I decided to look into this case more because it peaked my interest and the original story I read laid all the guilt on the shooter, and I wanted to know what they did wrong, so I could avoid any such issue.
What I found was pretty disturbing for me, especially when I found out the shooter and one of the second’s Attorney generals son worked a prior criminal case that prosecuted the victim. Who also felt that this case was probably justified but was going to let the Grand Jury decide in June.
The original Attorney general stated these laws among others opinions as to why she felt it was justified.
OCGA 16 - 3 - 21 Use force in Defense, once confronted with a deadly force situation an individual is allowed to use
deadly force to defend themselves or others
OCGA 16 - 3- 23 . 1 Georgia’ s No Duty to Retreat Law, an individual is
not required to back away from or submit to an attack;
OCGA 16 - 3- 24 [b ] The use of force which is intended or
likely to cause death or great bodily harm to prevent trespass on or other tortious or criminal interference with real
property other than a habitation or personal property is NOT justified unless the person using such force reasonably
believes that it is necessary to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
OCGA 16 - 3- 24 .2 A person properly and legally defending themselves is immune from prosecution
For the above and foregoing reasons, itis our conclusion there is insufficient probable cause to
issue arrest warrants at this time.
I believe in her own statement this law OCGA 16 - 3- 24 [b ] she posted was the one that trumped the actions that followed(it happened prior to any other action). I am not an attorney so I can’t say for sure but the original 911 caller who is believed to have been the shooter did not state a crime other than trespassing had occurred. From watching all of the proving grounds, where they clearly emphasize that once the threat is over you can no longer use deadly force. To me the threat was over, the police were already on their way, and once the victim left the property of a partially built home that was no longer under construction. At which point the accused gathered his son and into their truck and had the friend follow the victim jogging in a car recording the video, while they took the truck ahead and set up an area to stop the victim. The accused with a shotgun out and giving commands, the victim ran around the truck to avoid the man in the road, which also had an armed man in the back of the truck and was met at the front of the truck by the accused. The victim reached for the shotgun right away and got shot in his right hand, and proceeded to try and hit the accused, he was then shot two more times and died. The Attorney-general stated that due to him pulling on the top of the gun and aiming it in his own direction that it is possible that from the accused having his finger on the trigger, the victim could have pulled enough to have shot himself with the last two shots. That all said, I believe the law below trumps everything that occurred and made this go from self-defense to a criminal act by the shooters. You can not use lethal force to protect property without a forcible felony, and he clearly was not in the process of a crime at the point where they tried to stop them, and this made the accused the aggressor at this point, taking away his right to use deadly force. It was also stated on the 911 call that the victim had been caught on camera at night a few times and had been running up and down the neighborhood for a while(not just that day). Other neighbors stated that the victim jogged in the area so frequently that they believed he was training for something, and others stated he had worked with his dad in the neighborhood doing landscaping. This is not 100% of the details just what stood out to me.
OCGA 16 - 3- 24 [b ] The use of force which is intended or
likely to cause death or great bodily harm to prevent trespass on or other tortious or criminal interference with real
property other than a habitation or personal property is NOT justified unless the person using such force reasonably
believes that it is necessary to prevent the commission of a forcible felony
What took three AG’s a couple of months to decide to take this to a grand jury, took the Georgia bureau of investigation GBI took 2 days after their review to arrest. This is of course after public outrage. This is, of course, all my opinion based on the facts I have found so far, and my opinion may change as I find more facts. I based much of my opinion from what I have learned from the USCCA proving grounds, articles, and youtube videos, along with some of Massad Ayoob’s videos.
I am intrested to see others perspectives and what they believe. I am not going to debate opinions, so if thats what you want, you win. I am more curious about what would make this legal or is what I found enough to go from self defense to manslaughter or murder. I clearly don’t know what I would have done from either perspective because I was not there. I would like to have believed I would have just made the 911 call and left it at that if I was in the shooter’s perspective, or at the very most-followed him giving 911 updates until the police arrived on the scene.
From the victim’s perspective, seeing a man standing in the middle of the road with a shotgun (yelling at me) and another armed man in the truck with a car following behind me, I probably would have felt very trapped and unarmed. It would have definitely gone into fight or flight and I know I can’t outrun a bullet but I can’t say for sure what I would have done.
A last important note, the accused is a retired police office and investigator for the AGs office, which I believe may have caused the delay in arrest and not for public outrage may have gone on without an arrest even after they presented a one-sided event to the grand jury. No charges have been brought against the friend driving the car as of yet but the accused son is being charged as well.