FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A judge on Thursday allowed bail to be granted for a Florida sheriff’s deputy who was fired and charged with murder after he shot and killed a senior U.S. Air Force soldier within the doorway of a Black man’s apartment.

Former Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran, 38, could resist 30 years in prison if convicted of murder with a firearm, a rare charge against a Florida law enforcement officer. Duran’s body camera recorded him shooting Roger Fortson, 23, on May 3, just after Fortson opened the door with the gun pointed at the ground.

Judge Terrance R. Ketchel set bail at $100,000 and said Duran cannot possess a firearm or leave the premises, though he is not going to be required to wear a GPS tracker. He was released from jail shortly after Thursday’s hearing, jail records show.

Duran’s arrest warrant was issued Thursday, pending a detention hearing, despite arguments from his attorney Rodney Smith that there was no probable cause to arrest him.

“He spent his entire life … his entire career and military career trying to save people, help people,” Smith said at Thursday’s hearing. “He is not a threat to the community.”

Prosecutor Mark Alderman said “this is a case where we all know what happened.”

“We all saw what happened,” he said. “It’s just a matter of interpretation. We all saw that Mr. Duran killed Roger Fortson. It’s obvious that’s a very serious charge.”

Duran had been homeschooling his six children in recent months while he was unemployed and his wife worked full time, Smith said. Duran sat quietly within the courtroom Thursday, wearing a pink striped prison jumpsuit and glasses. He conferred along with his lawyers and the occasional clang of metal handcuffs might be heard.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office initially said Duran fired in self-defense after being confronted by a person with a gun, but Sheriff Eric Aden fired back on May 31 after an internal investigation found his life was not in peril when he opened fire. Outside law enforcement experts have also said an officer can’t shoot simply because a possible suspect is holding a gun if there isn’t a threat.

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Duran was responding to a report of a physical fight at an apartment in a Fort Walton Beach complex. An worker identified Fortson’s apartment as the situation, based on sheriff’s investigators. Fortson was alone in his apartment on the time, talking to his girlfriend on a FaceTime video call. Duran’s body camera footage showed what happened next.

After knocking repeatedly, Fortson opened the door. Authorities say Duran shot him multiple times before telling Fortson to place the gun down.

Duran told investigators he saw aggression in Fortson’s eyes and shot because “I’m standing there thinking I’m about to get shot, I’m about to die.”

In a press release after Thursday’s hearing, Smith said the deputy’s actions “were reasonable and appropriate given the information he was provided regarding the nature and urgency of what he deemed to be a potentially dangerous domestic situation.”

In a press release, he described Fortson as “an individual who armed himself before he simply responded to what may have been nothing more than a routine attempt by law enforcement to prevent a domestic violence situation from escalating.”

At Thursday’s hearing, Smith said his team had cooperated with authorities, saying “we turned him in. He’s not going anywhere.”

Smith confirmed there was video evidence of the shooting and that the case was within the national interest.

“We know we have defenses that we intend to use … qualified immunity, defending our position with respect to law enforcement,” Smith said.

The fatal shooting of the Georgia airman was only one in a growing list of black people being killed by law enforcement officers in their very own homes, and it has also renewed debate over Florida’s “Stand and Fight” law. Hundreds of Air Force blues joined Fortson’s family, friends and others at his funeral.

A wrongly convicted Texas man who spent 34 years in prison for a Eighties murder was acquitted Thursday, saying that while he couldn’t get back the years he lost, he’s glad and moving forward.

“I’m excited this day has finally come,” said Benjamin Spencer, 59.

A Dallas County judge granted the district attorney’s office’s request to dismiss aggravated robbery charge against Spencer, who was originally convicted in 1987 of murder in reference to the carjacking and death of Jeffrey Young.

“It’s a good day,” said defense attorney Cheryl Wattley, who has worked on Spencer’s case for greater than 20 years. “I’m trying not to cry.”

Wattley praised Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot for taking a serious take a look at evidence that had been discredited in the case.

Creuzot said he felt “relieved and humbled to be able to help correct this injustice.”

Prosecution witnesses, including a jailhouse informant who had sought a lenient sentence, gave false testimony, Creuzot said. He added that prosecutors on the time also failed to supply the defense with evidence that may have excluded Spencer from the crime, including fingerprints.

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Spencer, who maintained his innocence, later saw his 1987 conviction overturned. However, he was retried and sentenced to life in prison for the aggravated robbery of Young.

He was released on bail in 2021 after the district attorney’s office found that his constitutional rights had been violated and that he had not received a good trial because of false witness statements and the concealment of evidence.

Earlier this 12 months, the Texas Court of Criminal (*34*) overturned his conviction and sent the case back to Dallas County.

Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Garza, who heads the Conviction Integrity Unit, said: “There is no credible or physical evidence that he was in any way involved in this crime.”

Spencer is one in every of 60 individuals with the longest convictions to be found innocent, in line with the National Registry of Exonerations.

Under Texas law, he’s entitled to a lump sum of as much as $80,000 for annually of imprisonment, plus a pension, Wattley said.

Wattley said Spencer tries to live honorably and “strives to be an example that others can be inspired by.”

A former Florida sheriff’s deputy accused of killing a black U.S. Air Force soldier who opened the door to his apartment while holding a gun pointed at the bottom was arrested Monday, officials said.

Former Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran, 38, has been charged with murder with a firearm in the May 3 shooting death of 23-year-old Roger Fortson, Assistant State’s Attorney Greg Marcille said Friday. The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by as much as 30 years in prison.

Duran was arrested Monday on the county jail, records show. Marcille confirmed his arrest to The Associated Press.

“He did turn himself in,” Marcille said in a telephone interview, adding that Duran’s first court appearance might be via video link Tuesday morning. “He will be held in custody pending his first appearance.”

A lawyer representing Duran didn’t immediately reply to an email in search of comment.

Authorities say Duran was dispatched to Fortson’s Fort Walton Beach apartment in response to a domestic disturbance report that turned out to be false.

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After knocking repeatedly, Fortson opened the door with the gun at his side, pointed down. Authorities say Duran shot him multiple times before telling Fortson to place the gun down.

On Friday, the day he was charged, candles and framed photos of Fortson in uniform were placed on the door of the apartment where he was murdered.

According to an internal affairs report into the shooting, Duran told investigators that when Fortson opened the door, he saw aggression in the airman’s eyes. He said he fired because “I’m standing there thinking I’m about to get shot, I’m about to die.”

Okaloosa Sheriff Eric Aden fired Duran on May 31 after an internal investigation found his life was not in danger when he opened fire. Outside law enforcement experts also said an officer cannot shoot simply because a possible suspect is holding a gun if there is no such thing as a threat.

Duran is a law enforcement veteran who began as a military police officer in the Army. He joined the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in July 2019 but resigned two years later, saying his wife, a nurse, had been transferred to a naval hospital outside the realm. He returned to the sheriff’s office in June 2023.

Okaloosa personnel records show he was reprimanded in 2021 for failing to finish a task of confirming the addresses of three registered sex offenders by visiting their homes and telling a classmate he didn’t care. Then assigned to a highschool as an on-campus substitute, he was also reprimanded for leaving school before the ultimate bell rang and students were released. Florida law requires an armed guard to be on campus during classes.

911 call records show officers had never been called to Fortson’s apartment before, but they’d been called to a close-by residence 10 times in the past eight months, including once for a domestic disturbance.