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Saturday, June 21, 2008

Ind. Law - "Lawyer says driver is devastated by shooting: Woman had no choice, he said"

From an Evansville Courier& Press story quoted in this March 22, 2006 ILB entry:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed two bills pushed by gun-rights advocates in a brief Statehouse ceremony Tuesday. * * *

The second bill adds a provision on using force for self defense, stating that a person does not have a duty to retreat before using reasonable force to protect himself or another person who is in danger.

The amended law also now states that a person does not have a duty to first try to flee before using deadly force to defend against someone breaking into his home or car.

A story June 19th by Harold Adams in the Louisville Courier Journal reported:
Yalanda Parrish called police Tuesday after shooting Wesley Mosier when he got off his motorcycle and came up to her car on 10th Street at Allison Lane. She said she shot in self-defense.

Police, after interviewing witnesses, said there had been some interaction between Mosier and Parrish as they drove along 10th Street before the shooting and described the situation as road rage.

Today the Louisville Courier Journal has this story by Michelle Day. Some quotes:
A woman who told Jeffersonville police that she shot a motorcyclist in self-defense "felt she had no choice" because she thought he was going to hit her, her lawyer said yesterday.

No charges have been filed against Yalanda Parrish, 39, of Jeffersonville, in Tuesday's shooting of Wesley Mosier, 52, of Corydon, who remains hospitalized.

Louisville attorney Brian Butler, who is representing Parrish, said at a news conference yesterday that he hopes that the matter won't end up in court. * * *

Experts said that, according to Indiana law, Parrish must have reasonably believed that she faced serious harm or death to justify firing her gun, for which she has a permit. The law also says Parrish didn't have to "retreat" before defending herself, they said.

Kentucky's self-defense law is similar, and both states have a "castle law" that says people can use defensive or deadly force against anyone unlawfully and forcibly trying to get into their house or car, said Jeanne Anderson, assistant commonwealth's attorney in Jefferson County.

Bart Betteau, a defense attorney in New Albany, said aggressive driving isn't a reason to use force against another person.

But Betteau said Parrish's belief that she was in immediate danger doesn't have to be correct, only reasonable, to justify defending herself.

Fran Watson, a professor at the Indiana University law school in Indianapolis, said the adrenaline in a road-rage situation can cause people to act outside of what the law protects. The amount of force used in a person's defense has to be appropriate to the circumstance, she said.

"It all comes down to what we call a classic question of law and fact," she said. "The question is whether or not it was acting reasonably."

For more on the Indiana statute, see this August 7, 2006 ILB entry, along with its links.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 21, 2008 11:56 AM
Posted to Indiana Law