JUDGE’S RULING FAVORS ‘STAND YOUR GROUND’ MOTION
Murder charge dropped in ruling for self-defense.
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County Judge Laura Johnson late Friday ruled in favor of Samuel “Bo” Barber’s “stand your ground” motion that said he shot and killed Kunta Kinte Riddick in self-defense in November.
Barber was charged with first-degree murder in the 2017 fatal shooting, but the charges were dismissed in court Friday evening.
Johnson said at the end of the day what happened to Riddick was a tragedy, but that the state did not show “clear and convincing evidence” that Barber was not acting in self-defense when he shot Riddick on Nov. 29 in Boynton Beach.
In 2017, the burden shifted from the defense needing to prove the case for “stand your ground” immunity to the prosecution.
“(The case) has to be looked at through the eyes of what Mr. Barber knew at the time and what Mr. Riddick knew at the time, too,” Johnson said.
Barber said he shot Riddick, 40, in self-defense outside of his mother’s residence on Northwest 12th Avenue. He said that Riddick had reached for his waist when he asked him why he was at his mother’s home, where she lived with other tenants. It was a place Barber visited often and said he had never seen Riddick.
On Sept. 4, Riddick’s twin brother, Kelcey, shot and killed Barber’s half-brother, Derrick Barber, in an argument over a woman.
In court Friday, Public Defender Carey Haughwout said when Barber saw Riddick standing at the side of his mother’s home and reaching for his waist, Barber could have shot him then.
“He could have been justified at that point, but he doesn’t do that,” she said. “He uses what he has: his size and a head on his shoulders and he tries to stop whatever violence might happen.”
Instead, Barber said he “rushed” Riddick and wrestled him to the ground. Barber said when he had Riddick on the ground, Riddick grabbed a piece of wood with a nail in it as Cynthia Ballard, a family friend of the Riddicks, tried to pull Barber off Riddick.
In court Thursday, Ballard said Riddick never grabbed a piece of wood and that he “never had a chance” because Barber was beating him.
In a previous hearing, a medical examiner told the court that there was no bruising found on Riddick’s body.
“He had every reason to believe Kunta Riddick was armed that afternoon. And when he saw him reach for his waistband, what else should he have thought?” Haughwout said.
Assistant State Attorney Andrew Slater said what Barber did was not self-defense.
“This was an execution,” Slater said.
He said that when Ballard was pulling Barber off Riddick, he could have just got up and walked away.
“Instead, he proceeds to fire that gun,” he said. “Not once, not twice, but three times.”
In her ruling, Johnson said that the most credible eyewitness in the case was Barber.
“His testimony was consistent and direct. He called 911. He drove straight to the police department. He was there immediately and he gave several statements to the police and they were all consistent,” she said.
Outside of court, Haughwout said they were “very happy with the outcome” and that she agreed with the judge that her client was consistent all the way through.
She said she believes the police were precipitous in their arrest of Barber, citing other cases like that of former Palm Beach Gardens police officer Nouman Raja, who is charged with fatally shooting Corey Jones. It wasn’t until eight months later and after a grand-jury indictment that Raja was charged.
“If he was a banker or anyone else, he wouldn’t have been put in handcuffs (right away),” she said of her client.