You Can Get Charged With Murder For Defensive Gun Use — Even In A ‘Stand Your Ground’ State

BY Herschel Smith
6 years, 10 months ago

Forbes:

Since American citizens have the right to keep and bear arms (not just law enforcement officials, as gun control advocates maintain), it would seem to follow that they’re entitled to use their weapons when they are threatened.

More than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that in Beard v. United States, where the first Justice Harlan wrote that the defendant, who had been convicted of manslaughter for killing a man in a violent dispute,

was not obliged to retreat, not to consider whether he could safely retreat, but was     entitled to stand his ground, and meet any attack upon him with a deadly weapon, in such a way and with such force as, under all the circumstances, he, at the moment honestly believed, and had reasonable grounds to believe, were necessary to save his own life, or to protect himself from great bodily injury.

To codify that right and prevent people from being put on trial for reasonable, defensive gun use when a prosecutor thinks they might instead have retreated or fled, 24 states have enacted “stand your ground” statutes. Among them is North Carolina, but a recent case there shows that when prosecutors and judges want to convict a man for using his gun, the “stand your ground” law can be trampled upon.

Gyrell Lee had been celebrating New Year’s Eve with his cousin Jamiel Walker in the latter’s home. Throughout the evening, a known troublemaker, Quinton Epps, came by and argued with Walker. When Epps returned with friends and became increasingly belligerent, Lee decided that he should get his gun from his car just in case matters got worse. Lee had completed his concealed carry class and was familiar with the law on gun use.

Epps returned once more and a shouting match between himself and Walker ensued in the street. Walker lost his temper and punched Epps, at which point Epps drew a pistol and shot Walker in the stomach. Walker fell and Epps then turned his gun on Lee, who had his gun out. Lee fired and killed Epps.

Lee was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He was a bystander who had acted in self-defense, but nevertheless local officials wanted to make an example of him.

At trial, Lee’s attorney argued that he had acted in self-defense. But in charging the jury, the judge failed to make any mention of the state’s “stand your ground” law or the defendant’s right to use force in the defense of his cousin (who had died of his wounds). The jury returned a verdict of guilty.

On appeal, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, holding that the trial judge had not committed “plain error” in charging the jury without bringing up the state’s “stand your ground” statute. In pertinent part, that law reads “A person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat in any place he or she has the lawful right to be if …he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another.” The Court of Appeals wasn’t convinced that the judge had made an error because it wasn’t sure that the statute applied in Lee’s case due to its uncertainty that a public street outside his home counted as “a place he had the lawful right to be.”

Good grief …

Good grief indeed.  George Leef has done a good job with this article, and I appreciate his having followed and written on this issue.  We are reminded of a number of important things in this report.

First of all, we always encounter the opposition of statists when we advocate justified and righteous laws like stand your ground.  This is the first hurdle to overcome, as it is with proposed open carry laws, constitutional carry bill, and so on.

But if we get past the gaggle of gargoyles and demons in the houses of perdition that is the Senates of most states and the U.S. Senate, we face prosecutors.  The laws may say that we are recognized as having a right to self defense, but you must understand that these lawyers have been trained in the philosophy and legal theory of Stanley Fish and Jacques Derrida.  They don’t care about your God given rights or even what the law says.  If they want to, they will prosecute you if they think they can win.  Just because.  Shut up.

Then if you get past the hurdle of what the law says or how some recent law school graduate feels that day, you have the jury with which to contend.  Remember folks.  Juries are comprised by people who, on average, voted for Hillary Clinton, or had a hard time making up their minds, or who, if they didn’t vote for Hillary and Obama before her, couldn’t think their way out of a wet paper bag or hold attention long enough to listen to legal arguments in defense of someone like Mr. Lee.

Most jury members are too caught up thinking about their favorite night time sitcom to worry over things like putting someone away for life who simply shot in self defense.  Besides, that smartly dressed lawyer said he was guilty.  We’re law and order people.  He must be guilty.

When you entrust your life to a jury, it’s usually no better than entrusting it to a crooked judge.  That’s the sad state of the American system of “justice” today.  Stay away from crowds.  Think carefully about your actions.


Comments

  1. On May 21, 2017 at 11:31 pm, Dan said:

    This case….like many cases that occur in the US routinely has nothing to do with what the law says. To many DA’s and judges the law is irrelevant.
    What matters is their personal belief’s and agendas and many of them are rabidly anti 2A. They do NOT believe mere mundane citizens should EVER be allowed the right to use deadly force and if given the opportunity they will ALWAYS punish those who do. It’s called “lawfare”….the use of the law and the legal system as a tool to punish people regardless of the facts or the law as written. DA’s and judges do this KNOWING that one of two things will occur if they charge someone. Either they win the case and an innocent person is imprisoned…a fact that does not bother them in the least. OR…..they lose but the target of their vindictive legal assault STILL LOSES because of the vast amount of time, emotional damage and financial suffering they are subjected to in the quest to remain free. And these criminals in office do this BECAUSE THEY CAN. They hide behind the INSANITY of “qualified immunity” knowing they can do ANYTHING….
    including lying, withholding or destroying evidence, suborning of perjury and countless other crimes because they are beyond accountability. Till this insanity ends there will NEVER be true justice in America.

  2. On May 22, 2017 at 5:19 am, DAN III said:

    “….law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” – – Thomas Jefferson – –

    Truer and more accurate words were never spoken.

  3. On May 22, 2017 at 3:33 pm, Michael said:

    Amen to your comments about juries, Hershel.

    I’ve seen a number of instances in which a jury clearly should have acquitted (guilt beyond a REASONABLE doubt does have meaning), but they convicted anyway.

    When asked afterwards why they convicted a particular person, the answers typically mirror what you said, spun with “We wanted to get home”.

    (sigh)

  4. On May 24, 2017 at 12:10 am, Longbow said:

    “…they will prosecute you if they think they can win. Just because. Shut up.”

    Yep. The same reason a cop will use force upon you. Because he can. Shut up.

    They play with people’s lives and sleep well at night. What does that tell you?

  5. On May 31, 2017 at 12:50 pm, Jack Crabb said:

    Yup, the magic black robed ones are as loathsome as the magic blue clown suits. And don’t even get me started on lawyers…

  6. On May 31, 2017 at 10:41 pm, Just Cause said:

    Sound the alarm. Our country is lost unless we can restore integrity to the courts. More than two decades with the courts and thousands of known cases of injustice by the courts have proven we do live in a state of government tyranny. If white christian Americans do not rise up now and take back the elections departments of each county, the leftist beauracrats in government will continue to take our freedoms on their march to install totalitarian socialism in this country. All of the protected minority groups and the millions of government funded illegal aliens are their foot soldiers in the war to dominate your women and your children, and to subvert GOD fearing Americans into oppressed servitude in our own country. Become active in organizing patriots and getting these communist out of all local government. Your life depends on it!

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You are currently reading "You Can Get Charged With Murder For Defensive Gun Use — Even In A ‘Stand Your Ground’ State", entry #17156 on The Captain's Journal.

This article is filed under the category(s) Second Amendment and was published May 21st, 2017 by Herschel Smith.

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