Posted on 01/11/2023 10:17:36 AM PST by absalom01
The question now, of course, is whether the shooter’s use of deadly defensive force to stop Washington’s armed robbery was justified on the legal merits.
The answer? Yes, maybe, and almost certainly not.
Confused yet? Let’s clarify.
Shooting someone dead is, of course, normally a crime. Under Texas law, and the law of every other state, however, the use of deadly force upon another might be legally justified, and not a crime, if it meets the conditions for deadly force defense of persons—meaning either defense of self or defense of others. ...
Importantly, the legal conditions for justification must be met for each individual use of deadly force in the encounter—meaning, in this case, for each round fired by the shooter–and that’s where we arrive at the “yes, maybe, and almost certainly not” nature of whether this shooting is lawful.
The bottom line, of the nine rounds fired by the shooter at Washington, the first four were almost certainly legally justified, the second four may be legally justified, and the ninth and final shot almost certainly was not justified, based upon the only evidence currently available to us, which is the surveillance video of the encounter.
For purposes of this commentary and legal analysis, I’ll be addressing the shooter’s use of force as three distinct use of force events, each needing their own legal justification in order to be lawful.
Use-of-Force #1: The first four shots fired, roughly from the start of the video to 0:10 seconds.
Use-of-Force #2: The second four shots fired, roughly from 0:10 to 0:14 seconds in the video.
Use-of-Force #3: The ninth and final shot fired at about 0:16 seconds in the video.
(Excerpt) Read more at legalinsurrection.com ...
It’s easy to shoot “too many times” in that time stopping, panic driven, high adrenaline moment. 1 shot or 10 shots, makes no difference if it was justified unless the douchebag was trying to surrender. In this case, he didn’t have time before he was dead.
Honestly hope that all the people yapping about what "he should have done" or "he didn't stop and asses after each shot" or "he's a vigilante".... have someone attack them or their loved ones with a firearm and see/feel the level of fear and adrenalin that kicks in when it happens... then tell me all about what you did .....hahahahahhaa..... curled up in a ball and died, pissed your pants, stood there (like most people) and fail to realize you're about to be killed.....
I'm pretty sure that I would have sat there and tried not to piss or crap my pants, said a prayer of thanks for not being shot or anyone else....
but if I felt in anyway this clown was going to shoot that weapon either inside or outside killing or hurting someone on the way of getting away, I would have fumbled for a grip on my weapon, tried to find the front site and put it in the middle of the person and pull the trigger until he stopped any movement... and after that would have try to calm down and shut up....probably would have sat or laid down with my hands visible and asked to go to the hospital if I even stayed around for LEOs.
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