A Miami-Dade police officer charged in the deaths of two innocent bystanders during a 2019 shootout at a busy intersection is in court Monday after requesting that his charges be dropped under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Broward Circuit Court Judge Ernest Kollra found that suspended officer Jose Mateo was entitled to a hearing on his Stand Your Ground motion. In his order, Kollra agreed that there was evidence that indicated that Mateo acted to prevent death or bodily harm.
Mateo, 33, and three other Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputies, Richard Santiesteban, 40, Leslie Lee, 58 and Rodolfo Mirabal, 39, were indicted on manslaughter charges in June 2024. All pleaded not guilty and all have been suspended without pay. Frank Ordóñez, a 27-year-old UPS truck driver, and Rick Cutshaw, 70, were killed in a hail of gunfire in the packed intersection of Miramar Parkway and Flamingo Road during rush hour in December 2019.
At the days-long hearing, prosecutors will need to prove that Mateo’s use of force wasn’t justified. Mateo’s trial is scheduled to begin next week…