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moriah

(8,311 posts)
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 09:17 AM Sep 2014

So my roommate testifies in her own defense today -- edit: Update! Not Guilty!

Last edited Wed Sep 17, 2014, 06:39 PM - Edit history (1)

A little over two years ago, her now-girlfriend, who had stayed in several battered women's shelters before this to escape her abusive husband (with one DV conviction), called my roommate and asked her to come over to her trailer to help her leave for good.

Before they could leave, the ex-husband tried to stop them, and got shot in the process. He's still living, but will never beat up another woman.

Yesterday, they chose a jury and all the prosecution's witnesses testified and were released from subpoena -- her now-girlfriend also testified but is not released in case they need her for rebuttal or the defense again today. Today, her mother, a friend, and my roommate each take the stand and tell their sides, then it should go to the jury for deliberation this afternoon.

I know that since you guys aren't involved, and I wasn't there either, none of us can pray for anything more than the truth to come to light and justice be served.

But if any of you are willing to send thoughts, prayers, or positive energy in the direction of justice today, it would be appreciated. Especially since this is a podunk county in Arkansas and my roommate is terrified her sexuality will be what goes on trial, not her. Everyone deserves a fair trial.

--------------

Edit:

THANK YOU ALL!

She was found not-guilty on all charges -- either they felt she was completely justified or the judge did not instruct on lesser included offenses so the possibility of recklessness or negligence wasn't something they had to consider.

Justice, you do visit the South every once in awhile!

43 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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So my roommate testifies in her own defense today -- edit: Update! Not Guilty! (Original Post) moriah Sep 2014 OP
You are a good friend so for you good vibes on the way...n/t monmouth3 Sep 2014 #1
Good luck to her. lovemydog Sep 2014 #2
Thank you. What's sad is.... moriah Sep 2014 #6
Prayers for True Justice. IdaBriggs Sep 2014 #3
Hope all goes well for your friend today. Keep us updated! nt logosoco Sep 2014 #4
I gather it was your roommate who shot this guy cali Sep 2014 #5
Yep. Try to do something to help someone out, and look what happens? moriah Sep 2014 #10
Generally you don't need a CCW if the gun is in the vehicle. dilby Sep 2014 #17
Arkansas actually has a law about it, only on a "journey" may you carry a loaded firearm without.... moriah Sep 2014 #20
Well "journey" may be loosely defined cannabis_flower Sep 2014 #40
There in spirit and vibes...... a kennedy Sep 2014 #7
Positive Thoughts Headed your way. I just don't understand it. blondie58 Sep 2014 #8
() Jack Rabbit Sep 2014 #9
Sending daimoku! Please let us know the results! DesertDiamond Sep 2014 #11
Best wishes for your roommate Half-Century Man Sep 2014 #12
Arkansas has no official SYG or "Castle Doctrine" laws. moriah Sep 2014 #16
*shrug* Sounds good to me LittleBlue Sep 2014 #18
Allegedly, he threatened both their lives verbally, but .... moriah Sep 2014 #21
"He claims he didn't believe the gun was real" AtheistCrusader Sep 2014 #23
And its laws like that and cases like this that led to more liberal self-defense laws aikoaiko Sep 2014 #19
Best wishes. n/t FSogol Sep 2014 #13
Will be thinking of you and your roommate today mountain grammy Sep 2014 #14
Sending positive energy for justice Sienna86 Sep 2014 #15
My thoughts and ptayerd sre with you and your roomate rbrnmw Sep 2014 #22
happy to send good thoughts and prayers for the correct outcome. niyad Sep 2014 #24
Oh sending prayers and Tumbulu Sep 2014 #25
Sending my good vibes for truth and justice to prevail. ladyVet Sep 2014 #26
I live in Arkansas, janlyn Sep 2014 #27
Yep, it's Saline County. moriah Sep 2014 #28
Hey, the upside-down approach ALWAYS works well, dontchathink? calimary Sep 2014 #29
I lived in Pulaski and Saline for 25 years. janlyn Sep 2014 #30
Yeah. The DV victim had to testify, and said she felt like the prosecution was crucifying her. moriah Sep 2014 #34
Wooohooo!! janlyn Sep 2014 #43
Best of luck today Dorian Gray Sep 2014 #31
Update -- Not Guilty! moriah Sep 2014 #32
Oh my goodness, I have been checking this all day Tumbulu Sep 2014 #35
!! Jack Rabbit Sep 2014 #36
many positive energy vibes for justice for your roommate nt steve2470 Sep 2014 #33
Moriah, glad for your friends on this victory. There will need to be healing for them. (((HUGS))) freshwest Sep 2014 #37
It appears the jury did not take a long time to reach their decision. Jenoch Sep 2014 #38
just saw this thread...congratulations to your roommate, magical thyme Sep 2014 #39
Excellent news!!! Best of luck to your friend! nt msanthrope Sep 2014 #41
I'm a former DV counselor.. that is a wonderful outcome! so happy for your friend secondwind Sep 2014 #42

moriah

(8,311 posts)
6. Thank you. What's sad is....
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 10:18 AM
Sep 2014

... the difference in how the law treats a man who beats his wife and how they treat someone who tries to step in and stop it.

At first they charged her with attempted murder. They attempted to get her to plead to Battery 2 and Aggravated Assault, with six years probation and a $15,000 fine that she'd have to pay off before she could apply for the felonies to be expunged from her record.

I don't know if the prosecutor is going to educate the jury in the lesser included offenses, or whether if they can't meet their burden of proof for her current charge, Battery 1, that she will be found not guilty. It's potentially possible for Battery 3 to be a charge that could hold up, if they felt her use of deadly force was negligent, instead of justified defense of a third party. However, if the jury isn't given the option of convicting on a less serious charge, they would have to decide that she was neither reckless nor negligent in her use of deadly force, but rather with purpose and no justification.

Apparently one of the jurors they nearly seated had been a victim of domestic violence herself, and shot her abuser. She was excused from the jury pool for cause by the prosecution.

But the domestic abuser who got shot by my roommate? He was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor for assaulting his wife, despite that time putting his wife in the hospital. He was still on probation for the misdemeanor offense when he was shot. And a person who was a victim of his type of violence apparently can't serve on a jury and be unbiased, according to them.

I wish I could be there today, but I'm babysitting the animals. Her dog is only five months old and still doesn't have the bladder control to stay in a kennel all day. She said she'd rather have me here, comforting her puppy, if she's found guilty than standing there watching her get carted off in handcuffs.

I just hope she comes home tonight a free woman. I'd have a hard time sitting on a jury like that and not immediately be biased for the defense, given that my sister got out of a DV situation, fortunately without having to shoot anyone.

moriah

(8,311 posts)
10. Yep. Try to do something to help someone out, and look what happens?
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 10:29 AM
Sep 2014

It's easy in hindsight to say what a person should and shouldn't have done.

Maybe she should have kept her nose out of it, and let a woman continue to get beaten. Nope, I couldn't. Maybe she should have not had the weapon in the car. Yeah, that's true, since she didn't have a carry permit. That's not even one of the charges, though. Kinda surprised me. But if I'd been in the situation she describes and had a gun at hand.... I'd have done the same as she. (The fool admitted on the stand and to the cops that he ignored her warning not to come any closer, thinking the gun wasn't real.)

Her mom goes on the stand today partially to tell how the two of them arrived at her house after the shooting and immediately called 911 to turn themselves in, with the .22 that she'd been given to shoot snakes still jammed in the floorboard of the vehicle.

It's a mess.

Thanks for your thoughts, Cali.

dilby

(2,273 posts)
17. Generally you don't need a CCW if the gun is in the vehicle.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:06 AM
Sep 2014

It's accepted that you have to be able to transport firearms so the law looks at the car as an extension of your home.

moriah

(8,311 posts)
20. Arkansas actually has a law about it, only on a "journey" may you carry a loaded firearm without....
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:12 AM
Sep 2014

... a CCW, even in your vehicle.

Otherwise, the firearm must be cased and the ammunition in another compartment of the vehicle. When I went to the gun range with mine, I always kept my Kimber in the case in the trunk, and put my range bag with my ammunition in the passenger compartment.

It's possible the reason they didn't pursue the charge is that she did technically cross a county line to go help, which meets the definition of "journey".

cannabis_flower

(3,764 posts)
40. Well "journey" may be loosely defined
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 07:57 AM
Sep 2014

I don't know about Arkansas, but I have heard in Texas you have to be on a journey, but that journey can be as short as taking the deposit to the bank (or escaping from a domestic abuser).

moriah

(8,311 posts)
16. Arkansas has no official SYG or "Castle Doctrine" laws.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:03 AM
Sep 2014

Instead, each case is judged by the merits.

The defense of justification is what she's going for, and that means:

5-2-607. Use of deadly physical force in defense of a person.

(a) A person is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person if the person reasonably believes that the other person is:

(1) Committing or about to commit a felony involving force or violence;

(2) Using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force; or

(3) Imminently endangering the person's life or imminently about to victimize the person as described in § 9-15-103 from the continuation of a pattern of domestic abuse.

(b) A person may not use deadly physical force in self-defense if the person knows that he or she can avoid the necessity of using deadly physical force with complete safety:

(1) (A) By retreating.

(B) However, a person is not required to retreat if the person is:

(i) In the person's dwelling or on the curtilage surrounding the person's dwelling and was not the original aggressor; or

(ii) A law enforcement officer or a person assisting at the direction of a law enforcement officer; or

(2) By surrendering possession of property to a person claiming a lawful right to possession of the property.

(c) As used in this section:

(1) "Curtilage" means the land adjoining a dwelling that is convenient for residential purposes and habitually used for residential purposes, but not necessarily enclosed, and includes an outbuilding that is directly and intimately connected with the dwelling and in close proximity to the dwelling; and

(2) "Domestic abuse" means:

(A) Physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or the infliction of fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, or assault between family or household members; or

(B) Any sexual conduct between family or household members, whether minors or adults, that constitutes a crime under the laws of this state.


So if a woman shoots her abusive husband here, she has a very good shot (egads, what a pun) at a justification defense.

A third-party has a heavier burden to prove. Personally, I believe had my roommate acted only to save herself that night, the other woman would have been put in the hospital again, if not killed. I think she has a good chance under (a)(1) of the Justification subsection, but only a jury will get to decide.
 

LittleBlue

(10,362 posts)
18. *shrug* Sounds good to me
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:10 AM
Sep 2014

If he tried to attack her, he got what he deserved.

I will hope your friend is acquitted if that is indeed what happened.

moriah

(8,311 posts)
21. Allegedly, he threatened both their lives verbally, but ....
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:19 AM
Sep 2014

... there's no proof of that. He claims he didn't believe the gun was real and was only trying to keep his wife from leaving him.

There is proof, which the jury was allowed to see (including pictures of his wife when she was in the hospital) that there was an ongoing pattern of domestic abuse, though. So I'm hoping if they don't buy self-defense, they'll buy defense of a third party.

aikoaiko

(34,127 posts)
19. And its laws like that and cases like this that led to more liberal self-defense laws
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:11 AM
Sep 2014

and removing the duty to retreat.

niyad

(112,435 posts)
24. happy to send good thoughts and prayers for the correct outcome.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:33 AM
Sep 2014

I am so sorry your friend is going through this--and all for doing the right thing. please let us know what happens.

Tumbulu

(6,267 posts)
25. Oh sending prayers and
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:46 AM
Sep 2014

Feeling so sad and frustrated to be reading this. Why in the world did they prosecute her? Why wasn't the batterer in jail already for life? Seriously, how is it that a man can beat his loved one to the point of hospitalization and then not be imprisioned for life? We need much stricter sentences.

Hoping for a just resolution.

ladyVet

(1,587 posts)
26. Sending my good vibes for truth and justice to prevail.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:52 AM
Sep 2014

I hadn't heard of this before today, sorry your friend and her friend had to go through this. I imagine it wasn't an easy thing for her to deal with, even though it sounds like her life was in eminent danger.

janlyn

(735 posts)
27. I live in Arkansas,
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 11:59 AM
Sep 2014

so I very much believe that it could be her sexuality that goes on trial. So all positive thoughts sent out to the universe for her!!

moriah

(8,311 posts)
28. Yep, it's Saline County.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 12:03 PM
Sep 2014

A little more tolerant of guns than where we live (Pulaski), far less tolerant of a person's sexual preferences.

calimary

(80,700 posts)
29. Hey, the upside-down approach ALWAYS works well, dontchathink?
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 12:13 PM
Sep 2014

My sympathies, moriah. All good vibes and good thoughts coming your way - for you and your roommate, too.

janlyn

(735 posts)
30. I lived in Pulaski and Saline for 25 years.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 12:43 PM
Sep 2014

I live up north in Washington county now. I know exactly what you mean about Saline co. I know first hand how they handle domestic abuse cases. There is that unspoken "what did you did to deserve it?"
I have a lot of close friends and family in the LGBT community living in those 2 counties. So I am sending HUGE good thoughts out!!!

moriah

(8,311 posts)
34. Yeah. The DV victim had to testify, and said she felt like the prosecution was crucifying her.
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 07:03 PM
Sep 2014

But fortunately, see update!

Not Guilty!

Tumbulu

(6,267 posts)
35. Oh my goodness, I have been checking this all day
Wed Sep 17, 2014, 07:10 PM
Sep 2014

and you just made my day- YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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