Several Self-Defense stories
The first two cases took place in North Carolina.
Home-invasion shooting 'clearly self-defense'
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe said Wednesday that a shooting involving a man who killed a would-be burglar who was kicking down his girlfriend’s apartment door was “clearly a case of self-defense.” It took detectives and prosecutors a matter of hours to determine that the shooting Tuesday in a quiet east Charlotte neighborhood was within the boundaries of the law. “The (shooter) was defending himself and his property from a criminal act,” Monroe told the Observer. “It was clear he was protecting himself.” . . .Store clerk shoots robbery suspect in Greensboro
Police say a convenience store clerk stopped a knife-wielding robber by shooting him with a handgun Tuesday night in Greensboro. In a news release, police said Shawnda Johnny Shelton, 25, of Pleasant Garden, was shot when he tried robbing the EZ Way Curb Market at 2906 High Point Road. Shelton entered the store with a knife shortly before 10 p.m. and demanded money from the clerk, police said. The clerk responded by shooting the suspect once with a handgun, police said. . . . Police did not say where Shelton was shot, but described his injuries as non-life threatening. . . .Santa Barbara homeowner shoots intruder, suspect in custody
A Santa Barbara homeowner shot an intruder Wednesday morning, according to police. Police said a 33-year-old man began knocking on the front door of a home in the 900 block of West Pedregosa Street. Police said the man inside the home woke up, and told the suspect to take off. Instead, police said the suspect uttered something about money, before walking around to the back of the home. Police said the man's family called 911, as he armed himself with an M-1 carbine rifle. When the suspect showed up on the back patio, police said he yelled out something indicating he was suicidal, before picking up a lantern and breaking the glass doors with it. Police said the victim inside shot a warning bullet through the door near the suspect, but the suspect continued to force his way into the home. Ten seconds later, police said the victim shot the man. . . .
Labels: DefensiveGunUse
posted by John Lott at 12:21 PM
1 Comments:
Earlier today I read [some] of a Florida lawyer's "explanation" of Stand-Your-Ground (and/or "Castle Doctrine") in which he deplored the deletion of a "duty to retreat" before using force. In the three cases you mention, "retreat" through another door or a eindow was thepretically possible, so according to that lawyer use of a weapon was previously [automatic] cause for arrest and trial, with "self-defense" unlikely to prevail: he wishes the law was still that way. while I applaud the change.
And these changes are not, as too many claim, an automatic and absolute defense precluding prosecution. Prosecutors can still go to trial to dispute "self-defense," but will need more than "Well, you could have moved to Tierra del Fuego before this incident but did not, so self-defense does not apply under the law."
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