cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (06/26/85)
A little while back, someone raised the issue of firearms-related deaths. In the midst of that posting was a statistic for the number of murders committed with firearms. I responded with the remark that "a lot" of the murders *charged* result in not guilty verdicts because of self-defense. The phrase "a lot" can mean everything from "more than you think" to ">50%". A more precise statement would be, "It is not rare for murders charged to result in innocent verdicts because of self-defense." I have read several accounts of such cases in the newspaper, without going out of my way to find such accounts. Most recently was yesterday, when a jury found a man named Aguirre innocent here in Orange County of murder because of self-defense. This case is about the 4th or 5th that I have read about; if reading local newspapers brings me in contact with this many cases, it certainly isn't rare; unless these verdicts just *happen* to be concentrated in areas I live, it seems likely to me that perhaps 5% - 10% of all murders charged are in fact self-defense; perhaps more.