MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) – A violent crime is a situation no one wants to be in, especially if you have to use lethal force to protect yourself or someone else.
According to Louisiana law, a homicide is justifiable when committed in self-defense by one who reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life or receiving great bodily harm and that the killing is necessary to save himself from that danger.
Concealed handgun instructor Sonny Harrington explains.
“When the adrenaline is running, that’s a bad factor for you. It’s a tough deal and a lot of scenarios to die. The bottom line is, at what point are you in fear of life of great bodily harm?
The law also adds the circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fear of a reasonable person that there would be serious danger to his own life or person if he attempted to prevent the felony without the killing.
Whether you are home, place of business or in your vehicle, Harrington says the same law applies to them all.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re home or in a business, or whatever; the bottom line is you have to be in fear for life of great bodily harm, that’s the key. You have to protect yourself and establish great bodily harm. That’s tough because that’s permanent damage. You are going to suffer for a long time. You lost an eye, you lost a limb, broke a bone, something permanent, so that’s hard to decide in the middle of passion and fighting, but that’s what the law says.”
