Marty Hayes

by Marty Hayes, J.D.

Kayla Giles, the Louisiana mom who shot and killed her estranged husband, was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder and obstructing justice and is currently serving a life sentence plus 30 years for the two crimes, was back in the news the other day, when she appealed her conviction to the Louisiana Supreme Court. If you remember, she was the individual USCCA dropped because their insurance underwriter believed she committed murder, as opposed to a legitimate act of self defense. Over the past year, her case has become “YouTube famous” in part from the Attorneys on Retainer’s owner Marc Victor promoting his company by exposing the USCCA’s involvement in the case.

I will let you learn all about the case on your own if you wish by searching YouTube for her name, which will lead you to numerous videos on the subject. It is a topic of debate by “GunTubers” (YouTube celebrities who take money from the different companies in the industry to promote their sponsor over the others).

The following legal documents are also instructive:

State v. Coutee, 373 So. 3d 486 - La: Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit 2023 - Google Scholar
Applicant’s Brief - Adobe cloud storage

UntitledThe facet of this case that I want to address with our members is the argument that the State of Louisiana used in the case when they said that because Kayla Giles had–

1) bought a gun for self defense,
2) researched her state laws on use of force in self defense, and
3) bought a self-defense insurance policy,

– all before killing her husband in what she described as self defense, this constituted “pre-meditation” and that she planned to murder her husband.

The issues run deeper, but this facet is what I am most concerned about for our members.

In fact, I had the very same concerns 12 years ago, when we posed the question to our Network Affiliated Attorneys, and they responded in the following editions of the eJournal.
https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal/2012-journals/274-august-2012#Attorney
https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal/2012-journals/275-september-2012#Attorney
https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal/2012-journals/276-october-2012#Attorney

While these columns are 12 years old, the attorneys’ commentaries are as current as if they had been written today.

In researching the Kayla Giles case, I found no indication that Giles testified in court. Because she did not testify, much of the state’s theory of the case was allowed to go unchallenged. Instead, the state was allowed to play an investigative interview of Giles, which did her no favors, and because she did not testify on her own behalf, it probably led to her conviction.

Network members reading this should be prepared to testify at trial, in an attempt to educate the jury about what was going through their mind when they made the decision to shoot (or use any force) in self defense.

They could explain why they bought the gun in the first place, why they conducted research on self-defense law, and why they joined the Network. Of course, our educational package also goes to the mindset of the defendant (a member accused of murder), and I would absolutely be available to testify why I started the Network, if asked.

Deadly Force Instructor Class Coming Soon

On April 5th through 9th, Massad Ayoob and I will be teaching a Deadly Force Instructor certification course in San Antonio, TX. If you are an advanced student or instructor who has been saying to yourself that you need to take this class, well, now is the time.

Texas weather in April will be fine, and the host, Eric Lamberson of Sensible Self-Defense, is a Network member and he is experienced in holding classes such as this. For details, see https://sensibleselfdefense.com/register/ols/products/mag-deadly-force-instructor-5-9-april-2025 .

I really enjoy putting on these courses where I can use my three-plus decades of teaching experience, my expert witness experience and put my law degree to use, educating the current generation of handgun instructors in how to address use of deadly force questions that come up in their classes.

If the discussion of the Giles appeal earlier in this column made you think about having to testify in court on your own behalf after a shooting incident, and if that prospect scares the daylights out of you, we will be addressing testifying in court in the class, and with any luck, we will be able to make a Network educational video out of the lecture.

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