Staying out of jail...

[MBGuy]

I keep reading about law abiding citizens that use their guns to protect themselves or family and end up in jail. In many cases, it takes months and thousands of dollars in legal fees to be cleared. What is the secret to staying out of jail? What justifies a shooting in the eyes of the prosecutors so that they will quickly come to that conclusion instead of taking their time and making the whole thing go thru the courts. It seems like Horry Co in SC is terrible with this. If you have a CCW permit and protect yourself against an armed person, why do we end up in jail and having to post bond?

[RugerP345]

You have to look at it like this, shooting someone is manslaughter but the law allows several defenses for it. Self-defense is a defense to guilt. So basically, anytime you kill someone, it is considered a manslaughter unless the PA thinks it is obviously not worth the effort to prosecute, or until a jury decides that you are not guilty due to one of the defenses (such as self defense).

So during all that time between the shooting and the decision by the PA or the jury, you are technically charged with manslaughter.

I'll give you an example, a friend of mine was having a party at his house and got in a dispute with a few people who were drunk and asked to leave. They came back with weapons and he was forced to defend himself. Obviously self-defense, but he sat in jail until he was able to post bail, and the trial is set for December NEXT YEAR. So during the next year, he has "charges pending" even though his attorney basically says it is a no-brainer.















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[Piece Corps]

There have been at least 4 cases of lethal self-defense here in central Florida in the past 6 months or so. In none of the cases was anyone charged with any crime. The closest was an incident where two BGs stole a truck from a man's yard, and he got the drop on them as they were trying to flee. As they tried to run him down with is own truck he opened fire and killed one of the perps. It took the police all of about 2 days to figure out it was self-defense.

You will not be going to jail, serving time or paying tens (or hundreds) of dollars for a lawyer and defense every time. It is possible, but in a lot of cases, the killing is deemed "justifiable" while the police reports are being written. All killings are homicides, not manslaughter, and most of the self-defense shootings are deemed justifiable homicides.

[2beararms]

So during all that time between the shooting and the decision by the PA or the jury, you are technically charged with manslaughter.

Not Always True! You are perhaps projecting the law of your state to a general statement, but it is important to understand the law varies from state to state.

In Florida if you use deadly force and there is NOT probable cause that you violated a law you will not be arrested or charged and you will be immune from civil suit under the law.

Work to get your state laws changed to be more favorable for citizen defense. Florida has shown that it can be done and that it works.

[RugerP345]

Just in the news today,

NC Senator Soles charged with Assault!

Authorities have said that Soles shot a man in August after two intruders kicked in the front door of his Tabor City home. Soles' attorney, Joe Cheshire of Raleigh, has said Soles fired in self-defense, but the grand jury said their was enough evidence to conclude that he "unlawfully, willfully and feloniously" shot the man.

State pursuing indictment against Sen. Soles :: WRAL.com





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[blume357@]

First, keep in mind anything your read or see in the news is not fact.... there is always more to it. Same 10x on the internet. I have a friend who killed a man who kicked in this front door. It never made it to a prosecutor... never arrested... written off after 2 months of investigation.

If you need to kill someone the situation should be that you don't need to worry about the police, prosecutor, judge, jury or anythng else because the alternative is that none of them will matter.

[hpj3]

"What justifies a shooting in the eyes of the prosecutors so that they will quickly come to that conclusion instead of taking their time and making the whole thing go thru the courts. It seems like Horry Co in SC is terrible with this. If you have a CCW permit and protect yourself against an armed person, why do we end up in jail and having to post bond?"

Just curious here... how many people in Horry County have had this problem? Also, if you have a CWP, I would hope that this was covered in detail during the class... if not, I would contact the instructor and ask for your money back and then file a complaint with SLED.

Howard