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).
Amazingly, I have never had to do this, as our network of attorneys, instructors and friends have always obtained representation for the member within 24 hours. More importantly, that representation is provided by a lawyer who is admitted to practice in your local court, not simply a voice on the other end of the phone line.
So, what are the gritty details of this form of assistance?
In 15 years, we have received 44 calls requesting assistance and a number of other calls where an attorney’s services were not needed. Of those 44 calls asking us to pay for an attorney, we have assisted, by granting money for lawyer’s fees, in 34 cases. Before going over those cases, let me discuss the smaller number, the cases we declined to assist.
The weirdest one was one guy who got drunk and poured gasoline down the sewer cover in the street, then lit it on fire! Not self defense. Another was the guy who spent the night with a new girl, and the next morning, they had an argument. In this argument, she accessed a gun and pointed it at him. He escaped and fled. He wanted help to contact the police or sue her, I couldn’t determine which. In any event, his request for assistance was declined.
We had the case where a member was split up with his wife, and he went to pick up the kids for visitation. I guess she forgot he was coming over that morning, and she was in bed with her new boyfriend. When our guy saw the boyfriend’s car in the driveway, he went ahead and entered the house (without permission) and confronted the couple in bed at gunpoint. While I can emotionally understand his angst, this was certainly not a case of self defense, and so his request for legal assistance was declined.
Another member’s girlfriend got his gun and threatened to commit suicide with it. While we felt bad for him, the Legal Defense Fund is reserved for acts of self defense. Our member understood, and later made a voluntary donation to the Fund.
There was the time when a member had his gun stolen by a friend. The thief used that gun to murder his girlfriend and then kill himself. Our member, from whom the gun had been stolen, wanted our help in getting his gun back. Ahhh, no.
Likewise, if you leave your gun on the tank of a public toilet, don’t call us when the police come, investigate and take the gun. This has happened several times. We cannot help.
In one case, a member was arrested after an incident of domestic violence, and was forced to leave his house. After discussion, he kept his legal representation with the public defender, as the details of the case did not add up to an act of self defense and we could not help him.
Then there was the guy who found a dog in his back yard. He went into his house, got his gun and went back outside to the back yard and fired a warning shot. That was not self defense.
The above vignettes are the kinds of funding requests which, while they might require legal assistance, we had to deny because the incidents did not remotely involve legitimate self defense.
Just because someone is a member of Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, membership doesn’t give them the right to assistance from the Legal Defense Fund when they do something stupid or criminal with a gun.
This brings us to the next concern. How do we know it was a legitimate act of self defense? First off, we will make the assumption that it was legitimate if you say it was. If you call and say you were acting in self defense, but it turns out it was not self defense (you lied to us) then we will cut off the funding. This happened many years ago in our fourth case, where a young lady had taken a gun over to an ex-boyfriend’s apartment, and during that interaction, she ended up pointing the gun at the former boyfriend and his new girlfriend.
We were originally notified about the case by the girl’s mother, who called in a panic and told us her daughter had been in an altercation, pulled a gun to stop the fight, and was arrested. That is all the information the mother knew, so we took it at face value, and since they had not secured an attorney ahead of time, we contacted a well-respected criminal defense attorney who was familiar with self defense. He quoted $10,000 for a retainer in the case, and we sent him a check.
A week or two later, I called him and asked about the details of the case, and he told me the above story. He also volunteered the fact that it was not a case of self defense, so I told him to use the $10k to get her the best resolution he could. That is the only time we stopped funding before adjudication of the case, and the attorney was good with that.
In three cases, we paid for a member to consult with an attorney before going before a grand jury. All three cases ended up in a “no true bill” finding. That was money well spent.
We have had seven incidents of justifiable homicide defenses, and one armed robbery defense. In all the cases, either no charges were filed, or if charges were filed, they were dropped before trial.
In fact, we have had no members go to trial! In our 15 years, no Network member has ever gone to court! There are companies who use the acquittal of a member on murder charges as a marketing ploy. That seems a little sketchy to me, especially considering the statute of limitations for a civil case has not run out yet. That is why you didn’t hear of all our successes, despite members wanting to talk about it with us for an article in the eJournal.
Unfortunately, not all cases have ended without convictions. We have had seven members who have taken plea bargains in cases where charges were dramatically reduced, so much reduced that the members retained their gun rights. There have been no felony convictions, and frankly, in the plea-bargained cases the members knew they’d pretty much screwed up, and they were glad to take the plea bargain.
We have never turned down a request for assistance where there was a plausible claim for self defense. That is the bottom line, and you can see why we take exception to people claiming that we might not help them after a case of self defense. I am looking forward to writing about more enjoyable topics in the coming newsletters.