Can someone explain this to me

B

BobR

New member
in terms I can Understand :confused:

§21-733.

Homicide is also justifiable when committed by any person in either of
the following cases:

1. When resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to commit any
felony upon him, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person
is; or,

2. When committed in the lawful defense of such person, or of his or
her husband, wife, parent, child, master, mistress, or servant, when
there is a reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony,
or to do some great personal injury, and imminent danger of such
design being accomplished; or,

3. When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means,
to apprehend any person for any felony committed; or in lawfully
suppressing any riot; or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace.
Click to expand...

A earlier thread prompted me to look up my state's code for justifiable homicide. Most of it is straight forward, yet some is not. Am I allowed to draw my weapon in the defense of a total stranger, in a public establishment? I am assuming that the SHTF and the perp wanted to continue his particular brand of mayhem, so would I be able to use this statute as defense after demonstrating the effect a couple of .45cal chunks of copper jacketed lead has on the human torso. I am not concerned about him coming for me, then I know it would work out for me, but what about a total stranger. It seems as though this could be open to a very wide interpretation..good and bad.:(

Thanks for any and all input on this.
 
BobR,

I ain't no lawyer....but here goes....

I'd say that under No.1 and 2, no, you couldn't draw down. Those sections have no reference to "any person" in your presence...only to those immediately connected to you in some way, such as a family member or (in case you're rich and can afford a 'servant') your butler.

However, No. 3 gives you the ability to do what is morally correct (stop a felony) IF your state/county/city government allows private citizens to apprehend a felon, and IF you are absolutely certain that the person you are about to shoot has actually committed a felony!. You need to check the law concerning arrest by private citizen.

I'd try to find some court case summaries, too. Just to see how others may have fared in the past....
 
Just be glad you can employ some form of self defence reasoning for such a situation.

In Australia there is no legal precedent for the use of self defence.....

Not that I give a sh-t of course, forgivness from God is all that counts in m opinion.
 
Well, I ain’t no lawyer either but I get a different view of that there law! ;)

To me, paragraph one says deadly force is permitted to stop someone from
committing a felony against you, to defend yourself against murder, or to
defend your home.

Paragraph two seems to extend the right to use deadly force to protect
your loved ones and those under your “protection” from the immediate
threat of serious bodily injury or death.

Paragraph three seems to pertain to citizen defense and citizen arrest.

But, “Houston, we have some problems!”

- Without seeing what part of the law this excerpt is from, we can’t really
tell for whose benefit it is written. I can only assume (ass/u/me) it is
written for the general public.

- Surely court cases have modified the application of this law.
“Precedents” are the lifeblood of court decisions.

Therefore, I would not interpret this law at face value.
-----

There is a way for you to get more information without consulting an
Attorney.

In most cities there is a college or university which teaches law courses.
The better universities will have a law library. If the university accepts
government money, their library must be open to the public. Voila! You
now have access.

1) Look up the law that interests you. Remember there may be many
other laws, in other portions of the law or from other jurisdictions, which
affect the specific law you want to research.

2) Ask the librarian how to find the “legislative intent” of a specific law.
This will help you determine why the law was written.

3) Shepardize the law that interests you. This will show you every court
case where that law has affected a court decision. Write down all the
citations.

4) Look up all the citations to see how the law has been applied and what
precedents have been established.

Do not rely solely upon your own research - especially if court action is
involved. Find a certified attorney who is qualified and interested in the
subject matter.

Lastly, hope for the best. Courts too frequently have become a crap shoot.
 
Considering how many actions are deemed felonies, part 1 is shockingly lenient.

Be very aware that laws declaring legality or illegality are frequently reversed by another law. Another section may say "§21-733(1) shall not apply to any felony wherein there is no immediate grave risk of death or grave bodily harm" or something comparable. NY state law is full of legal "but"s: ex. firearms are simply declared illegal, but exempted here, exemptions to exemptions there, ad nauseum.

You'll have to read the WHOLE penal law, unless you can find a book that consolidates all the relevant weapons & deadly force laws.

Be aware too that legally, words have very specific and often unusual definitions (ex.: in NY, a rifle is not a firearm). Read the definitions section carefully.
 
Thats another one of peoples problems..it's seems nobody wants to do anything in the defense of human life that is not known to them to be absolutely legal...Ask yourself this, would you want someone to draw and shoot on your behalf if your about to be murdered? We can use our weapons if a human being is about to be excecuted by a vicious felon.I hope you would draw down if my wife or girl friend was about to be raped then strangled...I would for yours!
 
Gee Bob, you must live in Oklahoma. Looks like part of Title 21 to me. We always wondered what would happen if a husband shot and killed his wifes lover if he found them in bed together. You see, adultery was a felony in Oklahoma, probably still is, punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for a period of up to 5 years. Under the first section that would be a felony being committed in your dwelling.
 
3. When necessarily committed in attempting, by lawful ways and means,
to apprehend any person for any felony committed; or in lawfully
suppressing any riot; or in lawfully keeping and preserving the peace.

This is kinda broad as it is above, what would be "Lawfully"??? The last two parts are by far the worse, hopefully there are some court cases, or something that define them!


ctdonath,

I beleive that NY State law defines a firearm "as being easily consealable on ones person". Also all handguns are considered firearms. So if you have a short barreled rifle (illegal in NY State), with folding stock that could be considered a "firearm" no?
 
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