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Boy files appeal in Winter Park boy's beating death case

By Field Sutton and Kelly Healey
By Field Sutton and Kelly Healey
The case against one of the teens accused of beating a Winter Park High School student to death is on hold.
Jesse Sutherland has argued twice, but lost each time, that he's protected by Florida's "stand your ground" law.

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Watch: Sutherland faces Orange County judge

Sutherland’s attorney filed a petition Thursday with Florida's Fifth District Court of Appeals, asking a higher judge to overrule two Orange County judges who thought his claim of self-defense under "stand your ground" was unfounded.
Read: Fatal beating suspect accused of attacking other teen, police say
Roger Trindade, 15, died a year and a half ago after a prank turned into a fistfight in downtown Winter Park.
After the prank, Jagger Gouda made a call summoning Sutherland and Simeon Hall to the fight, investigators said.
                       
Sutherland claimed Trindade was being aggressive.
Meanwhile, Hall had his trial delayed. It was supposed to start Monday, but it has been rescheduled for the end of April.
Hall and Sutherland were charged as adults.
Earlier this year, Gouda apologized and asked for mercy from the court.
The judge followed a recommendation from the Department of Juvenile Justice for what’s called a non-secure residential commitment.
It means Gouda will not be in a jail cell, but he will be in custody 24 hours a day in a more relaxed setting.
Gouda faces up to a year of residential commitment.
Changes made last year to the state's "stand your ground" law require prosecutors to prove a killing wasn't done in self-defense.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said Hall's lawyers are likely closely watching Sutherland's case.
"This defendant wants to wait and see what happens with his co-defendant first," he said. "That's going to help you in deciding whether to go to trial, whether to enter a plea."
Without a stand your ground dismissal, Sheaffer said Hall and Sutherland are likely to keep trying for delays, each hoping to see the other in front of a jury first to see how it goes.
A particularly harsh verdict for one could scare the other into pleading guilty to avoid a trial, he said.

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Watch below as Jesse Sutherland faces a judge:

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