Juan Javier Oquendo v. State of Florida

Summary

The court held that Florida self-defense law contains both a subjective component requiring an actual belief in the need for deadly force and an objective component requiring that belief to be reasonable. PTSD evidence may be relevant to the subjective component but is irrelevant to the objective reasonable-person component and cannot be used to establish diminished capacity. The court nevertheless affirmed because the defendant claimed the gun discharged accidentally, the proffered evidence was directed toward diminished capacity, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding it.