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Spend the time.
Not wanting to pay to keep a lawyer on retainer shouldn't keep you from investigating competent local counsel. Spend some some time, not money.
Look in your yellow pages or state bar website. Next time you've got some time on your hands, call up a criminal firm and ask if they have experience representing citizens on charges stemming from self defense shootings. If they say yes, ask about a free consultation. At worst, you are at least aware of a law firm if you need one.
If they offer a free consultation, go in and spend a free ten minutes talking to the lawyer about your concerns and ask her/him about past cases. Ask if s/he knows anything about local trends in charging for self defense shootings. Ask for a business card.
Waiting for a court appointed lawyer is not the best advice (it's just the easiest practice) and they are often not the best lawyers (sorry PAs, but often weren't the ones at the top of the class). Spend a little bit of your time ahead of time and you will feel remarkably better prepared, and hopefully you'll never need them.
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