Oklahoma self-defense laws proclaim that a person has the right to feel safe in his or her own home, and therefore has the justification to use lethalforce against an intruder. This is often known as the "Castle Doctrine," referring to the adage that "a man's home is his castle." Furthermore, Oklahomasupports a "Stand Your Ground" law which states:
A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.(21 O.S. �1289.25)
That reasonable belief that force is necessary to prevent great bodily injury or death is a very important part of justifiable homicide, or killing inself-defense. After all, Oklahoma City pharmacist Jerome Ersland was convicted of first degree murder after shooting and killing a masked teenagerattempting to rob the Reliable Discount Pharmacy. Had the man shot at the attempted robber and his co-conspirator, and left it at that, he would havefallen within the category of self-defense. However, Ersland was convicted after he came back and shot the downed teenager multiple times after therewas no "reasonable belief" that he was a threat to anyone's safety.
Now, a Tulsa man who has been charged with two counts of first degree murder for shooting two others in an argument is attempting to have those chargesdismissed, citing Oklahoma's "Stand Your Ground" law.
Isaac Luna Ashton, 23, was charged with shooting two people outside of his home during a "heated argument"in August 2014. While the prosecution argues that Ashton is guilty of murder for a shooting that occurred outside of the home, the defense requesteda hearing to determine whether or not the two people killed in the shooting were attempting to gain entrance to Ashton's residence or vehicle.
Although prosecutors argued that a witness who testified during the preliminary hearing said the shooting occurred outside the home and did not indicatethat either of the victims attempted to gain entrance to the home, the judge granted the defense's motion for a hearing, which began earlier this week.
If the judge determines that the defendant was within his right of self-defense during the altercation, the case will be dismissed. However, if the judgefinds that Ashton was an aggressor rather than acting in self-defense, he will be prosecuted for murder.
