QUESTION:
CAN
A PERSON
DEFEND
A THIRD PARTY?
ANSWER:
YES.
A PERSON
MAY ACT
IN DEFENSE
OF ANOTHER,
BUT MAY NOT USE
MORE
FORCE
THAN THE
PERSON
DEFENDED
WAS
LAWFULLY ENTITLED
TO USE
IN HIS
OWN
DEFENSE
RCM
916 (e)
5.
2.
Use
of nondeadly
force.
The
elements here
are: (1)
that
the
accused
apprehended, upon
reasonable
grounds,
that
bodily
harm
was
about
to be inflicted
wrongfully
on him;
and (2)
that
the
accused
believed
that
the
force
used
"was
necessary
for
protection
against bodily
harm,
provided
that
the
force
used
by the
accused
was less
than
force
reasonably
likely
to produce
death
or grievous
bodily
harm."
RCM
916(e)
(3)
Self-defense,
then,
may
be used
against the
lesser
forms
of assault. U.S.
v.
Sawyer,
4 MJ 64 (CMA
1977).
The
accused
responded
by hitting
the
assailant...who
died. Although
the
accused
didn't
fear
death or
causing the victim's death. (click here for a discussion of 'defense of others' as a defense)
Ft.
Hood – When his court martial for premeditated murder reconvenes
today at noon, Major Abu Nidal Malik Hasan will be on the hot seat to
explain his “defense of others” strategy in the murderous Nov. 9,
2009 assault that left 13 dead and 32 wounded at this sprawling
military post.
Yesterday,
on Tuesday, June 4, Major Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, told Col. Tara Osborn, his judge,
that he intended to defend the lives of the Mullah Omar, a leader of
the Taliban in the Emirate of Afghanistan from troopers who were
being readied to deploy to that troubled region.
He
was also scheduled to deploy there, an assignment he loathed because
of his deep religious commitments to the tenets of Islam and the
jihadist regimen espoused by the Taliban. Their doctrine is to take
the sword in one hand, the Quaran in the other, and give infidels the
choice of conversion, a swift death, or the acceptance of a life of
dhimmitude in which they may not own property, employ others, enter
into contracts, vote or enjoy any of the benefits of full
citizenship.
Judge
Osborn was a pains to clarify his meaning. She elicited responses
from him in which he affirmed that though his victims were in central
Texas at a U.S. Army base, he took deadly aim with his Fabrique
Nacional 5.7mm pistol and fired with an aim to kill them in defense
of the lives of Mullah Omar and “a group of leaders of the Taliban
in Afghanistan.”
The
judge gave him 24 hours to write a “proffer” of the facts of the
case relevant to his defense of others strategy after he at first
demurred, saying he needed time to compose a response.
She
remonstrated with him, reminding him that she had warned him on
Monday, June 3, when she granted his motion to represent himself
against the charges of premediated murder and attempted murder that
all the same rules apply to him as they do to attorneys.
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