpose of the law but the language by which it was crafted. He claims the new law is “vague” and hard to interpret. There may be others who share his view. Or he may be an opponent who has found a more roundabout way to attack a law of which he disapproves.

As with most aspects of any law, the issues are never set out in simple black and white, but in varying and complex shades of gray. And while laws are intended to be protecting the law-abiding from the criminal elements in society, they also protect people who might be engaged in some criminal activity. After all, the felon who has served his time in prison and is living peacefully at home after his release also deserves to be free from felonious attack by a predator.

An example of how people not usually featured on the society pages of the local newspaper can benefit from a law like Florida’s “Castle Doctrine” statute recently came across my desk.

A prostitute in Florida who told deputies she shot a 72-year-old customer in self-defense will not be prosecuted for the slaying, according to the lead from The Tampa Tribune report.

Prosecutors in New Port Richey have dropped a second-degree murder charge after determining 23-year-old Jacqueline Galas acted within the state’s new “Stand Your Ground” law.

Opponents of the new law, alternately called the “Castle Doctrine” law, have contended that the measure will allow killers and traditional criminals to get away with murder. In fact, they have called it the “Shoot First” and the “License to Murder” law claiming criminals will be the primary beneficiaries. And The Tribune story appears slanted enough to indicate that because the shooter was a prostitute the story supports the argument against the law.

First Time Use
This is the first time a murder charge has been dropped in Pasco County because of the law, which took effect in October, Assistant State Attorney Michael Halkitis said on July 26.

According to the newspaper, Galas of New Port Richey, shot longtime client Frank Labiento with his .357-caliber handgun inside his Port Richey home the evening of June 11.

She immediately told deputies that Labiento had threatened her with the gun, and the evidence bore out her account, Halkitis said.

In addition to finding a suicide note in which Labiento said he planned to kill Galas before taking his own life, investigators determined that Galas had managed to call a friend on her cell phone during the incident and the friend overheard Labiento making threats, the prosecutor said.

“There is plenty of evidence that his plan was for him to kill her,” Halkitis said. “He can’t live without her, one of those deals.”

According to court records, Galas told deputies she regularly performed sex acts with Labiento in exchange for money. On the evening of the shooting, the two were sitting at Labiento’s kitchen table when he pulled out the gun and told her of his plan, records stated, according to The Tribune.

Galas was able to talk Labiento into putting the gun on the table, and she said she snatched it away when he got up to answer a telephone call, records state.

Labiento then came at Galas in a threatening manner and she shot him in the chest, she told deputies.

In an arrest report, sheriff’s Detective Dean Quinlan wrote that Galas “made no attempt to flee, nor did she verbally warn the victim that she was going to shoot him.”

Also, Quinlan wrote that Galas failed to summon medical help as Labiento lay dying.

Galas’ cell phone call proved to be the deciding factor in the decision to drop the murder charge, Halkitis said.

The friend Galas called told investigators she overheard Labiento asking Galas to turn around so he could shoot her in the head, the prosecutor said. The friend then called 911 before calling Labiento’s home number to distract him, Halkitis said.

Galas said she did not try to run away because she knew Labiento had other guns and feared she would be shot if she attempted to leave, Halkitis said. Two other guns were found in the home, he said.

After shooting Labiento, Galas dropped the gun and ran out the front door, straight into the path of a deputy responding to the 911 call, Halkitis said.

“It’s a very clear case of an issue covered by ‘Stand Your Ground,’ ” the prosecutor said.

Galas, however, remains in jail without bail on a charge of violating her probation after pleading guilty in February to illegal possession of the drug Alprazolam. The alleged violation stems from her admission that she was working as a prostitute, Halkitis said.

You can expect to see other stories such as this in your local newspapers, especially in states where a “Castle Doctrine” law has been enacted or is under debate in the state legislature. This debate is not going to be going away any time soon, and it is one that is fundamental to society’s well being.
Return to Archive Index