WEST PALM BEACH – Two men charged with murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of a man near Boynton Beach have been acquitted of criminal charges after a judge ruled they are immune from prosecution under the “stand your ground” law of Florida.
Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer dismissed charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder against Bonnelly Fernandez and Mark Afanador following a hearing on Wednesday, May 22, at the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
Both men were charged in the Feb. 3, 2020, shooting of Junior Salomon, who died weeks later at his Boynton Beach home. In separate motions, the attorneys argued that the two men acted in self-defense during an exchange of gunfire with 31-year-old Salomon and another person outside Fernandez’s home on Miner Road.
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Judges often reject “stand your ground” defenses in Palm Beach County
Florida’s “stand your ground” law allows people to respond with deadly force in their homes without a duty to retreat. However, attempts to invoke the statute to challenge a murder charge in Palm Beach County have largely failed in recent years.
A Palm Beach Post review of cases from 2019 to 2022 found that of 10 people who invoked the statute, only one succeeded.
In one high-profile case, a judge denied the bid by former Cardinal Newman High School and Florida State University football standout Travis Rudolph to invoke the statute in the fatal shooting of Sebastien Jean-Jacques in April 2021. A jury Rudolph was acquitted of murder last year.
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A dispute over money led to gunfire outside the home, attorneys say in court
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigators alleged Fernandez and Afanador were the aggressors in the shooting of Salomon. Court records show that he and two other men arrived by car that evening at Fernandez’s home on Highland Road, near Rolling Green Elementary School.
In separate motions to dismiss the charges, the attorneys argued that Salomon approached the fence and demanded Fernandez pay him $500. Fernandez said he didn’t have the money and then walked back to the house.
That’s when Salomon and one of his accomplices started shooting, prompting Fernandez and Afanador to fire back, lawyers argued. Courtney Wilson, Afanador’s attorney, argued that the “stand your ground statute” applied in his case because Afanador had a right to be in the home as an invited guest of Fernandez.
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“Stand your ground” attorneys also questioned the way PBSO handled evidence
According to court records, Salomon was shot four times during the gunfire. He was taken to Delray Medical Center in critical condition. While there, Salomon told investigators that he had gone to Fernandez’s home to collect money he was owed, and indicated that Fernandez shot him after an argument over the debt.
Salomon was released four days after admission, but died weeks later. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died of complications from his injuries and ruled the death a homicide.
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Attorneys for Fernandez and Afanador noted a video allegedly showing Fernandez responding to gunfire coming from the direction of the vehicle in which Salomon arrived.
They also questioned the protection of evidence, stating that two cellphones recovered from the vehicle were not placed in evidence, and that two cellphones recovered from Salomon’s home after his death were destroyed by law enforcement.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter @JuliusWhigham. Support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ‘Stand your ground’ defense in murder case. Did 2 men go free?
