charlie12
Regular Member
imported post
VORiaSOI wrote:
VORiaSOI wrote:
That sucks, maybe the next Judge won't like dopers. Get to work DAhttp://www.2theadvocate.com/news/80246297.html?showAll=y&c=y
CLINTON — A state district judge has ruled two Hammond men may claim they were justified in killing a Clinton man during an alleged drug deal this summer.
Twentieth Judicial District Judge George H. Ware Jr. said the state will have the burden at a trial of proving beyond a reasonable doubt the slaying of Jeral Wayne Matthews Jr., 21, was not justified.
An East Feliciana Parish grand jury indicted Anthony Manzella, 19, for first-degree murder and Andrew Robertson, 23, for principal to second-degree murder in Matthews’ July 24 death.
A third man, Johnny Barnes, 27, of Jackson, also was indicted for principal to second-degree murder.
Clinton police said in July that Manzella and Robertson came to a house in Clinton to buy drugs from Matthews and Barnes, but during the transaction Matthews allegedly struck Manzella in the head with a rifle butt.
Manzella responded by pulling a .40-caliber handgun and shooting Matthews, Clinton Police Chief Eddie Stewart said.
District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla argued earlier this month a section of the law dealing with justifiable homicide precludes its use as a defense when a drug deal results in a person’s death.
Ware’s opinion says a homicide is justified in four situations: in self-defense; to prevent a violent or forcible felony; to defend against the threat of unlawful force in a dwelling, business or vehicle; or to defend against unlawful entry into a house, business or vehicle.
Only the fourth reason — the so-called “shoot the burglar/carjacker” provision — is not valid as a defense if a drug transaction is involved, the judge’s ruling said.
Manzella and Robertson are invoking the reasons of self-defense and preventing a violent felony — an armed robbery — to justify the homicide, the opinion said.
The ruling means self-defense will be a viable response to the state’s claim that Matthews was murdered, said J. Garrison Jordan, Manzella’s attorney.
“It’s clearly a self-defense situation,” Jordan said Monday.
D’Aquilla said he has not seen the ruling, but said he likely will ask the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal to review the decision.
Although he did not join Manzella and Robertson’s attorney in a written motion to challenge D’Aquilla’s interpretation of the statute, attorney Benn Hamilton, representing Barnes, argued in court earlier this month that Matthews was shot in self-defense and Barnes therefore cannot be a principal to second-degree murder.