lawnboy said:
Is there a resource available for 2nd-amendment-inclined lawyers in our particular areas?
I'd be more interested in a lawyer who regularly defends those charged with or detained during the investigation of criminal offenses...
And actually, you're looking for a lawyer with some even more specialized experience. Defending a case based on a plea of self defense is fundamentally different from defending the usual criminal case. So you will really want a criminal defense lawyer with some experience putting on a self defense case.
In an ordinary criminal prosecution, the defendant doesn't have to present any evidence. The entire burden falls on the prosecution. The prosecution has to prove all the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
For example, if the crime the defendant is charged with is manslaughter, the prosecution must prove that the defendant were there, fired the gun (if that was the weapon used), intended to fire the gun (or was reckless), and the guy the defendant shot died. In the typical manslaughter prosecution, the defendant might by way of his defense try to plant a seed that he wasn't there (alibi defense), or that someone else might have fired the gun, or that it was an accident. In each case the defendant doesn't have to actually prove his defense. He merely has to create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors.
But if you are going to be claiming self defense, you will wind up admitting all the elements of the crime. You will admit that you were there, that you fired the gun, and that you intended to shoot the decedent. Your defense is that your use of lethal force in self defense satisfied the applicable legal standard and that, therefore, it was justified. So now you would have to affirmatively present evidence from which the trier of fact could infer that your conduct met the applicable legal standard justifying the use of lethal force in self defense.
Most criminal defense lawyer, including some of the top ones and generally including public defenders, have had little or no experience handling a self defense case. It's such a different animal from the usual "I didn't do it and you can't prove I did" defense in most criminal cases. If you are claiming self defense, you will want a lawyer with experience handling self defense cases.