People get into the craziest situations–like charging with a gun at a group of punks shooting July 5 (not a typo) fireworks at your apartment building.
According to this brief news report, the now defendant actually shot and wounded someone (who, of course, claims that it was her friends, not her, who was shooting the fireworks, she was minding her own business, didn’t do nothing, etc.). As a result, he’s coming to trial in January on a charge of criminal discharge of a firearm.
He is, of course, claiming self-defense as justification of his use of force.
Could it have been a justified shooting? We don’t have enough facts to make an analysis from the brief news story, but we sure know what the analytic framework must be: Innocence, Imminence, Proportionality, Avoidance, and Reasonableness.
(Note: The featured image is a stock photo, not evidence from this case. But that pictured Roman Candle would be no joke if aimed at someone.)
UPDATE: It seems that the defendant in this case had filed a motion for self-defense immunity under Kansas law in an effort to avoid criminal prosecution. Yesterday the trial judge rejected that motion for immunity, and the defendant now proceeds on to trial. (Naturally, the news report mistakenly labels this immunity motion as “stand-your-ground,” but that’s hardly a surprise.)
–Andrew
Attorney Andrew F. Branca Law of Self Defense LLC
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