Florida Judge Rejects 'Stand Your Ground' Defense In Iguana Death

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL — No, killing an iguana isn’t protected under the state’s “stand your ground” law that allows deadly force if a person feels it’s necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, a judge in Florida has ruled.

The 43-year-old PJ Nilaja Patterson’s attorneys argued in a motion to dismiss animal cruelty charges against their client that he had no choice but to kill the “wild beast” that attacked him last summer at Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

The judge’s ruling means Patterson must stand trial on the charge, filed in September after authorities said he beat, kicked and dragged the 3-foot green iguana, resulting in the reptile’s death. The iguana died in the custody of officers of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control who were transporting it to be euthanized, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

The district attorney prosecuting the case says a 32-minute video of the encounter shows the 6-foot-3-inch, 165-pound Patterson provoked the attack, and that the stand your ground defense doesn’t apply because iguanas aren’t human.

Dr. Virginia Sayre, the veterinarian who performed a necropsy on the iguana, said it suffered “painful and terrifying” injuries, according to court documents. The postmortem examination showed the iguana had lacerations to the liver and tongue, a fractured pelvis, and blood in its mouth and abdomen.

In the rejected motion to dismiss, Patterson’s attorneys said the “vicious animal got the best of Patterson and savagely bit his right arm” as he was trying to save it from getting run over in traffic. It took 22 staples to close the wound, according to the report.

Patterson managed to get the iguana off the highway, but the crowd gathered at the beach agitated the reptile and it attacked. The motion says Patterson then “kicked the iguana."

They wrote in the motion that Patterson feared the iguana “could have injected poison” into him and, “thus, he rushed to incapacitate the iguana the best way he could to preserve its antidote.”

“In this case, Patterson acted in a reasonable manner under all the circumstances because the wild iguana was first to engage with physical violence, during the encounter,” his attorneys wrote.

Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Dorman wrote in her response to the motion to dismiss that Patterson tormented the iguana, which she said “was not bothering anyone and did not pose a threat to anyone,” CNN reported.

Patterson is due back in court July 30. If convicted of the animal cruelty charge, Patterson could spend five years in prison.