Andrew Branca

Will Arkansas Become the 37th Stand-Your-Ground State?

Although it’s often reported that only a minority of somewhat odd (usually “racist”) states can be described as stand-your-ground jurisdictions, in fact the large majority of states do not impose a legal duty to retreat on persons otherwise acting in lawful self-defense.

Several of these have transitioned from duty-to-retreat to stand-your-ground since the hubbub over stand-your-ground that inappropriately arose over the legal doctrine during the trial of George Zimmerman. No state in recent years has moved from stand-your-ground to duty-to-retreat.

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Will Arkansas Become the 37th Stand-Your-Ground State? Read More »

It’s Done: Ohio Adopts Modern Self-Defense Law, Joins 49 Other States

It looks like Ohio’s adoption of modern self-defense law is a done deal, according to Fox News and other sources. They report that the Ohio legislature today overrode Governor Kasich’s veto of the pro-civil-rights bill that sought to adopt the modern practice of placing the burden of proof on self-defense on the prosecution, beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Could Your Self-Defense Insurance Be Cancelled on You? Yep.

The insurance industry publication Business Insurance reports that Lloyd’s of London affiliates have settled with New York state insurance regulators over its partnering on NRA Carry Guard self-defense insurance.

In addition to paying $5 million, the insurers agreed to not issue insurance policies to cover liability from self-defense shootings. They also agreed to “not enter into any agreement or program with the NRA to underwrite or participate in any affinity-type insurance program involving any line of insurance covering persons or entities whose home state is New York.” In addition, they agreed to cancel existing policies.

Note that last sentence:

In addition, they agreed to cancel existing policies.

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Could Your Self-Defense Insurance Be Cancelled on You? Yep. Read More »

Ohio Within Two Votes of Adopting Modern Self-Defense Law

It’s come down to this: Ohio is within two votes of adopting modern self-defense laws, including placing the burden of proof on self-defense on the prosecution to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt (already the law in every other state). The bill passed the Ohio House and Senate by wide margins, but was vetoed by

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You Know Anti-Self-Defense Crowd Is Lying When They Generalize “Homicide”

As I’ve written about several times in the last few weeks, Ohio is considering adopting several badly changes to its self-defense laws. One of the provisions that had been under consideration, but had apparently been dropped in the mistaken hopes that doing so would induce Governor Kasich to sign the proposed self-defense changes, was stand-your-ground: relieving folks who otherwise lawfully defend themselves from also having a legal duty to retreat before they could use defensive force against an unlawful attack upon themselves or their families. Instead, Kasich (featured image) vetoed the bill anyway, and now OH is hoping their legislature can override that veto.

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Merry Christmas! But not for Cyntoia Brown :-(

First, wishes for a happy and safe Merry Christmas to all the great Law of Self Defense community!

Second, it would appear that Cyntoia Brown will not get her preferred Christmas present this year, that being clemency from Tennessee governor Bill Haslam. I first reported on Brown’s relatively recent love fest from the mainstream media in a post made exactly two weeks ago:

A lot of people have been forwarding me articles about Cyntoia Brown, a then 16-year-old prostitute who was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. Recent news coverage includes this very sympathetic piece from CNN and another from NPR, as well as a deluge of similarly sympathetic coverage from a wide variety of other sources.

Brown argued self-defense at her trail, but was unsuccessful, and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. She will first be eligible for parole after serving 51 years of her sentence.

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Merry Christmas! But not for Cyntoia Brown :-( Read More »

News: “Kasich Vetoes Ohio’s Adoption of Modern Self-Defense Laws”

Unsurprisingly, Ohio Governor John Kasich has vetoed HB 228, by which the Ohio legislature sought to adopt modern self-defense laws for its residents, according to various news reports.

Kasich vetoed the bill despite proponents having stripped out the more controversial “stand-your-ground” (no duty to retreat) provisions from the bill.

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News: “Problem: Plate Carrier or Firing on Fleeing Suspects?”

Today’s post involves an acquittal this week of a Florida man on charges of first degree murder for the killing of his stepfather, as reported here.  Interestingly, the defendant attributes his prosecution to the fact that he was wearing a plate carrier when he engaged his stepfather breaking into his home.  At the same time,

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News: “Problem: Plate Carrier or Firing on Fleeing Suspects?” Read More »

News: “When Is Evidence of Attacker’s Character/Bad Acts Relevant?”

Today’s post involves a decision in a preliminary hearing out of Tennessee.  This case involves the killing of a black suspect, Daniel Hambrick, by a white police officer, Officer Andrew Delke, and is being pursued aggressively by prosecutors who argue that Delke shooting the fleeing Hambrick in the back three times constitutes murder, despite the fact that it is undisputed that Hambrick was armed with a handgun.

 

This post doesn’t discuss the merits of this case (on which you can find more details here) but rather focuses on one particular issue:When can the character or prior bad acts of the victim be relevant in a self-defense case.

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News: “Focus on the Relevant Issues: aka Avoid ‘Stupid Think’ ”

Today’s post involves a decision out of the Florida Supreme Court holding that police officers acting in the course of their duties are as entitled to seek self-defense immunity under Florida law as are non-LEOs, as reported by the Seattle Times newspaper

That’s decision is not what’s interesting about this story, however.What’s interesting about this story is the extent to which the news coverage and the people quoted engage in stupid think.

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