Florida Statutes CHAPTER 776 JUSTIFIABLE USE OF FORCE
(3)A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony. This is the story of Chyvas Peoples, a 32 year old father, husband, son, business owner, and rapper known as Ex-Con; who is currently serving a 30 year sentence for Manslaughter with a Weapon. A man simply trying to help a friend; when, the evening quickly took a turn for the worst. October 8, 2006, Chyvas received a phone call from a good friend; Demetrius Johnson, to come pick him up as he was stranded in Ybor city. Chyvas agreed to give him a ride and dropped his two young girls at a sitter. He arrived and his friend Demetrius got into his car, while Chyvas spoke to some acquaintances outside in a car that was parked next to them, just one spot over. While engaging in conversation, another woman approached the group, Shauntauy Cummings, and began to joke with Chyvas about leaving her girlfriend alone. The jokes continued until a man, Kim Holmes a.k.a Killa, walked up to them and mistook the dialog for an argument. Holmes was pretty intoxicated and tried to start a fight with Mr. Peoples, but Chyvas did not want to fight and even told two of Holmes friends while embracing them “ …get your homeboy, I don’t want to fight.” Cummings was trying to pull Holmes away to leave but he was still agitated even though it seemed the situation had been defused. I wish it ended here because this would be the ideal situation right? How many times can you say this has happened to you? A drunk person causes a scene, His friends attempt to defuse the situation and everything is ok, you leave, nobodies hurt. I’m sure most adults can say they’ve been in a similar type situation, if not, at least doing a good deed and going to pick up a stranded friend. Unfortunately, with Chyvas this was not the case that evening. As Chyvas tried to return to his vehicle Holmes grabbed Chyvas arm breaking one of his bracelets. Chyvas bent to retrieve his bracelet from the ground, but someone pushed him into Holmes and a fight started. All of Holmes associates joined in and began to beat Mr. Peoples. Demetrius saw what was happening and exited the vehicle, not knowing what to do, he yelled ”do you want me to get the gun?” (even though neither party had a gun) in an effort to hopefully scare them off, but two of Holmes friends attacked Demetrius as well and broke his nose. In fear for his life Chyvas pulled a small pocket-knife off his keychain and Holmes was stabbed in the left abdomen. As police were arriving, Chyvas and Demetrius managed to retreat to his vehicle at which point some of the aggressors ran (and were never caught) while the others were beating on the doors and windows. The officers approached and told the men several times to get away from the car but they ignored verbal commands; so the officers had to take them down with force, and they were apprehended, along with Chyvas and Demetrius. Initially, Mr. Peoples was relieved because he thought that help was there and from what it seemed, the police believe that the men were trying to rob him. But as the police started to ask questions, things took yet another turn. Eight people had been taken to police headquarters, Chyvas Peoples, Demetrius Johnson, Shauntay Cummings (the female Chyvas was talking to), Steven Innocent, Widzer Beauvis, Phillipe Vickers, Jovynel Myrbel, and Karen Lamb who claimed to be a witness to the incident. Holmes was taken to the hospital and nobody knew he had been stabbed. Upon Chyvas arrival, he was put in a separate area while the rest were brought into a room, altogether, where they had time to sit and recount the story and get their “facts straight”. Chyvas suffered a broken nose and several cuts and bruises and had still not received any sort of medical treatment. Chyvas wasn’t too concerned that he was going to be persecuted as he acted in self-defense because he was being attacked by several men. When it came time for Chyvas to be interviewed by police he asked that he have a lawyer present because at this point he was being charged with Attempted Murder in the Second Degree. The police never heard Chyvas story, and six years later still haven’t. Even after Chyvas had told the police when he was in the squad car that he was jumped by six or seven men and that they took his jewelry. In the initial police report everybody stated to the police that they never saw Chyvas with a knife or seen Chyvas stab Holmes. As the daylight rolled in Chyvas charges were then upgraded to Second Degree Murder with a Weapon because Holmes had passed away that morning while in the hospital. Chyvas has been in custody ever since. Chyvas was appointed a public defender who never asked for an immunity hearing and forced him along with the judge to give up his right to a speedy trial. In May 2008 he pled not guilty and proceeded to trial. Steve Innocent one of the aggressors, Shauntauy Cummings and Karen Lamb, witnesses, testified. Innocent and Cummings said they saw a stabbing motion and that’s why the attack happened, however, this was not in the initial report. Karen Lamb’s story was all over the place and directly conflicted with Innocents and Cummings testimony. The last day of the trial, the state presented pictures of Holmes personal effects from the hospital, unknowing Chyvas’ bracelet was included, the one that was pulled from his arm by Holmes. This was pertinent evidence to his case that was over looked by his counsel. He did not testify per counsel advice. Apparently, Holmes and his friends were all members of the Blood Gang and all of the men had several charges and open cases ranging from affrays, battery, armed robbery, and carrying sawed off shotguns. Most of these arrests and charges occurred in the same exact place that this incident happened, the parking lot behind Club Empire. There were also statements from Holmes associates to others not involved in this incident confirming that they did jump Chyvas and they robbed him. None of the aggressor’s prior charges or pending cases were brought up, there was no mention of their gang involvement, no mention of the threats of taking Chyvas life by Mr. Holmes, the only thing that gave him a little leeway in this was that him and Demetrius clearly had injuries from the altercation. After several hours of deliberation the jury was hung and his attorney failed to object to the Allen charge. Subsequently he was found guilty of a lesser charge of Manslaughter with a weapon. During sentencing the Judges replied “you are not a threat to society; the victim was a willing participant in the altercation. I’m going to punish you and give you the max because you could have gotten into your Mercedes and driven away”; and proceeded to sentence him to 30 years. Fast forward to present day, Chyvas story has still never been heard. He has a pending motion with hopes to argue these issues before the courts. Was this man really in the wrong for protecting himself? There is still so much controversy as to how “The Stand Your Ground Law” is interpreted and applied. We don’t know how to apply this law in 2012 so how did we know to apply it properly in 2006 when the law was just implemented in 2005? Under this law Chyvas should never have been arrested from the start. He was brutally attacked by several gang members and only defended his life. Why do you think it took so long for Zimmerman to be arrested? How about the woman in Jacksonville who was sentenced to 20 years and it was just a warning shot? We need to come together as a community and help show that this man was wrongfully convicted of a crime when he really should have been protected by the “Stand Your Ground” law. While in prison Chyvas, his wife Kristy, and his mother Deborah have been working hard to gather all information and evidence that will help with his case but this is not enough. So the next question you may have is; how do I help? Well, for one, there will be a forum organized in Arcadia on July 10th where you can voice your opinion before Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection. For more information on this event, log onto Facebook and simply type in Justice For Chyvas in the search bar. You can also sign his petition at Change.Org and the link is located on the page. This page will also bring you in contact with his wife Kristy and Mother as they are the ones that run this account. Thank you………….JUSTICE FOR CHYVAS PEOPLES
