{"id":1559,"date":"2009-06-08T08:25:14","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T15:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com\/?p=1559"},"modified":"2009-06-08T08:22:49","modified_gmt":"2009-06-08T15:22:49","slug":"ignatius-piazza-your-verdict-in-the-pharmacy-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com\/2009\/06\/08\/ignatius-piazza-your-verdict-in-the-pharmacy-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Ignatius Piazza: Your Verdict in the Pharmacy Shooting…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I must say that last week\u2019s blog, How to Get Charged with Murder<\/em>, created the greatest number of responses in the history of this blog.<\/p>\n

I spent hours reading thousands of your responses and tabulating the verdict of “Guilty<\/strong>” or “Innocent<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

So, here is your collective verdict…<\/p>\n

Some of you simply responded with a single word, either\u00a0 “Guilty<\/strong>” or “Innocent<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Some of you provided several paragraphs of explanation as to why you were deciding on your particular verdict.<\/p>\n

A significant number of you believed he was technically guilty, but could not morally convict him because he did not start the fight and the robber ultimately got what he deserved.<\/p>\n

An equally significant number of you expressed pain in doing so, but you would have to find him guilty.<\/p>\n

There were also a number of you who believe he will be found innocent of murder, but should have instead been charged with manslaughter. You did not believe his actions were premeditated, but instead involved passion of the moment.<\/p>\n

And there were a few who said they would nullify the jury (hang the jury) by refusing to find him guilty no matter what was presented in the case, just to send a tough message to criminals.<\/p>\n

In total, it was quite an interesting mix of thousands of responses.\u00a0 I personally read every e-mail until the wee hours of the morning each day last week. Thank you again for participating.<\/p>\n

I will post a small sampling of the responses on this blog over the next two days for those who are interested in reading a few dozen of your verdicts.<\/p>\n

The overall verdict, seen consistently through the thousands of responses, was…<\/p>\n

For every 12 responses, 10 voted for GUILTY <\/strong>and 2 voted for INNOCENT<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Are you surprised?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not.\u00a0 Based on the mock jury trials we conduct in our Criminal and Civil Liability lecture during Front Sight courses, we have never seen a unanimous decision for guilty or innocent.<\/p>\n

What this should tell you is that you don\u2019t want to put your life in the hands of 12 people unless you absolutely have no choice but to do so.\u00a0 In this particular case, the pharmacist did have a choice in firing those final shots.\u00a0 As a result of choosing to shoot after it appears the threat had ended, he must now place his life in the hands of 12 of his “peers”.<\/p>\n

Not a good place to be.<\/p>\n

I suspect, in this case, the jury’s verdict will be similar to your collective verdict.<\/p>\n

The big question is whether the 2 voting “innocent” will stick to their guns and hang the jury or eventually cave in to the pressure from the other ten.<\/p>\n

Again, the educational aspect of this blog post is that if you can avoid such a situation, you should.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For those who missed last Monday\u2019s blog and want to know what it was all about, I have included it below for you:<\/p>\n

June 1st, 2009<\/em><\/p>\n

How to Get Charged With Murder…<\/h3>\n

In a gunfight, there is a very well defined line between justifiable use of deadly force and murder.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in the heat of the gun battle you are only going to be half as good and half as smart as you are on your best training day, simply from the stress of a lethal encounter.<\/p>\n

As a result, the well-defined line between legal use of deadly force and murder can become quite blurry.<\/p>\n

Here is real surveillance video that shows how quickly you can go from justifiably using deadly force to being charged with murder.<\/p>\n

Understand that – universally – you are only justified to use deadly force when your opponent shows the ability<\/strong>, opportunity<\/strong>, and intent <\/strong>to immediately <\/strong>inflict serious bodily injury to you or those around you.<\/p>\n

However, you are only justified to use deadly force to stop the threat.<\/p>\n

Once the immediate threat of serious bodily injury or death ends, additional use of force is no longer justified.<\/p>\n

Watch this very revealing surveillance video that shows a textbook case of justified use of deadly force that turns into a murder charge when shots are fired AFTER the threat has ended.<\/p>\n

Then read my comments following these videos and email me your verdict<\/a>, guilty or innocent?<\/p>\n

Please make sure Javascript is enabled and you have the latest version of the Flash Player<\/a> to see this video.<\/div>\n