OK Prosecutor Rules Shooting Justified

[alsaqr]

The Comanche county, OK prosecutor ruled the shooting of an intruder justified. The shooting happened on Monday and the prosecutor announced his ruling on Thursday.

http://swoknews.com/main.asp?SectionID=11&SubSectionID=98

The Comanche County District Attorney has ruled that a Monday morning shooting was justified and no charges will be filed against a homeowner for killing the suspected robber.

District Attorney Fred C. Smith said on Thursday that he has determined that the use of deadly force was justified and no charges will be filed against the owner of the home.

He reviewed the information from police and said, "I didn't find anything that concerned me about the homeowner's actions."

..............................................................................................................

Investigators believe that Johnson was attempting to rob a house in the 1800 block of Northwest Lincoln Avenue around 9:30 a.m. when the homeowner responded with gunfire. According to police, the homeowner, who was remodeling the house, and Johnson got into a scuffle and, after he felt what he thought was a gun, the homeowner grabbed his own pistol and shot three times. No weapon was recovered from Johnson.

Discussion topic: This shooting case was not taken to the grand jury. The family of the late perp may collect signatures on a petition for a grand jury hearing.

Edited my OP.

Do you think all self defense deaths should go to the grand jury?

 

[TexasRifleman]

Interesting. Well in my state prosecutors are not given a choice, these all go to the Grand Jury.

Even then, if it's an extremely clear case of justified self defense the prosecutors often flat out ask the Grand Jury to no bill and I have yet to hear of a case where they ignored the DA's request.

Grand Juries only see what the prosecutor wants them to see, so if the prosecutor believes it was justified he isn't really under any obligation to argue otherwise. Bottom line is, what good does taking it to a Grand Jury do if the prosecutor doesn't want to charge in the case?

In this case it sounds like the perp was inside the house and Oklahoma law, having a Castle Doctrine, pretty much makes this an open and closed case. Wonder what the perps family is using as their excuse for this?

ETA: I had the old OK statutes posted. Removed those and the correct version is posted below.

 

[alsaqr]

Wonder what the perps family is using as their excuse for this?

The newsies in OK seldom talk with the family of the deceased perp. Never of a perps family taking up a petition for a grand jury. They probably realize it would be an exercise in futility.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Do you think all self defense deaths should go to the grand jury?

Nope. I think only those cases that a prosecutor wants to prosecute as NOT justified should go to the grand jury, and the prosecutor should then have to prove the shooting was NOT justified to them. Otherwise the prosecutor should have the option of not wasting precious judiciary resources if he isn't going to prosecute. We have an over-burdened court system already.

TexasRifleman,
You seem to have an outdated version of Oklahoma statute. Current Oklahoma reads this:
http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os21.rtf

§21-1289.25. Physical or deadly force against intruder.
PHYSICAL OR DEADLY FORCE AGAINST INTRUDER
A. The Legislature hereby recognizes that the citizens of the State of Oklahoma have a right to expect absolute safety within their own homes.
B. A person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another if:
1. The person against whom the defensive force was used was in the process of unlawfully and forcefully entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle, or if that person had removed or was attempting to remove another against the will of that person from the dwelling, residence, or occupied vehicle; and
2. The person who uses defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred.
F. A person who uses force, as permitted pursuant to the provisions of subsections B and D of this section, is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force. As used in this subsection, the term “criminal prosecution” includes charging or prosecuting the defendant.
G. A law enforcement agency may use standard procedures for investigating the use of force, but the law enforcement agency may not arrest the person for using force unless it determines that there is probable cause that the force that was used was unlawful.
H. The court shall award reasonable attorney fees, court costs, compensation for loss of income, and all expenses incurred by the defendant in defense of any civil action brought by a plaintiff if the court finds that the defendant is immune from prosecution as provided in subsection F of this section.

In Oklahoma, not only is the case not required to go to the grand jury, it is illegal for the cops to arrest a person for using force unless there is probable cause that the use of force was unlawful! That's actually probably the basis the perp's family could use for a petition for a grand jury - if there was even just an arrest made, they can claim there must have been probable cause, otherwise the arrest itself would be illegal.

 

[TexasRifleman]

TexasRifleman,
You seem to have an outdated version of Oklahoma statute. Current Oklahoma reads this:

Thanks! Removed the old one from my post to avoid any confusion.

 

[alsaqr]

In Oklahoma, not only is the case not required to go to the grand jury, it is illegal for the cops to arrest a person for using force unless there is probable cause that the use of force was unlawful!

Exactly.

Unless the police have a good case for criminal conduct on the part of the shooter he/she
is not arrested.

 

[Frank Ettin]

The laws regarding taking something to a grand jury vary considerably from State to State. As TexasRifleman pointed out, in Texas shootings must go to a grand jury. In other States a prosecutor has discretion. Sometimes a DA in such a State will take a politically sensitive case to a grand jury so he can distance himself from the decision, whatever it may be.

...it is illegal for the cops to arrest a person for using force unless there is probable cause that the use of force was unlawful...

Well, probable cause is the standard for arrest everywhere. What might constitute probable cause might vary, especially based on case law, from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. And sometimes while there may appear to be probable cause, or no probable cause, at one stage of an investigation, the situation can change as more evidence comes to light.