A grand jury has recently decided not to charge an Oregon man following a criminal investigation. In this case, the man faced potential charges for felony crimes after a shooting.
In this case, the 31-year-old man had been driving on Interstate 5 in Woodburn when he was rear-ended by a second driver -- a 37-year-old man. The crash seemed innocent enough and the two drivers were cordial to one another before they agreed to exchange information at a nearby gas station. Just in case the second driver fled the scene, the first driver kneeled down to take a picture of the other car's license plate.
At that moment, he was pinned between the two cars by the other driver. The second driver claims he left the car in drive on accident. The driver went to move the car, but again he pinned the first man. This second impact was so forceful that it broke the man's collarbone. Finally, the second driver reversed but the engine revved again.
At this point, the first man felt his life was in danger so he pulled out his handgun and shot the second driver three times. While criminal charges could have followed, a grand jury will not indict the man.
Under Oregon law, a shooting in self defense is justified if people reasonably believed that the other person was going to use unlawful physical force against them. If people have a reasonable belief, then they can use any means they reasonably believe necessary to prevent the harm. In this case, the grand jury agreed with the first man that his fear of the car hitting him for a third time was enough to justify his use of the gun in self defense.
Self defense is just one of many criminal defense options that might be available to those facing criminal charges. People should explore all their criminal defense options as soon as a criminal investigation begins. Like in this case, with the right defense, people can get the charges dropped altogether.
Source: The Oregonian, "Mistakes and confusion turn simple fender-bender near Woodburn into bizarre shooting," Stuart Tomlinson, March 21, 2013
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