A Broward County judge has ruled that three Miami-Dade police officers involved in a 2019 shootout that left a UPS driver and a bystander dead cannot be prosecuted for manslaughter, finding that their actions are protected under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Officers Rodolfo Mirabal, Richard Santiesteban and Leslie Lee had been charged in connection with the deaths of 27-year-old UPS driver Frank Ordoñez and 70-year-old motorist Richard Cutshaw. The two men were killed after officers opened fire on armed robbery suspects who had hijacked Ordoñez’s delivery truck during a high-speed chase that ended at a busy Miramar intersection on Dec. 5, 2019.
In a ruling issued Monday, Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra determined that the officers were justified in using deadly force. The decision followed a review of police body camera footage and witness testimony, which indicated that the robbery suspects had fired at pursuing officers and at anyone who approached the commandeered UPS truck.
The court concluded that the officers acted out of a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent harm, and that prosecutors failed to prove otherwise.
“The court finds that the state has not established by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant did not have a reasonable belief that his use of deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony,” the ruling stated.
Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, individuals are permitted to use force, including deadly force, if they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent death, serious injury or the commission of a violent crime.
Kollra previously issued a similar ruling last year in the case of a fourth officer, Jose Mateo, finding that he, too, was justified in using force during the incident and should not face prosecution.
The confrontation began when Lamar Alexander and Ronnie Jerome Hill robbed a jewelry store in Coral Gables before hijacking Ordoñez’s UPS truck approximately two miles away. They then led law enforcement on a high-speed chase into Broward County, which ended at a crowded intersection in Miramar. Nearly two dozen marked and unmarked police vehicles from multiple agencies were involved in the pursuit. Both suspects were killed during the incident, and no charges were filed in their deaths.
According to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report released in August 2024, five bullets recovered from Ordoñez’s body were traced to the firearms of Lee, Santiesteban, Mateo and Mirabal. The single bullet that killed Cutshaw was traced to Mirabal’s weapon.
Kollra’s ruling came after more than two weeks of testimony and legal arguments, including testimony from one of the officers involved in the shooting.
Following the decision, the Broward State Attorney’s Office said it disagrees with the application of the Stand Your Ground law in the case.
“It is our belief that Stand Your Ground immunity does not apply in matters involving innocent bystanders, like Frank Ordoñez and Richard Cutshaw, who presented no danger to officers,” the office said in a statement. “In this incident, two innocent men were killed, and the lives of numerous other innocent bystanders were endangered.”
Prosecutors also noted that the earlier ruling involving Mateo is already under appeal and confirmed plans to challenge Monday’s decision as well.
