Is It Legal to Defend Yourself from an Attack?
Video Transcribed: My name is Stuart Ericson. I am a lawyer in Wagoner, Oklahoma. Today we’re going to talk about some defenses to criminal accusations or criminal charges. Of course, one of the main ones is self-defense. Of course, that is when you are defending yourself against an attack or against an aggressor. And of course, if you’re being attacked or somebody is being aggressive with you, you are allowed to use force.
There are two types of force that can be used. One is deadly force, where the aggressor or the person doing the attack is killed by the person using self-defense. Of course, that would be deadly force. The law allows the use of deadly force if that person reasonably believes it’s necessary to save their own life or save themselves from great bodily harm. So if you fear that you are going to be killed, you can use deadly force to stop the perpetrator. Or even if you think you need to be safe from great bodily harm, in that case, you can use deadly force.
Now, the standard is if you reasonably believed it and the jury would have to put themselves in your shoes at your time. So if you’re at home at night, your house is broken into, it’s dark, somebody breaks in the window comes in, you see them have a gun. I mean, that’s going to be a situation where you think that yeah, your life may be in danger and deadly force, again, it’s always going to be a question of fact for a jury if you’re charged because sometimes DA’s office charges people under self-defense scenarios. Then all of a sudden you’re facing a jury trial and you have to use the “self-defense” defense.
The other type of force is non-deadly force or force where the other person is not killed. Non-deadly force is allowed when you reasonably believe you will suffer bodily harm. So the other one, deadly force was great bodily harm, this is just any sort of bodily harm. You can use some non-deadly force. And again, it’s from the viewpoint of the defendant or the person accused of the crime.
Now, the burden of proof, obviously in a self-defense case, the defense has to raise it. And generally, the only way you’ll be able to raise self-defense, for the most part, is for the accused or the defendant to testify and say, “Hey, I was attacked. Here were the circumstances. Here was what I was thinking and I did what I had to do was self-defense.” So you have to essentially bring that forward. It’s a defense based upon necessity like you had to use that force. You cannot be the aggressor. You cannot start a fight and then later use self-defense. You can’t enter into a fight mutually, like in a mutual combat situation, and then later claim self-defense unless there are other circumstances involved. As with everything, there are always going to be exceptions.
The defendant would have to bring up self-defense. The burden of proof shifts. Then all of a sudden the district attorney, the State, has to prove that the defendant was not acting in self-defense. So that’s kind of a big deal. The State then has the burden of proof to show, hey, he was not acting in self-defense, and here’s why. And then of course, in a jury trial situation, it’s going to be 12 people deciding, was that self-defense or was it not? If you have any more questions about this defense, reach out to me, a Wagoner defense attorney, at stuartericson@wagonerlawyer.com.
