Quote:
|
"So I, respectfully, think it would be a somewhat risky defense strategy to proffer the defendant's training resume. To do so seems to welcome challenges and nit-picking beyond the "reasonable person" standard.
|
It isn't a matter of "strategy". It is the ability to present, and to have admitted, what may become very critical evidence.
Why do you think that trainers advise signing and dating the training material, sending it to oneself via registered mail, and storing the sealed and unopened package in a safe deposit box?
Quote:
|
And isn't it the trier of fact, and not the testifying expert, who determines "reasonable person"?
|
Consider that jurors who are empaneled for a trial will likely have very little, if any, understanding of the dynamics of a use of force incident.
A juror may well have some inkling that drawing and firing while an assailant is at some distance from the defender would not be reasonable. Would the juror understand that waiting until the assailant is within two arms' lengths from the defender would not be reasonable, or that there is a generally accepted distance at which drawing might well be reasonable?
A juror whose only exposure to gunshot wounds has been screen fiction may really believe that one shot would be sufficient, and that firing several shots rapidly would not be reasonable.
A juror may have absolutely no understanding of the fact that a defender cannot know precisely when the assailant is no longer threat after having been shot.
A juror may be persuaded that the defender should have "tried to wound" the assailant.
The expert witness can credibly explain these things, and the fact of the training and the admissibility of the evidence may prove critical in proving that the defender had an objective basis for having believed at the time of the incident that his actions were reasonable.
Quote:
|
I'm not sure I need help just because my opinion differs from yours.
|
I do not think that your opinion, as i understand it, is an informed one.
This subject has been covered at length here, in training classes, and in appellate courts. I suggest that you avail yourself of some good instruction in use of force law. Massad Ayoob would be a good source, and so would Andrew Branca.