The “road rage” murder trial of NJ Detective Joseph Lamont Walker, charged with first degree murder for the road-side shooting death of Joseph Dean Harvey, Jr., originally scheduled to begin today, has been pushed back two months until Monday, July 21, 2014. Jury selection is now scheduled to begin on Friday, July 18, 2014.
Legal Insurrection has previously covered this case extensively, including at the links below. We’re also preparing a comprehensive overview of Maryland laws governing self-defense and defense of others to provide a robust and common foundation for discussion of the case as the trial proceeds.
As it happens, Maryland is among the minority of states that has effectively no self-defense statutes,. Instead, the laws governing use of force reside entirely in court decisions. This makes accessing MD self-defense law rather difficult for non-lawyers, a difficulty we will try to address with our MD self-defense law overview.
Here’s the link dump of our prior coverage of the Joseph Walker “road rage” murder case:
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Motion to Dismiss, Grand Jury Testimony
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Witness Arrives After Harvey Down
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Witness Says Walker Shot Stopped Harvey ~40′ Away
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Witness Provides Confusing, Mistaken Testimony
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Witness Provides Confusing, Mistaken Testimony
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Walker Appeared to Goad Harvey: “Come on.”
“Road Rage” Murder Trial: Off-duty Cop’s Roadside Statement
Off-duty cop “Road Rage” 911 call: “I had to fire my weapon.”
Off-duty cop “Road Rage” 911 call: “They were going to fight on side of road”
Witness says off-duty “Road Rage” cop not aggressor in Maryland shooting
Off-Duty Cop “Road Rage” Case: Cracks Appear in Prosecution Narrative
Off-duty “Road Rage” Cop lawyer: Grand Jury given “materially false and misleading testimony”
Off-Duty Cop Road Rage Murder Trial – next big self-defense case
–-Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Andrew F. Branca is an MA lawyer and the author of the seminal book “The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition,” available at the Law of Self Defense blog, Amazon.com (paperback and Kindle), Barnes & Noble (paperback and Nook), and elsewhere.
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