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Last year one of the comments in my thread about training suggested one might expect different self-defense criminal court outcomes based on the locality of the incident.

That makes sense; 'elections have consequences' and all that.

But I don't seem to find many cases, and I'm usually pretty good at searching.

I know about Mike Strickland. I just learned about Charlie Win Chan, but that's civil and that's always a crapshoot. I remember this guy, but the article doesn't have his name so I can't find out if anything criminal was charged. (Apparently he was arrested by Marion SD)

That's pretty thin gruel, so I wonder if members here have some names and dates of cases I can try to chase down.

It's not that I'm planning to need the info, but I'd like to have some reasonable expectations. Rule of Stupids applies -
Don't

1. Go to stupid places

2. With stupid people (or where stupid people congregate)

3. At stupid times

4. To do stupid things.

AdThanksvance.
 
99% of good shoots will never go to court. The DA will review the facts of the case and decline to prosecute because the use of force was lawful. Even in the deepest blue parts of the country, self defense is self defense. If you follow the law to a T you will be okay.

Where it gets wishy washy is in a case such as Mike Strickland's. I think even if deep red parts of the state like Baker, Grant, or Wallowa he would've gotten hemmed up on something.

An interesting perspective I have heard is tailoring your carry weapon based on local population. For example, if I were being prosecuted for a self defense shooting in Portland - the last thing I'd want being shown as my carry gun is some tricked out Glock derivative with an RMR, flashlight, +2 base plate, compensator, etc. A jury might be intimidated by such a weapon and paint false pretense about you. On the converse, a j-frame .38 is a bit more traditional and doesn't look "scary" to an uneducated jury. That's a weapon grandma could own so it can't possibly be evil.

I'm not sure the about the reality of the claim but I think its interesting to consider for discussion.
 
99% of good shoots will never go to court. The DA will review the facts of the case and decline to prosecute because the use of force was lawful. Even in the deepest blue parts of the country, self defense is self defense. If you follow the law to a T you will be okay.

...
That's the way it ought to go, IMO. I guess what might be available is cases where self defense was overcome by the prosecution. But I'd like to find a quantity of 'no bill' cases, too. What is this DA thinking, I would wonder.

An interesting perspective I have heard is tailoring your carry weapon based on local population. For example, if I were being prosecuted for a self defense shooting in Portland - the last thing I'd want being shown as my carry gun is some tricked out Glock derivative with an RMR, flashlight, ...
Oops ...

I can't tell about Lane; I do see the occasional open carrier here in town, but those have been revolvers. Local news seems to cover non-self-defense; it may be those are treated a little differently in different places.
 
An interesting perspective I have heard is tailoring your carry weapon based on local population. For example, if I were being prosecuted for a self defense shooting in Portland - the last thing I'd want being shown as my carry gun is some tricked out Glock derivative with an RMR, flashlight, +2 base plate, compensator, etc. A jury might be intimidated by such a weapon and paint false pretense about you. On the converse, a j-frame .38 is a bit more traditional and doesn't look "scary" to an uneducated jury. That's a weapon grandma could own so it can't possibly be evil.

I'm not sure the about the reality of the claim but I think its interesting to consider for discussion.
its a personal call on what to carry and for why. for me, if im gonna be in a shootout, i want the absolute best probability of winning - and that means carrying whatever i think will best facilitate that. that AINT any revolver, for me.

i dont personally give a goddamn what the gun looks like. ill worry about how things look after ive survived. if im ever sitting in a court room because the gun i used to lawfully defend myself is scary looking, ill just be glad im sitting in a court room instead of feeding worms.
 
Good thread idea.

One challenge will be decerning between between "legitimate", innocent party self defense cases and ones that are not really legit. I've heard from good sources that many criminal defense attorneys may go their entire careers and have somewhere between 0 and two legitimate cases during their career.
 
Wallowa County Chieftain has an article on Benjamin Paul Harrell (yes, the Youtube Paul Harrell) freed of manslaughter, in 2007, but it won't let me read the article. This appears to quote the article.
The case was investigated by the Wallowa County Sheriff's Office, the Oregon State Major Crimes Team, Walla Walla Police Department and Walla Walla County Coroner's Office.
In a case where self-defense is claimed, the state has to prove that is was not self-defense, in order to proceed with a prosecution, Williams said. Effectively, the state must prove a negative and five of a seven-member grand jury must concur with the prosecution.
In this case, that didn't happen, though the jury did not offer a vote count, Williams said.
Self-defense is defined as defense of oneself or of another person, Williams said.
The charges will be dismissed and, barring the discovery of new evidence, will not be pursued further.
 
How are you getting that? I didn't see any mention of drugs in the article you linked.
I will have to look in archived stories to find his prior arrests, however recently:

 
Are you only collecting Ore cases? Or any case?
My original thought had been just Oregon; I don't follow WA laws, as I never have been there. I'll fix that eventually.

But WA residents might find such knowledge useful, so if a WA person wants to work on it, that might deserve its own thread.

I'd suspect anything older than 2000 might not reflect current policies.
 

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