A hearing is underway to determine whether Florida's Stand Your Ground law can be used by a suspended Miami-Dade police officer to defend against manslaughter charges in a 2019 shootout that killed two innocent victims.

Shootout left four dead

Suspended Miami-Dade officer Jose Mateo is one of four officers charged with manslaughter in connection with the shootout that unfolded six years ago on Miramar Parkway.

On Dec. 5, 2019, police said Ronnie Jerome Hill and Lamar Alexander robbed a jewelry store in Coral Gables, kidnapped UPS driver Frank Ordonez and led officers on a high-speed chase in Ordonez's delivery truck.

The pursuit ended in traffic near Flamingo Road, where officers surrounded the truck and gunfire erupted.

Hill and Alexander were killed, along with Ordonez and a bystander, Richard Cutshaw, who was stuck in traffic.

Cutshaw was struck in the back of the head while sitting several vehicles ahead of the UPS truck, prosecutors said. His car then drifted into traffic and hit another vehicle.

Defense pushes Stand Your Ground

On Monday, Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra Jr. allowed Mateo's defense team to move forward with a Stand Your Ground hearing. If successful, the charge against him could be dismissed.

"This Court finds that the Defendant has presented a prima facie claim and the burden has shifted to the State to meet its standard at the previously scheduled SYG Hearing," Kollra wrote in a preliminary order issued last week.

Investigator details the pursuit

FDLE investigator Alfred Villanueva was the first witness called Monday afternoon.

Using surveillance video and crime scene photographs, he walked the court through the chase and the shootout.

Villanueva testified that both suspects were armed with handguns carrying limited ammunition. He also described how one of the suspects phoned his wife during the pursuit.

"She begged him to turn himself in," Villanueva said. "He said he was in too deep and to tell the kids he loved them."

Prosecutors cite faulty police tactics

Prosecutors countered that Stand Your Ground does not apply because Ordonez and Cutshaw were not aggressors. They argue police tactics were flawed, pointing to the fact that Cutshaw was killed despite being positioned several cars ahead of the UPS truck.

The state said it intends to call 24 more witnesses during the hearing. Mateo's defense team has indicated it will call 10 witnesses of its own.

Hearing expected to last through Thursday

Mateo is one of four Miami-Dade officers charged in the case, alongside Leslie Lee, Rodolfo Mirabal and Richard Santiesteban.

If Mateo prevails at the hearing, the manslaughter charge against him will be dismissed.

The hearing is expected to continue through Thursday.