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Let me ask you: If you are the initial aggressor in a deadly force confrontation, the victim of your deadly force aggression lawfully and responsibly uses deadly defensive force in self-defense, and an innocent third party dies from that use of defensive force, who should be held criminally liable for that death? It should come […]

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a news report out of Minneapolis about a use of a self-defense spray on a bicycle trail. The twist? The OC was used offensively, not defensively, which raises a host of interesting use-of-force law issues. (Note, featured image is a stock photo.) Interested in learning more about

This Post of the Day is prompted by a self-defense acquittal at trial of a defendant charged with felony murder, even though the defendant did a lot that was inconsistent with lawful self-defense. So how was he acquitted? Because he did some key things right. Ready to learn more about this case, and how to

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a California prosecutor’s report clearing police in a fatal use-of-force shooting (a copy of that memorandum is embedded below). The outcome is not surprising, as this was an extremely clean shoot. What is surprising, even outrageous, is that the outcome took 6 ½ years despite how clean

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a recent appellate decision out of Iowa earlier this month, in which a man appeals his voluntary manslaughter conviction that resulted from a use-of-force event in which he did most everything right. (That decision is: State v. Fordyce, 2019 Iowa App. LEXIS 602 (IA Ct. App. 2019.)

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a recent Facebook comment by Benjamin M., who wrote on the Fit to Fight Republic’s Facebook page (in slight paraphrase): I’m a martial artist with 20 years experience and fought in MMA, kickboxing, & boxing, so I’m always concerned I would get a worse charge if I

Alabama continues to make efforts to categorize churches as “highly-defensible property.” This, of course, raises the question of what the phrases “highly-defensible property” means for use-of-force purposes, and how it differs from defense of property generally, as well as from other common use-of-force legal doctrines such as stand-your-ground and self-defense immunity. A recent news report

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a first-degree murder trial out of Kalispell MT that ended up with a hung jury last week according to local news reports. This case raises some interesting technical issues around how a claim of self-defense impacts the appropriateness of a criminal charge based on negligence. (Yesterday’s Post

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a first-degree murder trial out of Kalispell MT that ended up with a hung jury last week according to local news reports. This case raises some interesting technical issues around an intentional act of self-defense versus an unintentional act of negligence as well as practical issues around

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a news report on a self-defense/murder trial out of Pennsylvania that’s expected to arrive at a verdict within the next few days. [UPDATE 6/17/19: The defendant was, in fact, found guilty of first-degree murder shortly after this post was written.] The defendant is, naturally, claiming self-defense, and