On Nov. 17, Boone County prosecutor Kent Eastwood filed voluntary manslaughter charges against Curt Andersen, who shot and killed Maria Florinda Ríos Pérez as she tried to enter the front door of his home in Whitestown, Indiana. Ríos Pérez and her husband were part of a house cleaning crew, and a scheduling mistake sent them to the wrong address, where they tried – unsuccessfully – to open a locked door with the key to another home.
Harmless mistakes like hers are common. People take wrong turns, mix up house numbers or try the wrong key. Increasingly, the penalty for these everyday mistakes is death.
Andersen told police he thought someone was breaking in. He quickly hired Guy Relford, the self-styled “Gun Guy” known for defending shooters who invoke self-defense. His team is pointing to Indiana Code 35-41-3-2, better known as the “stand your ground law,” to justify Andersen’s firing through his front door…