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Law of Self Defense Tag

Posted by Andrew Branca on June 10, 2022 43 Comments
In what appears to be yet another politically-motivated prosecution of a white police officer who lawfully defended himself from a violent, non-compliant black suspect, Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr has been charged with second-degree murder over the April 4, 2022 shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, according to FOX News. I previously wrote about this case right here at Legal Insurrection back in April:

Reminder: Fighting a Cop for Control of Taser Will Likely Get You Lawfully Shot

Posted by Andrew Branca on April 14, 2022 52 Comments
Reminder: Fighting a Cop for Control of Taser Will Likely Get You Lawfully Shot On April 4, 2022, Patrick Lyoya was shot and killed by a Grand Rapids police officer after violently fighting lawful arrest following an attempt to flee a traffic stop, and after refusing to give up control of the Taser Lyoya had seized from the officer during their struggle. Essentially the entirety of the physical confrontation between Lyoya and the officer was captured on video, in various forms—the officer’s body camera until that was disabled in the struggle, the officer’s dash camera video from his patrol vehicle, and a bystander’s smartphone video.  These videos were yesterday released by the Grand Rapids Police Department, along with extensive commentary, during an hour-long press conference.  You can watch that press conference in its entirety here:

Posted by Andrew Branca on April 08, 2022 26 Comments
On November 5, 2021, Kyle Carruth fatally shot Chad Read in the chest in a child custody-associated dispute taking place outside Carruth's Texas home. On March 31, 2022, news media announced that a special grand jury convened in this case returned a "no true bill," meaning they declined to indict Carruth on any criminal charges for his having killed Read. Accordingly, it appears that Carruth will face no criminal liability over this event (although he continues to sued civilly over his killing of Read).

Posted by Andrew Branca on November 28, 2021 59 Comments
We've seen this happen in the George Zimmerman trial in Florida a decade ago, in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial just completed in Kenosha WI, and in plenty of cases in between. These are cases where there is little or no evidence inconsistent with self-defense, such that there can be no good-faith reason for a prosecutor to drag that defender to trial.  The only motivation of the prosecutor is personal aggrandizement and political capital.

Posted by Andrew Branca on October 25, 2021 174 Comments
Welcome to today’s Law of Self Defense content! I am, of course, Attorney Andrew Branca, for Law of Self Defense LLC. Today I’d like to share with some updated legal analysis of the Alec Baldwin on-set shooting of Halyna Hutchins, a 42-year-old mother and the director of cinematography for Baldwin’s in-production Western movie “Rust.” Ms. Hutchins, tragically, died as a result.  (Also injured by the shot was director Joel Souza, who survived.) Spoiler:  The more we learn about the facts of this case, within the context of New Mexico criminal law, the more this shooting looks increasingly like a crime—specifically, felony involuntary manslaughter.  So, today let’s explore that possibility in further detail.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 20, 2020 41 Comments
Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager who is charged with murder in a shooting during Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots, has been freed on $2 million bail.

Posted by Andrew Branca on October 11, 2019 35 Comments
Michael Drejka, the Florida man who shot and killed Markeis McGlockton after being physically attacked by McGlockton in a dispute over a handicap parking spot, was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison. He was convicted in August of manslaughter.

Posted by Andrew Branca on September 25, 2019 56 Comments
This past September 17, a white Saint Paul, MN, police officer shot and killed Ronald Davis, a black male. Within five days, organized protests took place against police brutality, complete with professionally printed signs and “Stop Killing People of Color” banners. This is how a “news” (actually propaganda) source, that self-identifies as focusing on “the People’s Struggle," described the shooting:
31-year-old Ronald Davis was a father, recently married, and had just graduated school. After allegedly bumping his vehicle into the back of a cop car, he stepped out of his vehicle and Mattson gunned him down.

Posted by Andrew Branca on September 02, 2019 161 Comments
On Friday, August 23 , 2019, a Florida jury convicted Michael Drejka, the handicap parking spot shooter who killed Markeis McGlockton, of manslaughter. As a result, at his September 10 sentencing hearing the 48-year-old Drejka will likely be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life in prison, without possibility of early release.

Posted by Andrew Branca on September 01, 2019 51 Comments
Today’s post is prompted by a strange and horrifying knife attack—strange because it happened on a public street, and horrifying because it involved slashing attacks to the faces of two small children. As you might imagine I’ve been inundated with a single question: would deadly defensive force be lawful against such an attack. Naturally, the answer is both “yes” and ‘no.”

Posted by Andrew Branca on August 24, 2019 125 Comments
Last night “handicap parking spot shooter” Michael Drejka was found guilty of manslaughter, as charged, for the shooting death of Markeis McGlockton. The verdict was returned quickly last night, after the jury had deliberated only a few hours.
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