Posted on 09/07/2011 7:06:09 PM PDT by marktwain
To the New Hampshire Legislature: Please override the anti-self-defense veto of Gov. John Lynch.
As a defense attorney, I have represented many individuals who never fired a shot but displayed or pointed a firearm in self-defense. I can assure you that New Hampshire citizens need Senate Bill 88. Actually we need much stronger protective language, but this is the language the committee passed.
The Officer Friendly that you see is not how many of these cops behave around citizens who have had to use a firearm to save themselves or others from harm. In one case, the police charged a man with a clean record - a 5-foot-4, 140-pound man, the son of a U.S. Secret Service Agent - when he displayed a firearm to ward off the imminent attack of a 6-foot, 240-pound man. The man who attacked my client had a criminal record including assault. My client was told he had no right to display a firearm - he should have called 911! No cell service - oh well. My client was charged with a felony.
The prosecutor, despite my many pleas for even more exculpatory evidence, claimed such evidence did not exist - only to have that evidence show up after a jury had been picked and before opening statements. After my client had spent tens of thousands of dollars and suffered untold grief, the prosecutor decided not to prosecute because she would have had to face the judge - a judge whom she had told repeatedly the information I sought did not exist.
Citizens in this state need defense from the police and prosecutors who are anti-self-defense. SB 88 is a small step in the right direction.
The prosecutor is immune from lawsuit. There is no way for someone charged in this way to collect damages. If you are wealthy, you can afford it. If you are a criminal or poor, the State pays. If you are middle class, you are ruined.
The financial loss is only one aspect. There is tremendous stress as well as public embarrassement.
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