A judge on Tuesday denied an Oskaloosa man, accused of fatally stabbing a college athlete, immunity from prosecution under Iowa's new "stand your ground" law.

Luke VanHemert, 24, was charged with second-degree murder in the March 2018 stabbing death of 22-year-old Marquis Todd, who played for William Penn University's men's basketball team. VanHemert claimed self-defense and sought immunity.

Judge Lucy Gamon denied his motion, saying, unlike Florida code, Iowa's 2017 law does not provide defendants a pretrial hearing to argue for immunity.

In his motion, VanHemert claimed "stand your ground" laws in Iowa and Florida were "virtually identical." But Gamon called them significantly different.

In Florida, a person who used justifiable force is "immune from criminal prosecution and civil action." In Iowa, the defendant is "immune from criminal or civil liability for all damages incurred by the aggressor," according to the ruling.

"Immunity from a claim for damages is very different from prosecutorial immunity," the judge wrote.

VanHemert claimed a pretrial hearing should be held to determine whether he has shown self-defense by the legal standard of "preponderance of the evidence."

But the judge said if Iowa lawmakers wanted to give defendants the right to a pretrial immunity hearing, they "would have clearly done so, as the Florida Legislature did." If a hearing were held, she said, it would be unclear what burden of proof to use.

In Florida, defendants must prove "clear and convincing evidence."

Authorities believe a car carrying the basketball player and his two friends returned to the scene of a car crash outside VanHemert's house on Third Street in Oskaloosa three times on the night of March 1 last year. A fight broke out on the third trip.

Officers responded to the fight at about 10:50 p.m. and minutes later, they found Todd with friends at a nearby gas station with a stab wound to his chest.

Todd, a native of Woodridge, Illinois, died at a hospital. His death was ruled a homicide.

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In his motion seeking immunity March 14, VanHemert claimed Todd, who stood at 6-foot-9-inches tall, was on top of him during the fight. Attached to the motion were statements from Todd's friends that showed the group went to VanHemert's home "looking for a fight," VanHemert's public defender said.

Prosecutors, asking the judge to deny the motion, said the information provided by VanHemert's public defender was "incomplete and one-sided."

The facts showed Todd was unarmed, authorities said. And when VanHemert was interviewed, he denied using deadly force in self-defense, according to prosecutors.

Iowa's stand your ground law has allowed law-abiding citizens since 2017 to not retreat before using deadly force in defense of themselves or others — even if they are wrong in perceiving the danger faced, as long as the belief is "reasonable."

In a recent Polk County case, a judge ruled a man could not hold a pretrial hearing to seek immunity under Iowa law because it does not provide a procedure for determining when a defendant is eligible for immunity or what burden of proof is required. That person was convicted of second-degree murder.

VanHemert is set to go to trial April 9. If convicted of second-degree murder, he would face up to 50 years in prison.

How judges have handled new law

Several Iowa judges have tackled "stand your ground" claims differently.

Judges in Linn and Johnson counties have denied those claims, while a Montgomery County judge held a pretrial hearing and released a Red Oak man who shot and killed one of two attackers who ambushed him in an alley.

But that man, Kevin Staley, the first Iowan granted immunity under the law, was later sentenced to more than six years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

In another case, a judge said a Des Moines woman who killed her stepfather could not use the law retroactively. She later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.