Police who kill in the line of duty can’t cite Marsy’s Law and self-defense to shield their identity, Florida Supreme Court rules

Law enforcement officers who shoot and kill suspects in the line of duty are not entitled to shield their identities from the public, even when they insist they were acting in self-defense, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

In a ruling that went further than many analysts expected, the Florida court said the constitutional amendment known as “Marsy’s Law” also does not prohibit law enforcement agencies from revealing the names of crime victims.

“Marsy’s Law does not guarantee to a victim the categorical right to withhold his or her name from disclosure,” the court ruled, explicitly refusing to limit its finding to police officers who shoot suspects in self-defense.

Marsy’s Law was passed in 2016 and affirmed in 2018. Since then, it has been used by law enforcement agencies and courts to withhold the names of crime victims on the grounds that the information could be used to locate and harass family members.

Police unions had argued that officers who kill suspects in self-defense should count as crime victims and be protected from having their identities revealed to the media and the public. The rule has been cited in Palm Beach and Broward counties to block the names of officers who cited self-defense as their reason for using deadly force.

But the amendment never prohibited any government agency from disclosing a crime victim’s “identity,” the court ruled.

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