Source: https://katzjustice.com/virginia-murder-defense-11-16/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 05:48:39+00:00

Document:
Virginia homicide defense and self defense - No obligation to retreat in one's own home | Jon Katz, P.C.
Alcohol and guns do not mix. Homicide and lesser assaults often result.
Inside defendant/appellant Marvin Hines’s home, Wayne Hudson — drunk since the previous afternoon — was in “the heat of this out-of-control temper tantrum,” while having a gun in his hand. Hines walked away to obtain Hines’s own handgun and to return in the hopes that doing so would de-escalate the tense situation. Hines v. Virginia, ___ Va. ___ (Oct. 27, 2016).
Hines’s plan to calm down rip-roaring drunk, gun-totingn Hudson with a display of Hines’s own handgun sounds like a fanciful thought at best. However, Virginia self defense law does not require sounder thinking when in one’s own home. A Virginia homeowner is permitted to carry a handgun anywhere in his or her house, unless precluded by such laws as those prohibiting a felon to be in possession of handguns. My having lived in the North my entire life before moving to Arlington, Virginia, to start law school in neighboring Washington, D.C., Virginia’s liberal handgun laws make it the most wild, wild west place I have ever lived handgun law-wise, for better (great for being true to the Second Amendment) or worse (bad because so many people who take advantage of such liberal handgun laws).
Had Hines kept his retreat permanent and called the police to deal with the drunk ticking time bomb that was Wayne Hudson, I would not even be writing this blog entry.
Hines returned, visibly armed but not aiming the gun, to Hudson. Hudson — who lived down the street with Hines’s sister — pointed his gun at Hines with Hudson’s gun cocked. In self defense, Hines shot at Hudson approximately five times. Three bullets hit Hudson, and Hudson died.
After a two-day bench trial, the trial judge allowed the parties to brief any remaining issues, and in a series of two letter opinions found Hines guilty of voluntary manslaughter and the remaining shooting count. Hines got a great sentencing result, receiving only a time-served/suspended sentence of five years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and two years for the shooting count.
The trial judge issued a written opinion concluding that Hines was credible as a witness and through his testimony. Nevertheless, the trial judge concluded that Hines’s successful initial retreat from Hudson nixed Hines’s ability to be acquitted on the claim of self defense.
Had the trial judge not said that Hines provided credible testimony, Hines would not have prevailed in appealing his voluntary manslaughter conviction. Had Hines not talked to police in a manner consistent with his trial testimony (Hines talked to the police, and I have repeatedly warned criminal suspects against talking with the police) after the incident, the trial judge would less likely have found Hines’s testimony credible. Had Hines’s lawyer (listed as Jon Babineau for trial and both appeals courts) not stuck by Hines’s side through the long and hard-fought battle through the trial court proceedings, unsuccessfully before the Court of Appeals, and finally successfully with a unanimous Virginnia Supreme Court vindication, Hines may not have finally prevailed.
The Commonwealth originally charged Defendant with using a firearm while committing one of the felonies listed in Virginia Code § 18.2–53.1. The Court found Defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser-included felony under the original indictment for first degree murder. Because voluntary manslaughter is not a predicate felony under the statute, the Commonwealth moves to amend the indictment to permit Defendant to be found guilty of shooting another person in the commission of a felony under Virginia Code § 18.2–53. The Court finds thai this amendment does not change the nature and character of the offense nor come as a surprise to Defendant. The Court grants the motion and permits the indictment to be so amended. Accordingly, the Court, having previously vacated the finding of guilt under Virginia Code § 18.2–53.1, (use of a firearm in commission of a felony), now finds Defendant guilty of § 18.2–53 (shooting in the commission of a felony) under the amended indictment.
Com. v. Hines (Norfolk Cir. Ct. June 9 2014), WL 8240506.
Congratulations to Hines for finally getting vindicated, and thanks to his lawyer Jon Babineau for sticking out his defense of Hines.

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