Occasionally Hollywood can actually teach you something
I watched Felon, a movie that makes some chillingly realistic and valuable points about self defense, last night. The story centers around an average, likeable guy named Wade Porter (played by actor Stephen Dorff). As the movie begins Porter, along with his fiancé and young son have just moved into their first house. After years of struggling for success, his construction business is beginning to take off, they have gotten their finances in line, the marriage ceremony is rapidly approaching, and everything seems to be going his way. Of course this happiness doesn’t last…
Everything changes suddenly one night when an intruder breaks into their home. Porter hears a noise, finds the guy in his son’s bedroom, chases him outside, and smacks him upside the head with a baseball bat. Unfortunately that one blow kills the intruder on the spot. While Porter initially feels like a hero for protecting his family and chasing off a dangerous bad guy, he ultimately finds himself in seriously hot water when the police arrive and discover that the burglar was unarmed and had died outside the home where castle doctrines do not apply.
Before you know it, Porter is sentenced to prison for three years on an involuntary manslaughter conviction. In short order he loses his freedom, his business, and his home, all over one split-second decision. As he begins to serve his term and adjust to prison life, his relationship with his family suffers, perhaps irreconcilably, as well. Everything he has come to know and love falls apart around him. While the corrupt guards, forced fights amongst the prisoners, and certain other aspects of his time in prison are your typical Hollywood falderal, the overall movie is vastly better then I had expected. It’s also Val Kilmer’s best performance in years; he plays a “lifer” who befriends our erstwhile hero and helps him learn how to survive in the joint.
Beyond mere entertainment, however, the movie teaches some valuable lessons. Chasing down an unarmed intruder who’s hell-bent on escaping and bashing him over the head with a bat is clearly not self-defense, not even in Hollywood. In fact, in most jurisdictions a person can only resort to deadly force in order to escape imminent and unavoidable danger of death or grave bodily harm. That “unavoidable” part is the bugger...
While legal definitions and interpretations are generally uniform across the country, there are small but very important differences from state to state. To stay out of jail, you really need to talk to someone who practices law in your jurisdiction to understand these differences. I’m a martial arts instructor not an attorney, so while I can provide some good guidelines you really shouldn’t rely on me for legal advice. After all, you get what you pay for ;-). Having said that, however, the classic rule is that self-defense begins when deadly danger begins, ends when the danger ends, and revives again if the danger returns. Neither a killing that takes place after a crime has already been committed, nor a proactive violent defense before an attack has taken place is legitimately self-defense in the eyes of the court.
So, that begs the question of how you’d know when it’s legally justifiable to get physical with an adversary. Many self-defense instructors teach the AOJP principle. That stands for Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy, and Preclusion. If all four of these criteria are all met, you have a pretty good case for taking action. If one or more of these conditions are absent, however, you’re on shaky legal ground. Clearly, you will want to speak with an attorney to understand the laws in your locale, but this principle is a useful, relatively easy to remember guideline that you can rely on in the heat of the moment on the street.
Ability
Ability means that an attacker has both the physical as well as practical ability to seriously injure, maim, or kill you. This may include the use of fists and feet as well as the application of conventional or improvised weapons such as knives, guns, bottles, baseball bats, or similar instruments. It also includes the physical ability to wield said weapon (or fists or feet for that matter) in a manner that can actually injure you. A small child with a baseball bat does not have the same ability to cause harm as a professional ball player swinging the same hunk of wood as a weapon.
Opportunity
While your attacker may have the ability to harm you, his ability does not necessarily mean that he also has the immediate opportunity to do so. Your life and well-being must be in clear and present danger before you can legally respond with physical force. For example, a bad guy with a knife has the ability to kill you only so long as he is also within striking range of the weapon or can quickly move into the appropriate distance from which to initiate his attack. A physical barrier such as a chain link fence may protect you from a knife-wielder but not an assailant armed with a gun, so opportunity relates not only to the attacker and the weapon, but also to the environment within which they are deployed as well.
Jeopardy
Jeopardy or “imminent jeopardy” as the law sometimes requires, relates to the specifics of the situation. Any reasonable person in a similar situation should feel in fear for his life. This is a legal attempt to distinguish between a truly hazardous situation and one that is only potentially dangerous. While you are not expected to be able to read an aggressor’s mind, you certainly should be able to ascertain his intent from his outward appearance, demeanor, and actions. Someone shouting, “I’m going to kill you,” while walking away is probably not an immediate threat even though he may very well come back with a weapon or a group of friends later and become one should you stick around long enough. Someone shouting, “I love you,” while lunging toward you with a knife, on the other hand, most likely is an imminent threat.
Preclusion
Even when the ability, opportunity, and jeopardy criteria are satisfied, you must still have no other safe alternatives other than physical force before engaging an opponent in combat. If you can run or retreat from harm’s way without further endangering yourself these criteria have not been met. In some jurisdictions, there is no requirement to retreat when attacked in your home or, in some cases, your place of business. Regardless, it is prudent to retreat whenever you have the ability to do so safely. After all, it is impossible for the other guy to hurt you if you’re not there.
Clearly you should never let fear of legal repercussions keep you from defending yourself when your life is on the line, but a clear understanding of the law can help you make good decisions on “that day” should it ever arrive.
