Kidnapping? Really? Go back and get your GED, Jethro.
If it’s lawful to stand there with a shotgun, and someone tries to grab it.....A BIG IF......justified shooting. Only two chumps can testify to that, unfortunately.
All the geniuses claim the video shows everything, then want to say you can’t see if the deceased got violent and turned toward the shooter, grabbing the gun. Can’t have it both ways.
The cheerleader in the pickup bed is likely off.....murder charge is all political, waiting for the election season (or later) to render verdicts.
Any chance the deceased recognized the ex-law-enforcement officer he had past dealings with?
Prior convictions, charges, or even just investigations into the deceased are not relevant.... he’s the victim, not the charged.
It's relevant. In a lethal force self-defense claim before the court, the dead man's criminal record (if it involves violence, even tangentially) is relevant because it lends credence to the claim that his behavior during the struggle leading to his death was such as to place an ordinary person in fear of imminent, and potentially deadly, violence. The logic goes: if he engaged in criminal violence before, that shows a pattern that supports the claim that he was behaving similarly on the day in question.
I doubt his previous record would be admissible in this case. Since this is a felony murder case, the question becomes, where the rednecks committing a felony, such as kidnapping, when they stopped this person at gunpoint.
Regardless of your hypothesis that the EX-cop may have recognized the dead person, he's no longer a cop, has no authority in the state of Georgia to arrest someone for a crime he did not personally witness, and cannot claim self defense for an incident he provoked.
Here a bit on the Georgia kidnapping statute:
Under OCGA § 16-5-40 (a), “[a] person commits the offense of kidnapping when he abducts or steals away any person without lawful authority or warrant and holds such person against his will.” Therefore, the elements of kidnapping are (1) an illegal holding, (2) an overmastering of the victim’s will, and (3) an asportation of the victim.[i]
A person convicted of the offense of kidnapping shall be punished by:
Imprisonment for not less than ten nor more than 20 years if the kidnapping involved a victim who was 14 years of age or older;
Imprisonment for life or by a split sentence that is a term of imprisonment for not less than 25 years and not exceeding life imprisonment, followed by probation for life, if the kidnapping involved a victim who is less than 14 years of age;
Life imprisonment or death if the kidnapping was for ransom; or
Life imprisonment or death if the person kidnapped received bodily injury.
