A St. Augustine Stand Your Ground case is putting two sharply different versions of a confrontation outside a Florida home before a judge after a private investigator allegedly showed up at the wrong address while trying to serve legal papers.
Kathleen Conran, a Duval County-based private investigator, is charged with aggravated assault with a firearm following the Jan. 24 encounter on North Orange Street in St. Augustine.
According to a St. Johns Citizen report citing the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and court records, Conran was attempting to serve papers intended for a nearby address when she arrived at the homeowner’s property. Authorities say the homeowner spotted her looking through his mailbox and repeatedly told her to leave.
Conran’s defense, however, says the homeowner confronted her in an “aggressive and threatening manner” and followed her as she retreated toward her vehicle. Her attorneys are now asking a judge to grant her immunity from prosecution under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
Deputies say the homeowner was headed back toward his house
The confrontation began after Conran allegedly approached the home and looked through the mailbox while trying to locate the person she had been sent to serve, according to the original arrest report coverage published in February.
Authorities alleged the homeowner questioned what she was doing and repeatedly asked her to leave the property. Conran allegedly asked whether the person named in her paperwork lived there.
Investigators said Conran then activated Meta smart glasses to record the encounter.
What happened immediately afterward is now central to the criminal case.
According to the arrest affidavit cited by the St. Johns Citizen, the homeowner was moving back toward his own house and was not advancing toward Conran when she allegedly retrieved a handgun from the open driver’s side of her vehicle and pointed it at him.
Investigators also said Conran later acknowledged that the house she approached was not the address listed on her paperwork and that she had not identified herself to the homeowner.
Conran disputes the homeowner’s version of events.
PI says she believed she was about to be attacked
In her motion seeking immunity from prosecution, Conran contends that the homeowner pursued her while she was moving toward her vehicle and that she reasonably believed an attack was imminent.
Her defense says she retrieved the firearm to protect herself and “stood her ground” by pointing the weapon at the homeowner, according to the latest report on the court filing.
That leaves the judge with a major factual dispute: whether Conran reasonably believed she faced an imminent threat or whether, as investigators allege, the homeowner was already retreating toward his residence when the gun was displayed.
Conran is not new to investigative work. The Florida Association of Licensed Investigators lists her as the owner of Conran Investigation and an active member of the organization’s Jacksonville/St. Augustine-area group.
Why Florida’s Stand Your Ground law matters
Florida law allows a person to threaten or use deadly force when that person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm or the imminent commission of a forcible felony, provided other legal requirements are met.
The state’s current justifiable-use-of-force law also provides a process for defendants to seek immunity from criminal prosecution when they claim their use or threatened use of force was legally justified.
That does not mean merely invoking “Stand Your Ground” automatically ends a case. A judge can hold a pretrial immunity hearing and weigh whether the legal requirements for self-defense have been met.
In Conran’s case, that hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Christopher Ferebee in St. Augustine, according to the Sept. 1 report.
What internet users are saying
The new Stand Your Ground motion has not yet produced a large amount of easily verifiable public social-media reaction. But when news of Conran’s arrest circulated earlier this year, the case drew pointed responses online — including from people in the investigative field.
Donald Redl, who identifies himself on LinkedIn as a longtime licensed investigator and firearms instructor, shared the arrest story and wrote, “There is no excuse for this type of behavior.” He also argued that “Firearms are not tools of intimidation,” while emphasizing that the legality ultimately turns on whether the weapon was used in response to a qualifying threat.
The St. Augustine-based Historic City News account also shared the case on LinkedIn, noting that having a legal right to carry a firearm does not by itself give someone a right to assault another person, except when force is legally justified for self-defense.
Those reactions came before Conran’s latest motion laid out her self-defense argument in greater detail, meaning the October hearing could add significant context to a case that has so far largely been told through competing allegations.
What happens next
Conran has not been convicted of the aggravated assault charge, and her defense contests the account presented by investigators.
At the Oct. 7 hearing, the court is expected to consider the competing descriptions of the encounter and whether Conran qualifies for immunity under Florida’s self-defense law.
If the judge grants her Stand Your Ground motion, the criminal charge could be dismissed. If the motion is denied, the prosecution can continue.
For now, the case hinges on a confrontation that began with something far less dramatic: an investigator allegedly arriving at a Florida house that was not the address on her paperwork.
