Recent content by lawofselfdefense

Just be very careful about statutory language. Statutes are best though of as the legislature's intent, what they'd LIKE to see happen. But statutes by themselves don't have any effect in the real world until they are interpreted and applied by judges to real people in real cases. I strongly...

I'm coming to VA. :-) Currently in talks with an instructor there who has hosted me before. We're still pinning down the location or we would have announced already. Will probably be somewhere between Quantico and the DC area. Easiest way to keep informed is to sign up for our once-a-week...

The general structure of the class is very much like the book. The class, however, is intensely state-specific, whereas the book is more general and then supplemented by state-specific tables in the back. Also, there's more entertainment value in the live class. :-) More seriously, in the...

We do a 20% revenue share with our hosts (calculated after travel expenses--when we start making net money, the host starts making money). Most hosts make several hundred dollars a hosted class. Anyone interested in hosting a class can learn more here: http://www.lawofselfdefense.com/host...

Captains1911 is correct. I suppose the original link to the blog post with the details might have been buried by now, but you can just go to the top of the thread and find it. Or click on my username and follow that trail to find it. Or just drop me a PM. Either way. Andrew

Maybe focus then just on the provocation charge? You know, the one that, if screwed up, would destroy his ability to argue self defense and put him on the hook for (at minimum) manslaughter and perhaps even murder (it was only by the grace of the jury that his conviction was for merely...

Normally, that would be true, where there was merely some reasonable disagreement in the interpretation or application of the statute. There's two reasonable arguments, and the judge has to pick one, and he is going to stick to his decision even if one of the parties is disappointed (as one of...

Well, in this case the defendant's 10-year manslaughter conviction was based on one mis-applied statute. :what: If that were me, I'd might be wondering later if it would not have been prudent to take a gander at the one statute myself. :banghead: Not memorize the entirety of the criminal...

If, as you say, the defendant should be expected to be entirely ignorant of the law, how would he possibly be able to assess whether the attorney he is hiring is competent? And if you think my advice to "know the law" was intended to benefit punks who slash tires, you're simply mistaken...

Bubba613 writes: "Um, what difference does it make if the citizen knows the law? I mean, that's important and all but not germane to your post." As you note, the verdict was eventually reversed. But wouldn't it have been more convenient for all involved if the defendant could have given...

I recently came across a 2011 self defense case in which the prosecution, the defense, and the judge all got the law completely backwards on the reading of a brief and rather straightforward self defense statute. The result was that the defendant, who might well have been acquitted on the...