14June06

Two important points from Skip G's lecture at the 2006 NTI. Skip is involved with the criminal justice system daily, and these two points should be kept in mind by all of us:

In the wake of a deadly-force incident in which you were involved:

(1) Let your lawyer do all the talking!

(2) "Self-defense" is a justification only available when yo ur actions were intentional. "Self-defense" may not be invoked to =80 justify" accidents!

Your lawyer can have his facts all mixed up. He can tell outrageous lies.

You can fire him on Monday morning, and probably should! However, when talking with investigators and prosecutors, HE CAN GET YOUR SIDE OF THE STO RY BEFORE THEM WITHOUT STATEMENTS THAT ARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO YOU! You needn't w orry about what he says, to anyone. You need only worry about what you say. It 's your statements, even inadvertent ones, that will come back to haunt you.

For example: When you intimate or even suggest, however subtly, that your use of deadly force was, in fact, accidental, from that point forward =9C self-defense" will no longer be available to you as a justification for what you did. An ND that results in an injury or death is a negligent homicide, and it cannot be subsequently converted to "self-defense," no matte r what the person was doing when he was shot. STATEMENTS AS INNOCENT-SOUNDING AS, "I 'M SORRY." "I DIDN'T MEAN TO," OR =80=9CI CAN'T BELIEVE THIS HAPPEN ED" ARE ALL THUS PERNICIOUSLY INCRIMINATING. Such statements must never leave your lips!

Those of us who go armed neglect the foregoing at our peril.

/John