companion article<\/a> to the shooting, New Jersey 101.5 notes the potential legal rollercoaster the homeowner now faces given the fact that the Garden State has some of the most restrictive self-defense rights in the state.<\/p>\n\u201cNew Jersey has a very, very different view on a citizen\u2019s right to use force to defend either oneself, defend another or defend property. We have a very restrictive view on that,\u201d veteran prosecutor Samuel \u201cSkip\u201d Reale told 101.5. \u201c\u2026while in maybe 48 states, you wouldn\u2019t get indicted, in New Jersey, you run the serious risk of being charged. Even if common sense says it\u2019s a righteous shoot, it\u2019s likely you\u2019re going to have to go through a court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to note that Reale was not speaking of the current case specifically and is not a prosecutor in that case. He was replying to a general question that was asked of him by the reporter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn New Jersey, we have a presumption of innocence, but we don\u2019t have a presumption that you made the right choice,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In fact, the article noted in interviewing the experts, in some cases, New Jersey\u2019s interpretation of the Castle Doctrine, even requires homeowners to warn intruders to vacate the premises before firing shots, unless danger is imminent.<\/p>\n
But civil rights attorney Tim Alexander clarified that in further questioning and said, \u201cYou do not have an obligation to warn. I\u2019m not aware of a single scenario that you have a duty to warn, but you do have a duty to identify.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just shooting at a dark form walking across the room toward you isn\u2019t enough both Reale and Alexander agreed. You have to identify who it is before firing, citing the example it could be a family member who forgot a key and broke a window to get in or some similar situation.<\/p>\n
And what if you fail to identify the person before shooting and they wind up being someone who had a possible right to be there?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may be able to raise a solid defense that you believed your safety was in jeopardy, but you are probably going to be charged,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n
Outside of the home, and contrary to states with \u201cStand Your Ground\u201d laws, New Jersey law compels individuals to retreat, if possible, before resorting to deadly force in self-defense. Legal experts emphasize the serious implications and potential legal challenges that homeowners face even when their actions might seem justifiable in the moment of threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if the law allows for it, you\u2019re going to be subject to an investigation. You\u2019re subject to potential criminal charges. You\u2019re subject to potential civil charges,\u201d Stafford Township Police Chief Thomas Dellane told 101.5. \u201cIf I can make one strong point \u2026 call 911 as soon as possible, and let the professionals deal with it the way we\u2019re trained to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The almost impossible expectations layered into New Jersey\u2019s laws isn\u2019t lost on prosecutor Reale, but his observation on how the law operates in his state is something every gun owner there needs to understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what we\u2019re asking people to do is, is make a split-second decision. It\u2019s not even a split second, it is milliseconds. You\u2019re processing all that information that you\u2019re seeing and what you\u2019re hearing, and trying to decide what is it I\u2019m confronting, and what force can I use?\u201d Reale said. \u201cAnd New Jersey is always going to second-guess you in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\nNext Post Coming Soon…\u25b6\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police patrol car with flashing lights and siren on during the night raid against crime Next Post Coming Soon…\u25b6 A Trenton, New Jersey, homeowner faced a harrowing event late Sunday night when a man with a hammer broke into his house forcing him to shoot the man in self-defense. Now he potentially faces another larger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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