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<blockquote data-quote="Michael Brown" data-source="post: 33821" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>Let me first state that I am not a lawyer and not qualified to give legal advice. I am a police officer and can only speak from the perspective of the individual charged with investigating the incident and testifying to the observations made during that investigation.</p><p></p><p>I was very hesitant to enter this discussion after some of the comments I read here which I believe are very damaging to the concept of legitimate self-defense. </p><p></p><p>However I also felt that the unreasonable commentary should be tempered with experienced opinions and another point of view.</p><p></p><p>I must say I am in complete disagreement with what most here are saying regarding the advice they have gotten from their lawyers. This sounds very much like a lawyer's attempt to make himself more important.</p><p></p><p>The fact is most lawyers (99.99% of then) do not regularly deal with cases involving INNOCENT criminal defendants. Self-defense is an affirmative defense and if you want it to work for you, it has to start from the beginning and that includes first contact with responding officers. Its very difficult to jump into an affirmative defense halfway into an investigation.</p><p></p><p>I have responded to hundreds of shootings and a lot of justifiable shootings and testified in several justifiable shootings at preliminary hearings and discussed the related issues with homicide detectives in the decision to arrest or not more times than most lawyers have been in court.</p><p></p><p>Juries will have a hard time understanding why you just shot someone and then told the guys or gals coming to help you "I ain't talkin' till I get a lawyer." That is the defense of the bad guys. Anyone remember Bernard Goetz? He would probably not be a convicted felon today if his lawyer represented innocent people on a regular basis.</p><p></p><p>My suggestion is don't get diaharria of the mouth but you should say something.</p><p></p><p>Something to the effect of "Officer, that man there tried to kill me and I shot him in self-defense. I know you have an investigation to do and I will gladly cooperate and sign any complaints against the man who tried to kill me." Then point out any witnesses to the incident. Then and only then say "Before discussing any of the details of this incident, I'd like to speak to my attorney first and will fully cooperate with your investigation then."</p><p></p><p>This places you in the position of a person who has responded in justifiable self-defense not just a guy standign there with a smoking gun and a dead guy at his feet.</p><p></p><p>A lawyer who advises you to just say nothing is giving very bad advice in my opinion.</p><p></p><p>Also anyone who makes light of a justifiable self-defense shooting on a public forum really ought to consider the above statement about verbal diharria.</p><p></p><p>Anyone who believes a dead suspect is safer to you financially and personally than a live one just hasn't considered the issues very thoroughly.</p><p></p><p>A dead man's relatives can be just as harmful physically and financially and possibly more so. </p><p></p><p>Whether a suspect lives or dies in a justifiable self-defense shooting should be a matter for the E.R. doctors not for you. Your concern should be the protection of yourself and your family. A suspect's death has little bearing on this. If your self-protection practices solve this matter don't worry about it.</p><p></p><p>One thing I will agree with is that if you do what some here are advocating (i.e. commit a criminal act) then your best advice is to say nothing. That's what criminals do.</p><p></p><p>Michael Brown</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Michael Brown, post: 33821, member: 18"] Let me first state that I am not a lawyer and not qualified to give legal advice. I am a police officer and can only speak from the perspective of the individual charged with investigating the incident and testifying to the observations made during that investigation. I was very hesitant to enter this discussion after some of the comments I read here which I believe are very damaging to the concept of legitimate self-defense. However I also felt that the unreasonable commentary should be tempered with experienced opinions and another point of view. I must say I am in complete disagreement with what most here are saying regarding the advice they have gotten from their lawyers. This sounds very much like a lawyer's attempt to make himself more important. The fact is most lawyers (99.99% of then) do not regularly deal with cases involving INNOCENT criminal defendants. Self-defense is an affirmative defense and if you want it to work for you, it has to start from the beginning and that includes first contact with responding officers. Its very difficult to jump into an affirmative defense halfway into an investigation. I have responded to hundreds of shootings and a lot of justifiable shootings and testified in several justifiable shootings at preliminary hearings and discussed the related issues with homicide detectives in the decision to arrest or not more times than most lawyers have been in court. Juries will have a hard time understanding why you just shot someone and then told the guys or gals coming to help you "I ain't talkin' till I get a lawyer." That is the defense of the bad guys. Anyone remember Bernard Goetz? He would probably not be a convicted felon today if his lawyer represented innocent people on a regular basis. My suggestion is don't get diaharria of the mouth but you should say something. Something to the effect of "Officer, that man there tried to kill me and I shot him in self-defense. I know you have an investigation to do and I will gladly cooperate and sign any complaints against the man who tried to kill me." Then point out any witnesses to the incident. Then and only then say "Before discussing any of the details of this incident, I'd like to speak to my attorney first and will fully cooperate with your investigation then." This places you in the position of a person who has responded in justifiable self-defense not just a guy standign there with a smoking gun and a dead guy at his feet. A lawyer who advises you to just say nothing is giving very bad advice in my opinion. Also anyone who makes light of a justifiable self-defense shooting on a public forum really ought to consider the above statement about verbal diharria. Anyone who believes a dead suspect is safer to you financially and personally than a live one just hasn't considered the issues very thoroughly. A dead man's relatives can be just as harmful physically and financially and possibly more so. Whether a suspect lives or dies in a justifiable self-defense shooting should be a matter for the E.R. doctors not for you. Your concern should be the protection of yourself and your family. A suspect's death has little bearing on this. If your self-protection practices solve this matter don't worry about it. One thing I will agree with is that if you do what some here are advocating (i.e. commit a criminal act) then your best advice is to say nothing. That's what criminals do. Michael Brown [/QUOTE]
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