[scorpion_tyr]

The whole story is wrapped up in the last paragraph about the law. At the time of his trial the law was that the defendant had to prove he acted in self defense. Mr. Fish could not do that. Now the law has changed, thankfully. From the information in the story, would I do the same thing in his shoes? Absolutely. There's so much wrong with what happened I could write a book about it. To keep thing short I'll stick with what was added in the original post.

1. Talking with the police without an attorney present.

Yes that was a mistake. One that most people might make though. If you use lethal force in self defense your best option is to say something along these lines: "I was afraid he was going to kill me. I shot him to save my own life. I'd like to speak to a lawyer before I answer any more questions."

2. Not taking specific notes after the incident and during his conversations with the police. He should have tape recorded what he said to the police for his own records. He made inconsistent statements that contradicted what he said to the police thereafter.

This is good advise, but seriously... who would think of doing this? I would not.

3. Utilizing a caliber that the local police department does not use.

Seriously? What caliber did the local police use? I'm assuming it was 9mm since a 10mm would have been considered less than anything else I've ever seen LE carry. So I have to carry the exact same caliber that the police use? That's absurd for many reasons. When hiking in the woods I would have something more powerful than a 9mm because there are some animals that are a lot bigger than humans (standard police target), especially where he was hiking. I'll let everyone else tear this one apart, I don't have the time.

4. Not attempting to back away or avoiding the situation.

Seriously? This guy and two dogs were in between him and his car. Where was he supposed to go? How was he supposed to back away or avoid an angry man who was yelling at him and charging him? Was the person physically handicapped and not able to run very well? That's the only way I would be sure I could outrun the person. There was nothing prior to the dogs attacking him that would make him avoid the situation. I know I can't outrun dogs, can you? Would you turn your back to two attacking dogs? By the time he realized the situation he was in it was impossible to avoid it or back away.

5. Not warning the victim that he was about to fire if he did not stop.

He didn't? Well he fired at the dogs proving two things, the weapon was loaded and he was willing and able to fire it. Then he pointed it at the other man. Someone shoots a gun and then points it at me? That's a pretty big warning to me, and I would stop and think about what I was doing. With an adult male chargin angrily at me I don't think that verbally warning him would be the first thing on my mind. I probably wouldn't do it. I didn't see how close they were to each other, but the average man can cover a lot of ground in the 2-5 seconds it takes to verbalize a warning.

Mr. Fish seemed to do everything he was supposed to do, but the outcome was indeed negative and he is still in prison to this day.

Didn't you just list 5 things you think he did wrong? The only thing I can see that he did wrong was not asking for legal council.

I'm not trying to bash on you John. The only thing we disagree on is the number of mistakes Mr. Fish made. Should he be in prison right now? No. There were several things that the jury should have picked up on. This man became very angry when confronted by authority officials about his dogs. In the woods with no witnesses would this man have killed a civilian? From the information in the story I believe he would have. Did the jury act accordingly? In my opinion they did not. Legally speaking they did. This is why it's a good idea to be aware of what the state and local laws are concerning lethal force.

Thanks for the post John, it was an interesting story to examine! I disagree with you on many things, but the bottom line is that we both agree on whole concept of the story. Perfect case of "Better to be judged by 12 (8 in this case) than carried by 6."