On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 02:20:44 -0500, Don Foreman
wrote:


If you shoot, you must kill or face likely civil suit that could ruin
you financially for life. Nearly any street cop will tell you
that. If you have nothing to take then your probably OK. They
can't take your house, but they can take nearly everything else
including future earnings if they're worth a lawyer's time to go
after.

Either way, you're then either up for manslaughter or not, depending
on the circumstances as the cops see 'em when they get there. They
may decide not to charge or arrest, and/or the prosecutor may decide
not to pursue indictment. If they do, you can take yer chances
with a jury or deal it down. You could probably deal it down to a
year or two in the slammer, might even skate with a sympathetic jury
of peers -- yours and those of the asshole you killed.

If you haven't killed a man before, be sure you can live with that
because it can't be undone. You won't really know until you've done
it, but thinking about it a bit beforehand might not be a bad idea.
Some guys do have trouble with it after passion has dissipated but
the deed is still done.


The criteria, in virtually all jurisdictions, is :

"You must have reasonable cause to belive, that your life, or the life
of another is in immediate danger, before you can employ deadly force"

Reasonable, meaning it will pass the Reasonable Man test, which is
basicly what the jury will decide was reasonable.

If you do have to employ deadly force, after the cops come..say
nothing except " I wish to speak with an attorney" Period. Nothing
else. End program, full stop.

Let the lawyer do the talking. In most states, shooting someone
rightiously is considered a good thing. In some urban areas, notably
in the Northeast....you are considered a murderer, even if the perp
had just gunned down a busload of nuns.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire.
Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us)
off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give
them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the **** out of you
for torturing the cat." Gunner