Back in 2018 we reported on four men who attacked a gay couple following the Miami Beach Pride parade hitting them repeatedly and calling them anti-gay slurs.

On Friday Circuit Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan declined to dismiss the battery charges against Juan Carlos Lopez and three others who’d been charged in the high-profile. The four were charged with battery under Florida’s “hate-crime” enhancement, which increases penalties for committing a crime “with prejudice.”

The decision concluded a three-day hearing in which the four men sought immunity under Florida’s Stand Your Ground self-defense law. The controversial Florida law, passed in 2005, gave judges greater leeway to dismiss charges, and eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using force to counter a threat. Prosecutors said Lopez attacked the men after Rene Chalarca accidentally brushed him coming out of the bathroom.

The Miami Herald

In his ruling Friday, Fajardo cited surveillance footage that showed the incident, saying nothing in the video “demonstrates that the defendants were in fear for their safety.”

Almost four years and NOW the case is going to trial? How is this justice for the victims?