State v. Wilkins - 13-2539 ( La. 01/15/14), 131 So. 3d 839

Rule:

No finder of fact shall be permitted to consider the possibility of retreat as a factor in determining whether or not the person who used deadly force had a reasonable belief that deadly force was reasonable and apparently necessary.

Facts:

Defendant Robert Wilkins was convicted of second degree murder. He comes before the Supreme Court of Louisiana applying for a writ of certiorari to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal.

Issue:

May subsection D of La. R.S. § 14:20 be detached from subsection C thereof?

Answer:

No.

Conclusion:

To the extent that subsection D effectuates the right conferred by Subsection C on an individual to "stand his or her ground" without weighing the possibility of escape or retreat before responding with deadly force, an unqualified right that did not exist previously in Louisiana, the two subsections work in tandem, not separately, to make a substantive change in the law because they directly impact not only how trials are conducted, and how juries may be instructed, but also how individuals may conduct themselves when confronted with situations that they perceive, reasonably or not, to present an imminent threat to their own lives. As a substantive change in the law, and as the Fourth Circuit found in State v. Mahler, subsections C and D apply together and prospectively only to cases in which the charged crime, as to which the defendant asserts his right of self-defense, occurred after the effective date of the 2006 La. Acts 141.