Court Opinion

ID: 9544015
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:51:23.901972+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:11:48.613490
License: Public Domain

Clinton, J.,
concurring in the result only.
I concur in the result only of the majority opinion and write this separate concurrence because I believe the opinion misinterprets the statute and the possible applicability of the defense of justification. L. B. 895, Laws 1972, now sections 28-833 to 28-843, R. R. S. 1943, is a rather comprehensive act relating to the general subject of justification of use of force, including among other things, the concept of self-defense. I think the act must be read and construed as a whole.
The majority opinion seems to assume, or at least is open to the construction, that the choice of evils principle might under some circumstances justify an assault upon a totally innocent person.
The evidence in this case shows an assault upon a nurse, who became a hostage as a result of the defendant’s subterfuge. The defendant was not in the process of protecting himself from the unlawful use of force by the victim. Section 28-836, R. R. S. 1943, which provides in part: “(1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 28-841, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by such other person on the present occasion,” is the governing provision in this circumstance. I do not believe the justification doctrine of section 28-834, R. R. S. 1943, can be reasonably construed to permit assaults against wholly innocent persons who are not the source or cause of the evil to be avoided..
Spencer, C. J., Pro Tern., joins in this concurrence.