Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
That's a self defense argument. If the defense position was I feared for my wife's life therefore I had the gun pointed at him and it went off. We could have a discussion around self defense laws. That isn't what was presented as the defense so on the manslaughter charge it's still he admitted to unlawfully using a weapon and it went off.
I don't see though how hangfire is a defense of manslaughter without using self defense as part of it which the defense did not.
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However and this is where the manslaughter goes away. He says that he discharged two rounds as a warning shot. Squeezed the trigger a third time and then did an activity which was based around making the gun safe, you've now created reasonable doubt in terms of even manslaughter.
This basically becomes a defective product issue, or even a gun safety issue, but you have reasonable doubt since he testified that he took the proper actions that he believed mad the gun safe.