Lawmen aiming to educate population
Self-help seminars designed to clarify use of deadly force, repercussions
Josephine County residents, bracing for a severe reduction in law enforcement coverage, now realize that they must be responsible for their own safety in the event of violent attack or home invasion.
To clarify citizen rights and responsibilities in the face of such an encounter, Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) is offering several “Defend Yourself” seminars. The first such meeting was held at Josephine County Fairgrounds Tuesday night, May 1.
Sheriff Gil Gilbertson’s stated reason for holding the seminars is to make certain that citizens understand not only their right to self-defense in a given situation, but their responsibilities and potential liability.
Gilbertson and Undersheriff Don Fasching told a standing-room-only crowd of some 200 people that their first course of action is to plan ahead.
“It’s extremely important to be aware of your surroundings, because you’re going to be caught when you’re off guard,” said the sheriff.
“Law enforcement officers practice all the time. If you’re not pre-planning, thinking about what you’re going to do in that situation,” the sheriff said, “you’re gonna’ lose.”
Oregon law states that a citizen may use physical -- but not deadly -- force in defense of premises.
“In terms of defending other property (car, TV, whatever), you cannot use deadly force,” Gilbertson said. “You must be reasonably sure that your use of physical force is necessary to prevent their committing the crime against you.”
Gilbertson observed, “You can knock ‘em down, sit on ‘em and hog tie them; then you need to call the police right away to turn them over. One of the problems we might end up with,” he grimly noted, “is there may not be (a deputy) to come out to transport them.”
State law allows for the use of deadly force -- that which can cause serious injury or death -- in self-defense or defense of a family member or another person, and only if threat of serious injury or death exists. Assess the threat. The likelihood of facing criminal charges stemming from the use of deadly force means a person must be able to explain that decision to a jury.
“You must be able to articulate why you chose to do what you did, based on the characteristics of the situation or attacker,” said Gilbertson.
Factors to weigh, he said, include:
*The age, sex and size of the assailant;
- Distance from the assailant. (A knife-wielding person can close a distance of approximately 10 feet in 1.2 seconds, whereas an officer can draw, point and fire in 1.5 seconds.
- The number of participants -- how much force is reasonable may be a matter of given numbers on either side.
- Look for signals that the assailant might be more skilled, indicating a higher level of force might be reasonable to stop the threat.
- Surroundings. “Where are you, are there others around? Are you alone?”
Furthermore, the sense of a threat must be there.
“Serious injury or death,” Fasching repeated. “That rule-of-thumb should get imprinted very heavily into your heads tonight,” he said. “You must make the decision, when you are confronting that life-threatening contact, whether or not you are facing serious injury or death, and only you at that time can make that call. You have to be willing to make the decision and deal with the consequences afterward.”
After attendees peppered the sheriff with questions based on various scenarios, Steve Rich, Josephine County legal counsel, noted:
“The appropriate answer to every question is, ‘It depends.’ And there is no way to know the facts about every situation until after it happens.
“But the jury and the judge who make the decisions,” Rich noted, “will have more facts than you, and much more time to decide what should have been your response.”
The consequences, even if your actions are justified, could be quite costly, Rich warned.
“Winning a civil case is sort of a misnomer in this context,” he said. “You’re not entitled to a court-appointed attorney. You will have to pay for your lawyer, and your home-owner’s insurance isn’t going to cover this.
“Especially before you interfere in what looks like a fight or burglary, you need to think about (the possible ramifications).
“There is no safe way to inject yourself into these situations,” he said. “We can talk to you about the law and educate you as to the factors.” But, Rich stated, the seminar information was not to be considered “legal advice.”
JCSO held a second seminar Tuesday, May 8, and two more are scheduled to be held at the fairgrounds Tuesdays, May 22 and 29. One will be held in Cave Junction on Tuesday, May 15. (See “Here, There & Everywhere” on page 3).
