Including ...Mistakes Made Defending the Innocent • President’s Message • Attorney Question • Book Review • About this Journal
Get eJournal PDF: click here
Mistakes Made Defending the Innocent
An Interview with Massad Ayoob
Interview by Gila Hayes
Armed citizens often ask questions about choosing an attorney, but that common inquiry hints at a much deeper underlying issue, a concern that goes far beyond just, “Do I have the name and number of an attorney to call after self defense?”
We watch the news, read articles, and read books about prosecution of people who appear to be entirely innocent. We watch their trials and observe testimony and arguments that make the defendant’s future look bleak. We wonder, presuming the necessity of self defense to avoid being killed, “If that was me sitting in the defendant’s chair could I have gotten that train wreck of a trial going in the right direction? Could I have guided the defense attorney’s strategy or interrupted their approach if I thought the strategy was wrong? Could a different attorney have stopped the criminal justice system from charging, indicting, and trying me after use of force in self defense?” Those are troubling questions because laypersons hesitate to question advice from attorneys.
We turned to Network Advisory Board Member Massad Ayoob, who has worked in the courts for 45 years as an expert witness, a police prosecutor, and continuing legal education instructor. In response to our questions, he provided a high-angle view of what he has seen: what works and what doesn’t work when defending innocent people’s use of force in self defense.
President’s Message
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
In my column last month, I explained why we forego the concept of a written contract, instead settling for an informal but none-the-less binding contract, consisting of what our website promises to prospective members. That format has worked well for us, having been in business since 2008, during which time we have never been sued for breach of contract, nor even had a complaint lodged against us on Yelp or the BBB. I explained that if my word is not good enough assurance of what we promise to do for you, then please seek out an alternative for your post self-defense legal needs. If you missed last month, it might help give context to what I want to express this month to read it first. It is at https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/july-2024-presidents-message .
This month, I want to explain the process we use to decide if a case is a legitimate case of self defense, so our members can use this information to decide about renewing and to help prospective members decide about joining our Network.
Each member receives a membership card, with the number of my personal cell phone on it. We call that our Boots on the Ground phone. I call it this because if you do not have an attorney to call after using force in self defense, and if we cannot find an available attorney to immediately assist you, then I will head to the airport with a check in hand, and fly to your location, rent a car and start working on your legal representation (putting boots on the ground).
Attorney Question of the Month
Network Affiliated Attorney Steven M. Harris (Florida) brought to our attention a recent Florida appellate decision granting pretrial self-defense immunity, Smith v. State, available here: https://1dca.flcourts.gov/content/download/2436123/opinion/Opinion_2022-3034.pdf
From the facts of Smith, Attorney Harris asked his fellow Network Affiliated Attorneys to explore the following questions. The responses were numerous and we believe members will share our interest in the discussion that follows.
For a law enforcement officer or nonsworn, is there any caselaw or jury instruction (Federal or your state) which recognizes the unique and deadly nature of the threat presented by an attempted firearm disarm? Is there an independent statutory basis to independently assert deadly force justification? For example, that the disarm is the attempted commission of a robbery (unlawful taking of the firearm by force).
What arguments would you present in defense of an LEO or armed citizen who used deadly force to prevent being disarmed?
Book Review
Prepared: A Manual for Surviving Worst-Case Scenarios
By Mike Glover
256 pages, hardcover, $29; eBook, $7.99
Published by Penguin Random House, June 2023
ISBN 978-0593538142
Reviewed by Gila Hayes
How much good are the latest guns, flashlights and bug out equipment in an emergency? Despite the pleasure of buying good equipment, survival depends less on gear and more on the mental and emotional fortitude to ride out hardship, emergencies and threats, and the skilled use of materials and equipment. I hadn’t read a preparedness book for a while, so when I noticed that a novelist I read wrote the foreword to Prepared, I bought it. It raised a lot of good discussion points so instead of opining on the issues of the day, I’m going to combine the book review with the editorial this month and share more ideas from this book than usual.
About this Journal
The eJournal of the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc. is published monthly on the Network’s website at http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal. Content is copyrighted by the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc.
Do not mistake information presented in this online publication for legal advice; it is not. The Network strives to assure that information published in this journal is both accurate and useful. Reader, it is your responsibility to consult your own attorney to receive professional assurance that this information and your interpretation or understanding of it is accurate, complete and appropriate with respect to your particular situation.